Has the Family of Maria Been Found in Bulgaria?

Sasha Ruseva, presumed mother of Maria from Greece, said the child looks like her own, but could not be 100% certain. She admits she has left one of her children in Greece, but denies taking money for the girl. Photo by BGNES

Maria's biological family may be living in central Bulgaria, Greek website claims

By Fiona Govan, Kostas Kallergis in Lamia and Ivo Maev in Kameno

The Daily Telegraph

Police in Greece and Bulgaria are investigating whether a Bulgarian woman could be the biological mother of Maria, the girl found living in a Roma community in central Greece.

The woman is thought to have given birth in a hospital in Lamia, an hour south of the Farsala settlement where Maria was found last week.

She has been named by local media as Sasha Ruseva, 35, originally from Burgas, a city on Bulgaria's Black Sea coast.

Mrs Ruseva has been traced back to Nikolaevo village in Bulgaria, and is awaiting the results of a DNA test to determine whether she could in fact be the birth mother of little blonde Maria.

Hospital birth records show a baby girl was born to Mrs Ruseva on January 31, 2009 – the same date given as the birthday by the Roma couple who claimed the girl as their own.

Mrs Ruseva attempted to register the infant girl with authorities 10 days after she gave birth in a public hospital, claiming that she was unmarried and could not name the father.

However, authorities became suspicious because she presented identity documents that showed she was married and had two previous children with her husband.

A municipal worker at the registry office flagged it up, writing across the top of the certificate application: "Warning – she is married".

A footnote explained: "NB: she is married although at the hospital stated she was unmarried but she gave her married name – we are awaiting judicial decision."

It is unclear whether that judicial decision ever came.

The documents were published on Greek website Zougla.gr on Thursday morning.

Greek police asked for the assistance of Bulgarian police to determine whether indeed she was the biological mother of Maria, the girl who was found last Wednesday at a Roma settlement in Farsala, 200 miles north of Athens.

Neighbours of the pair said that they had at least eight children between them and that four of them were "very blonde like Maria".

The new details seem to support the story given to a judge on Monday by Christos Salis, 39 and Eleftheria Dimopoulou, 40 who were charged with child abduction after a raid on the Farsala settlement last week.

They deny snatching the child but insist she was given to them when she was a few weeks old by an impoverished Bulgarian woman who said she couldn't care for her.

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