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Body found in suitcase in Italian port of Rimini Body found in suitcase in Italian port of Rimini
(about 3 hours later)
Police are investigating whether a body found in a suitcase in an Italian port could be that of a missing Dublin-based woman. Police are investigating the discovery of an Asian woman's body in a suitcase at the Italian port town of Rimini.
Chinese-born Xing Lei Li went missing on a cruise in February. She was last seen on 10 February after boarding the ship in Genoa. The woman likely died of malnutrition and showed signs of extended physical suffering, police told Italian media.
Ms Li's husband Daniel Belling was arrested in Rome attempting to board a flight to Dublin last month. Previous reports had linked the body to a missing Dublin-based woman, who has not been seen since 10 February when she boarded a ship to Genoa.
His lawyer insists the suitcase body is too tall to be that of Ms Li. However, investigators have now ruled out any link between the body and the existing investigation.
Mr Belling insists she left the cruise following an argument, but no evidence has been found of his wife leaving the ship. Chinese-born Xing Lei Li is still unaccounted for, and her husband Daniel Belling was arrested in Rome attempting to board a flight to Dublin last month.
She was allegedly only reported missing when staff did a head-count when the cruise ended. Italy's Ansa news agency said police are now "certain" the body is not that of Ms Li.
The couple were on a family holiday on the MSC Magnifica with their two young children, who now remain in Italian protective custody. Her height does not match that of the corpse, and the cruise ship she was on did not stop anywhere near the location of the body.
The suitcase found was in the port of Rimini, northeast of Rome and hundreds of miles away from where Italian police had suggested Ms Li could have been murdered and thrown overboard. The suitcase was found in the port of Rimini, northeast of Rome and hundreds of miles away from where Italian police had suggested Ms Li could have been murdered and thrown overboard.
Local reports (in Italian) suggest the dismembered body of an Asian female was found in a black bag inside a suitcase by port workers. She is believed to have been dead for at least 10 days. The man who discovered the suitcase floating in the marina at the port told local TV he had initially thought the case was particularly heavy because it was waterlogged.
However Mr Belling's solicitor has denied the body found could be that of Ms Li, insisting: "The body in the suitcase is 170cm in height, but Daniel Belling's wife is smaller than that." He said he only discovered a body wrapped in a black plastic bag once he opened the case on the dock.
Rimini's chief prosecutor told local news sources (in Italian) that they were exploring whether the body could be that of Ms Li, and were in close communication with police in Rome. Police found no evidence of violent death during an autopsy and believe she may have been "nearly dead when she was put into the suitcase", Ansa reported.
"She looked as if she'd come out of a labour camp," the news agency quoted its sources as saying.
Police said they were examining all possibilities in the new case.