Bones of missing woman found at Mallorca waste plant

The National Police confirmed on Friday that bones found at a waste treatment plant in Palma belong to Agostina Rubini, the 24-year-old Argentine woman who went missing on the night of 2 October in Palma.
After going out with some friends, the young woman is thought to have climbed into or fallen into a rubbish container where, after losing consciousness, she was taken by a waste collection lorry to the Son Reus treatment plant, according to the investigation by the Homicide Squad.
The police followed the trail of the girl’s mobile phone step by step, the signal of which was detected first in the bin, then in the rubbish truck and, finally, in the Son Reus incinerator.
At a press conference held by the police during the investigation, the chief homicide inspector for the Balearics, Ángel Ruiz, explained that Agostina was very thin and small, and that the consumption of alcoholic, together with the medication she was taking, could have caused her to feel unwell and lose consciousness inside the container.
A witness who was in the Santa Catalina area in Palma that same night saw Agostina’s handbag and blouse neatly arranged at the foot of the container, and said she had heard no noise or cries for help.
With judicial authorisation, the police halted activity at the Son Reus plant and began the search in different parts of the site. The officers sifted through more than 60,000 tonnes of waste and the search lasted for more than a month in 24-hour shifts.
Among the waste, the investigators found more than a thousand bones which were analysed by the Balearic Institute of Legal Medicine. The specialists determined that two of the remains analysed were human, and so they were sent to the laboratory for DNA extraction.
The comparison of the DNA samples obtained from the relatives of the missing young woman proves that two of the human skeletal remains recovered at the waste plant belong to Agostina Rubini.
The police force has thus concluded the investigation, which involved the Institute of Legal Medicine of the islands, agents of the Provincial Brigade of Judicial Police and the Scientific Police, as well as the company that operates the Son Reus plant.