Body of Cádiz woman missing for five years found lying on her bed

For five years, nobody wondered where Pilar M. was.

A nurse by trade, she went on sick leave in 2010 and was never heard from again. But not a single person made any inquiries.

Then, on November 30 of this year, construction workers restoring the façade of a building in the city of Cádiz, in southern Spain, looked through a window that was slightly ajar and saw a dead body lying on a bed.

The police said Pilar M. took sick leave for psychological reasons in 2010, and never returned to her post

The workers called in the fire service, who accessed the apartment and confirmed that a deceased woman was inside. The body showed no signs of violence, but due to its advanced state of decay, the cause of death will be determined by an autopsy, the police said.

A team of specialists from the police’s scientific unit confirmed that the body belongs to Pilar M., who was born in Cádiz in 1961 and died at the age of 49.

Pilar M. lived on the second floor of a residential building on Columela street, a pedestrian area in the center of the Andalusian city. She was the only tenant in the building apart from some office workers who came in regularly.

The police said that Pilar M. took sick leave for psychological reasons in 2010, and never returned to her post. Her only living relatives were some cousins who do not live in Cádiz.

The only people who tried to contact her in that time were the utility companies, in order to warn her that her bills were going unpaid. Eventually, her electricity and water were cut off.

English version by Susana Urra.