No-Stone-Unturned Approach Leading No Closer in Hunt for Girl's Killer
A ten-month long investigation into the murder of nine-year-old Varvara Ivanova, who was found strangled in March in Narva, has so far not led to any arrests or even official suspects.
“As the number of samples of DNA continues to grow, new comparative forensic tests will be carried out,” Anneli Pärt, the Senior Prosecutor for the Narva Department of Viru District Prosecutor's Office, told Postimees.
Police say 500 DNA forensic tests have been perfomed, most at the Forensic Science Institute in Tallinn, but have not said who the subjects are.
A number of tests have been done outside of Estonia.
Criminal investigators say they have questioned some 50 people and the investigative group meets regularly to keep the search going.
Pärt, the head of the preliminary investigation, added, “I can only state that we will do everything we can and as much as the law permits us.” Interior Minister Ken-Marti Vaher has similarly stated that investigators have been given authority to spare no expense in hunting down the killer.
Varvara disappeared while playing near a Narva ice rink on March 18. Her body was discovered by volunteer searchers on March 23. She had been sexually molested.