Police attempting to chart route taken by deceased missing Briton

Police on Thursday are continuing their efforts to clarify the exact events that lead to the death of 79-year-old Ann Naisbitt, a UK national who was reported as leaving her residence in Paphos around 10 am on April 3 and had been missing ever since.

A skull and bones found scattered in a remote area between Koloni and Marathounta were confirmed via genetic testing on Wednesday as belonging to the woman and items of clothing and a necklace were identified by relatives of the deceased.

Paphos CID chief, Michalis Nikolaou, told the Cyprus News Agency that the investigations will continue and CCTV footage is being sought in an effort to chart the course followed by the 79-year-old who is presumed to have walked from her home to the remote area.

Nikolaou added that genetic testing is continuing on other bones found in the area.

The cause of the woman’s death has yet to be ascertained. Unfortunately, Nikolaou said, the fact that isolated bones rather than a complete body were found, adds to the challenge.

“We can not predetermine the outcome and all avenues of investigation will be exhausted,” the police chief said.

The woman’s skull was found last Sunday, on May 14.

Nikolaou told the Cyprus Mail that a search involving a wide area had been underway since the time the woman was declared missing. Police scoured CCTV footage and posted the woman’s image on multiple social media platforms in an intensive effort to determine what direction the woman had taken.

Nikolaou said the woman’s son had noticed her absence and reported her missing hours after she is thought to have left her home in the centre of Paphos. The search was complicated and a drone could not be used effectively since the woman’s potential whereabouts were so undetermined.

The initial discovery of the skull by a local farmer was followed by a sweep of the area by members of the police and civil defense, during which the other objects were located in a dry riverbed.