Police in three EU neighboring countries have been called in to investigate a chilling murder in which the victim was hacked to pieces and her body parts dumped across the border.
Authorities confirmed on Tuesday that the head and legs found Nov. 1 in the German city of Trier belonged to the body found Sept. 19 in the French city of Mont-Saint-Martin.
The towns are about 60km apart on either side of the small country of Luxembourg, where a 48-year-old man was arrested on October 6 on murder charges.
The victim was identified as a 40-year-old Portuguese woman named Diana Santos, who lived in northern Luxembourg.
Luxembourg media reported suspicions that the gruesome crime was linked to an arranged marriage.
German and Luxembourg police said on Tuesday that DNA tests confirmed all body parts belonged to Santosh.
According to investigators, it appears that she was killed in one location and her remains were transported to locations where they were later found.
The torso in the French city was found in an abandoned building and identified by its tattoos. The French autopsy found no gunshot or stab wounds or signs of sexual abuse on the remains.
The body parts left behind in Germany were spotted in a bush near a parking lot.
Prosecutors in the Luxembourg city of Diekirch, where Santosh resided, took up the case.
Diekirch is roughly equidistant between Trier and Mont Saint-Martin.
EU law enforcement authorities often cooperate on cross-border crime both on a bilateral basis and through the European agencies Europol and Eurojust.
