Spanish police probe witness claims they saw missing teen Diana Quer

The Spanish Civil Guard is investigating reports by witnesses who claim they recently saw Diana Quer, a Madrid teenager who went missing during her summer vacation in Galicia.

The case of the missing 18-year-old has made national headlines ever since her disappearance on August 22 in A Pobra do Caramiñal, the coastal town where she was spending the summer with her mother and younger sister.

Pictures of Diana Quer have been sent out to authorities in Portugal, France, Italy and Belgium

Conflicting testimony provided by the mother, who recently lost custody of the younger child, and a well-publicized dispute between both parents, have stoked public interest in the Quer case.

After the search was extended beyond Spain’s borders, some witnesses now say they recently saw the young woman in two municipalities in the Galician province of Lugo, not far from where she disappeared.

Sources familiar with the investigation said these witnesses placed Diana Quer in the villages of Castroverde and Pedrafita do Cebreiro around two weeks ago.

The eyewitnesses said they saw the teenager inside a bookstore in Castroverde in the company of an older man who spoke English. In Pedrafita, she was reportedly seen at a restaurant.

Both of these municipalities happen to be located along the Camino de Santiago, a pilgrimage route used by thousands of people every day.

Diana Quer went missing after walking home from the local fiestas on August 22. Investigators have tracked her cellphone signals to the area of Taragoña (Rianxo), some 15 kilometers from the road she used to walk home. After that, the phone went dead.

Although it was initially believed that Diana never made it home, new evidence suggests that she walked in, changed her clothes and left again, for unclear reasons.

It has since emerged that Diana and her mother had a rocky relationship, and that the teen had apparently threatened to leave home on several occasions. Shortly before her disappearance, neighbors reported that the three women had a loud argument at home.

The teenager’s relatives have claimed from the beginning that she is being held against her will. Her father told the media that Diana had “unsavory friends.”

Pictures of Diana Quer have been sent out to authorities in Portugal, France, Italy and Belgium in a bid to find leads as to her whereabouts.

English version by Susana Urra.