Viktoria Marinova's body was found in a park near the River Danube
***Article first published by 'Neon Nettle' on Oct. 8, 2018***
A journalist and TV host who reported the alleged misuse of EU funds was found brutally murdered in the northern Bulgarian town of Ruse, according to local TV station Nova on Sunday.
Viktoria Marinova's body was found in a park near the River Danube, according to Ruse regional prosecutor Georgy Georgiev Marinova was allegedly raped and then strangled to death.
Officials say her death was caused by extreme blows to the head followed by suffocation.
The country's minister has insisted her death is in no way related to exposing the misuse of EU funds.
According to Sputnik: Her body was found on Saturday in a park near the River Danube, according to Ruse local prosecutor Georgy Georgiev. Marinova was purportedly raped, hit repeatedly in the head, and strangled to death.
The victim's personal belongings, including her mobile phone, car keys, glasses, and some of her clothes were missing.
A police inquiry is now underway, with prosecutors probing all leads — both personal and professional.
However, Interior Minister Mladen Marinov told reporters, as cited by Reuters, that there was no ground to suggest that the killing was connected with Marinova's work at the Ruse-based private television station TVN."
It is about rape and murder," he believes.
Marinova was a TVN board member; she had recently started hosting Detector, a current affairs talk show.
The first episode of the show aired on September 30; it featured an investigation into alleged deception in local EU-funded infrastructure projects linked to governments and big businessmen.