Spanish police found two bodies on Monday which they indicated were likely those of former Dutch international volleyball player Ingrid Visser and her partner, who have been missing since the middle of May.
Ingrid Visser of the Netherlands (right) at the FIVB 2010 Women's Volleyball World Championships in Tokyo on November 14, 2010. Spanish police found two bodies on Monday which according to media reports are of former Dutch international volleyball player Visser and her partner, who have been missing since the middle of May.
Visser, 35, and her partner Lodewijk Severein, 57, disappeared on May 13 shortly after checking into a hotel in Murcia. Their rental car was found nine days later on a street in the southeastern Spanish city.
Their disappearance sparked intense media interest in the Netherlands and volunteers plastered the streets of Murcia with posters calling for information about the whereabouts of the pair.
Murcia police chief Cirilo Duran told a press conference that all the "outward signs" suggested that the bodies found belonged to the missing couple, but added that police are still awaiting results from a DNA analysis to confirm the findings.
"What is clear is that it was a violent death," he said.
Duran said three people have been arrested in the case.
Spanish media, citing sources close to the investigation, reported that the bodies were found in a shallow grave near Murcia.
Visser was part of the Netherlands's gold medal-winning team at the European Championship in 1995 and played for a volleyball team in Murcia between 2009 and 2011.