Human remains have been found during the search for a woman who has been missing for nearly 20 years.
Malgorzata Wnuczek, from Poland, went missing on May 31, 2006, while living in Leicester, England, according to a press release from Leicestershire Police. She was last seen after catching a bus from her job at Peter Jackson Logistics.
A “renewed search” for Wnuczek was launched on Tuesday, Sept. 30 after local authorities received information from their colleagues in Poland.
Crews then dug on scrubland off the Great Central Way, where the remains were found, according to an updated press release from police.
It is currently unclear if the remains belong to Wnuczek, police said, noting that “further forensic tests will be undertaken to establish the identity of the person in question.”
However, Detective Superintendent Jenni Greenway, the senior investigating officer, said she hopes “this discovery will provide us with information that helps us understand what may or may not have happened to Malgorzata.”
“Officers are in contact with her family and are providing support to them at what is undoubtedly a difficult time,” Greenway added.
Meanwhile, crews are continuing to search the same area where the remains were found.
Wnuczek was 27 years old when she disappeared nearly two decades ago, according to the BBC.
Police said she last had contact with her family via text message on May 29, 2006, two days before she was reported missing. In 2016, a decade later, “both her loved ones and police made an appeal for information.”
Searches of the River Soar between the bridges in Mill Lane and Upperton Road were conducted in June 2023 “following information provided by Polish police,” police said. However, no clues or remains were found at the time.
A 39-year-old man was arrested in the Greater Manchester area during that portion of the investigation “on suspicion of assisting an offender and perverting the course of justice,” but was later released.
Two years later, the most recent search was launched after Detective Superintendent Jenni Greenway, the senior investigating officer, said authorities “received information that human remains could be buried in this area which could potentially help us establish what happened to Malgorzata.”
“I remain firm in my belief that there may be people still living in the city who know what happened to her,” Greenway said in late September.