Headless body found on Spanish beach was a baby girl aged less than six months
Body of headless child found on Spanish beach was baby girl less than six months old, autopsy results show
- The child, initially thought to be two to three years old, was found Tuesday
- An autopsy has now shown that the baby was less than six months old
The child whose decapitated body was found decomposing on a Costa beach earlier this week was a baby girl who was barely six months old when she died, it emerged today.
Initial reports said the boy was between two and three years old after the grim discovery on the beach in the Costa Dorada resort of Roda de Bera on Tuesday.
But initial autopsy results indicate she is much younger than previously thought.
In addition to confirming her gender, forensic experts have also concluded that her body may have been in the water for between two weeks and two months, according to local reports.
Police are investigating the discovery of the body of a headless child on a beach on Costa
The fact that the baby’s upper body was missing along with her head makes it more difficult to determine whether she died accidentally or as a result of a crime.
But further tests are now taking place to try to determine a probable cause of death and determine her ethnicity.
Roda de Bera mayor Pere Virgili said after Tuesday morning’s grim discovery that the child may have been on a migrant boat that sank in the Mediterranean.
In a dramatic reference to the huge number of migrants who have died or disappeared and are feared dead trying to make the perilous crossing to Europe on ships, including rickety and overcrowded wooden boats, he said.
“The hypothesis that this baby’s body is a different body from this Mare Mortum of our beaches is on the table.”
He said the clothes the baby was wearing, including a jacket, did not indicate that she drowned in a typical beach accident.
A cleaning lady from the municipality made the grim discovery on Tuesday morning and warned his bosses who called the police.
Civil Guard officials cordoned off the area and moved locals and holidaymakers to other parts of the sand before an investigating judge authorized the body’s removal.
It later emerged that the decomposed body had washed up on the beach the previous day, but had been ignored by passersby who mistook it for a doll.
A spokesman for the Guardia Civil said on Tuesday: “All we can confirm at this point is that the body of a baby has been found on the beach of Roda de Bera in Tarragona province.
The alarm was sounded at 8:50 this morning.
“The case is still under investigation.”
A spokesman for the court said the same day, confirming that the judicial inquiry was led by a judge in the nearby town of El Vendrell: authorized the removal of a body found on a beach in Roda de Bera.
“The judge has opened the associated investigation and is awaiting receipt of the associated forensic and police reports.
The boy’s remains were found in Roda de Berà on the Costa Dorada in the Tarragona province on the east coast.
“We have no additional information to disclose at this time.”
Today, the Guardia Civil confirmed that it has nothing new to report and that it will not make any official statements for the time being.
Roda de Bera is a 25 minute drive north of the Spanish city of Tarragona on the east coast. Barcelona is just over an hour’s drive to the north.
Known for its Roman arch, the town was mainly devoted to agriculture until the second half of the 20th century, when it became an important tourist resort on the Costa Dorada.