Valencia police are forced to go through heaps of trash in dump yards after the confession of a convicted drug dealer. Columbian Jorge Ignacio Palma surrendered to the police after a manhunt was launched to find him. Police suspected he was related to the disappearance of Marta Calvo Buron. After nearly a month since Buron's disappearance, Palma turned himself in. In his confession, he told the police that he had murdered Buron, chopped up her body, and thrown her body parts into street bins.

Buron had met Palma in his rented apartment in Valencia on November 7. After meeting Palma, Buron became untraceable. The 25-year-old woman had sent the location of where she was meeting Palma to her mother. When her family approached the police, they were able to find the location and link Palma to the disappearance.

The police had already been hunting Palma since April. In April, Palma had been with a prostitute in a brothel. He was witnessed running away from the brothel where the prostitute he was with, died after suffering convulsions. The police had been tracking Palma down to question him about the death of the prostitute.

Beirut rubbish collection you stink
ex-convict confessed to chopping up and throwing body parts of his online date into street trash cans Anwar Amro/AFP

Police suspected that Palma had fled to Italy where he had been hiding since April. However, on December 4, it turned out that Palma had been hiding in Spain.

Palma told the police that his family had convinced him to turn himself in. The details of the confession are unclear. However, the police search of waste plants in the region hinted that Palma disposed of Buron's body by throwing bits of it in the trash. A household waste plant in the region was asked to halt operations to allow the investigators to go through the collected trash.

The Daily Mail pointed out that in 2008, Palma had been arrested for possession of nine kilos of cocaine. He served his sentence for drug trafficking in Italy.

To find the missing woman's body, police searched the rented apartment where the two had met as well as a car which Palma had tried to dispose of in a scrapyard. Police are yet to announce if they have found Buron's body based on Palma's confession.

Spain