Police made four arrests yesterday in connection with the disappearance of five-year-old Mari Luz Cortés, whose body appeared 54 days later in an estuary in Huelva.

27 March 2008

MADRID - Police made four arrests yesterday in connection with the disappearance of five-year-old Mari Luz Cortés, whose body appeared 54 days later in an estuary in Huelva.

Those detained are Santiago del Valle García, a neighbour of the family of this missing girl who has a prior record of child abuse; his wife, Isabel García; and siblings of the couple. They have been charged by police with involuntary homicide.

The disappearance of Mari Luz on 13 January prompted a manhunt by police and local residents, as well as a national campaign for information about her disappearance.

"I was suspicious of him from the very first day," said the little girl's father Juan José Cortés yesterday. "Today we've taken an important step toward justice for Mari Luz."

Cortés went on to say that he was unaware of the suspect's prior record of abuse, claiming that when he found out, "I knew that I would never see my daughter alive again."

[Copyright El Pais 2008]