Police detain suspect after woman found dead in Viljandi County
Police have arrested a man who they suspect of killing a 35-year-old woman named Ülle.
On Wednesday evening police in Pärnu County detained a 30-year-old man suspected of killing 35-year-old Ülle, who was lost and found dead in Viljandi County. Police have only released her first name.
Police explained that, according to preliminary information, Ülle got off the bus in her area on Aug. 27 and talked to a 30-year-old man on her way home. She was declared missing the next day. Large-scale searches were conducted in the area and, in parallel, police collected additional information from their sources that led to the conviction that the disappearance of the woman was not her own free will. The investigation into the incident continued in the criminal proceedings.
On September 9, the body of a woman with signs of violence was found in a lake in Mulgi Parish, about 50 km from Ülle's home and where she was last seen.
In the course of a police operation yesterday, on the evening of Sept. 11, police arrested a 30-year-old man who, based on evidence gathered so far, is suspected of killing Ülle.
According to Toomas Liiva, a senior prosecutor at the Southern District Prosecutor's Office, said the prosecution will apply to the court to arrest the suspect.
Margus Sass, the head of the Viljandi Police Department, said it was an unusual case for a woman heading home in one of the safest villages in southern Estonia to become a victim of such a serious crime during the day. He said this was not a random attack and that Ülle had known the man.
"Solving this case as quickly as possible and giving the community a sense of security was from the beginning and continues to be very important to the police," he said.
Murder may be punishable by six to fifteen years' imprisonment.
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Editor: Helen Wright