Cyprus police link slaying suspect to 3rd missing woman

A police investigation into the slayings of two Filipino women whose bodies were found in an abandoned mineshaft in Cyprus widened Thursday after investigators connected a military officer detained as a suspect to a third woman from the Philippines who vanished 16 months ago.

Investigators testified at a detention hearing that a witness said the suspect had photographs of 31-year-old Maricar Valtez Arquiola's temporary residence permit that were taken the day she disappeared in December 2017, the state-run Cyprus News Agency reported.

The 35-year-old captain admitted while under questioning that he met Arquiola the day before she went missing, the investigators said in court.

Chief of Cypriot police Zacharias Chrysostomou, center, walks with Cypriot investigators and police officers at a flooded mineshaft where two female bodies were found, outside of Mitsero village, near the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 22, 2019. Police on the east Mediterranean island nation, along with the help of the fire service, are conducting the search Monday in the wake of last week's discovery of the bodies in the abandoned mineshaft and the disappearance of the six year-old daughter of one of the victims. (AP PhotoPetros Karadjias)

Police officers and fire service personnel have finished combing the flooded mineshaft where the bodies of 38-year-old Marry Rose Tiburcio and another Asian woman who hasn't been formally identified were found six days apart. Cypriot media identified the second woman as Arian Palanas Lozano, 28.

Tiburcio's 6-year-old daughter, Sierra, remains missing. Fire Service Chief Marcos Trangolas said divers plan to move the search for the missing girl Friday to a reservoir 8 kilometers (about 5 miles) away from the mineshaft.

Authorities tracked down the officer last week by scouring Tiburcio's online activity. A law enforcement official said the suspect admitted he killed Tiburcio and another woman.

Investigators on a boat use a camera to search for a body in a lake near Xiliatos, after authorities found two female bodies in a flooded mineshaft, outside of Mitsero village, near capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 22, 2019. Police on the east Mediterranean island nation, along with the help of the fire service, are conducting the search Monday in the wake of last week's discovery of the bodies in the abandoned mineshaft and the disappearance of the six year-old daughter of one of the victims. (AP PhotoPhilippos Christou)

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss details of the case.

Police said five British law enforcement officials, including a coroner, a clinical psychiatrist and investigators who specialize in cases involving multiple homicides, are coming to Cyprus to help with the investigation.

Activists who work to support immigrants to Cyprus have criticized the police force, alleging the department dragged its feet when the two women whose bodies were found in the mineshaft were reported missing nearly a year ago.

Men stand and watch the investigators by a flooded mineshaft where two female bodies were found, outside of Mister village near capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 22, 2019. Police on the east Mediterranean island nation, along with the help of the fire service, are conducting the search Monday in the wake of last week's discovery of the bodies in the abandoned mineshaft and the disappearance of the six year-old daughter of one of the victims. (AP PhotoPetros Karadjias)

Police spokesman Andreas Angelides defended the force's actions. He told private TV station Sigma that Cypriot lawmakers turned down a police request last year for a law that would authorize law enforcement officers to access the personal data of missing persons.

Cypriot investigators and police officers search a flooded mineshaft where two female bodies were found, outside of Mitsero village, near the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 22, 2019. Police on the east Mediterranean island nation, along with the help of the fire service, are conducting the search Monday in the wake of last week's discovery of the bodies in the abandoned mineshaft and the disappearance of the six year-old daughter of one of the victims. (AP PhotoPetros Karadjias)

Chief of Cypriot police Zacharias Chrysostomou, second right, walks with Cypriot investigators and police officers at a flooded mineshaft where two female bodies were found, outside Mitsero village near the capital Nicosia, Cyprus, Monday, April 22, 2019. Police on the east Mediterranean island nation, along with the help of the fire service, are conducting the search Monday in the wake of last week's discovery of the bodies in the abandoned mineshaft and the disappearance of the six year-old daughter of one of the victims. (AP PhotoPetros Karadjias)

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk expressed satisfaction on Monday after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor.

Candidates from his pro-European Union centrist Civic Coalition, or running with the party's backing, won in a series of cities in the second round of local elections held on Sunday, among them Krakow, Poznan, Wroclaw and Rzeszow.

“It is very difficult to clearly say who won and who lost,” Tusk said Monday. “But if we compare these results, especially in the most attractive places, on these attractive battlefields ... then I actually have reasons for satisfaction.”

“Law and Justice has simply disappeared in many places,” Tusk added at a news conference, referring to the main opposition party.

The results put Civic Coalition in a favorable position as the country looks next to elections to the European Parliament on June 9.

Mayors were chosen in a total of 748 cities and towns where no single candidate won at least 50% of the vote during the first round on April 7.

Candidates for Tusk’s party also recaptured cities where they had not held power for many years, including Zielona Gora, Legnica and Torun.

The local and regional elections were viewed as a test for Tusk's pro-European Union government four months after it took power at the national level. Sunday's second round strengthened the Tusk government's leverage in the cities, which should facilitate cooperation on development projects and allotment of EU funds.

Tusk's allies also won in some places in the first round two weeks ago, including in Warsaw, where incumbent Mayor Rafal Trzaskowski was an easy victor.

In the first round, the right-wing Law and Justice, prevailed on the level of regional assemblies in the country's 16 provinces, where it took 34.3% of the votes, while Tusk's Civic Coalition got 30.6%. Law and Justice governed on the national level from 2015-23.

Tusk’s socially liberal Civic Coalition traditionally has strong support in cities, while Law and Justice has a more solid base in conservative rural areas, particularly in eastern Poland.

Civic Coalition is the largest group in a three-party coalition that governs the EU nation of 38 million people. The coalition is pro-European Union but otherwise spans a wide ideological spectrum with left-wing politicians in the Left party as well as conservatives in the Third Way.

Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Campaign posters promote candidates as Poles vote in local and regional elections in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

Polish voters take part in a local runoff election in Lomianki, near Warsaw, Poland on Sunday, April 21, 2024. Voters are choosing mayors who did not win outright in the first round of the election two weeks earlier. (AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)

FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk reacts during his and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meeting with students in Kyiv, Ukraine, Monday, Jan. 22, 2024. Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk is celebrating a victory on Monday April 22, 2024 after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor. (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky, File)

FILE - Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk listens to the media in Berlin, Germany, Friday, March 15, 2024. Tusk is celebrating a victory on Monday April 22, 2024 after a series of candidates supported by his party won weekend races for mayor. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)