Greek Mystery Girl's Mom Identified

Sure enough, Sasha Ruseva of Bulgaria is her biological parent
By Kevin Spak,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 25, 2013 11:10 AM CDT
DNA Tests Reveal Greek Mystery Girl's Mom
Minka Ruseva, daughter of Sasha Ruseva, covers her face in a Roma neighborhood of Nikolaevo, Bulgaria, Friday, Oct. 25, 2013.   (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)

It's official: The "mystery girl" found living with a Roma couple in Greece is the biological daughter of another Roma couple from Bulgaria, DNA tests have confirmed. Sasha Ruseva and her husband Atanas are genetic matches for the girl, who is known as Maria, the Bulgarian Interior Ministry said, according to NBC. Ruseva has reportedly been telling neighbors that she "was a fool to leave the kid there," her grandmother says.

The grandmother also said that if the tests were conclusive, but Ruseva didn't want to take Maria back, "then I will go there and I will take her home, because I'm her great-grandmother." But the couple who raised Maria, now in jail on kidnapping charges, want her too, saying they will pursue legal custody, the AP reports. The entire incident has drawn attention to a wealth of baby trafficking in Greece; a couple was arrested this week for buying a girl for about $5,500, Reuters reports, in the third such case since last week. (More Greece stories.)

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