FEARS rose yesterday for missing 20-year-old Janka Kovacova yesterday after Ayia Napa police confirmed that all indications pointed to her abduction.
With no suspects or leads surrounding her disappearance, authorities were forced to admit the young Slovak had probably been taken against her will.
“The CID is investigating her abduction or that something worse could have happened,” an investigating officer said.
He added: “There are no traces of her at present… This is the first time such a thing has happened here.”
Kovacova disappeared without a trace in Ayia Napa last Thursday. She was last seen at 2.45am by Andreas, a male colleague, who dropped her off at the entrance gate of the Grecian Bay hotel. Hotel safety measures prevented Andreas from driving his car into the grounds to take Kovacova to her bungalow.
The young woman had been living in the hotel’s staff accommodation since June after she and three former schoolmates found work at the five-star establishment. The girls had planned on staying in Cyprus until the end of the tourist season in October before returning home to Slovakia.
Kovacova’s friends told the Cyprus Mail the 20-year-old had arranged to go out with Andreas for a few drinks after her shift.
“She was tired and stressed after she got off work and said she wanted to go out for a couple of drinks to relax,” Maria, one of the three friends, said.
The pair went to a local bar at around 11.30apm where Kovacova was reportedly seen smiling and having a good time. Three hours later, Andreas drove her back to the hotel because she had said she wanted to be up in time for her 7am waitress shift.
Forty minutes later, the Greek Cypriot told police he received a phone call from Kovacova. He said she sounded frightened and said: “Come. Somebody with a white car and a black T-shirt…” The line then went dead, and despite his repeated calls to her mobile to find out exactly where she was, the Slovak did not pick up.
Maria said: “Around 3.30am, I was sleeping when I heard Andreas’ voice outside. I heard him asking someone ‘where’s Janka’. I woke up to find out what had happened because I knew she was supposed to be with him. I hadn’t been worried that she was out with him because he’s our friend.”
Within minutes, Cristina and Petra, the missing woman’s two other childhood friends, were woken. In turn, each one tried to ring Kovacova, but each time the phone rang on unanswered.
When she failed to show up for her shift at work, the police were contacted.
At 9am, the girls tried to ring their missing friend again, but her mobile’s answering service indicated the phone was shut.
Maria said: “I think somebody abducted her. I don’t know where she is. I hope she is okay. We are waiting for her. We try to ring her every day but her phone is always switched off. We’ve left her messages asking where she is.”
Kovacova’s friends and family have said she not been afraid of anything or anyone before her disappearance. On the contrary, she was very happy at work and socially. She had also recently met someone.
Asked what she could have been doing between the time Andreas dropped her off and when she called him, and whether she could have been arranging to meet someone without her best friends’ knowledge, Maria said that wouldn’t have been possible.
“I don’t know. It only takes five minutes to walk back to the room. Maybe this stranger started talking to her. Maybe he followed her and she knew him. Or maybe she was playing with a kitten I saw. Janka loved cats and she could have been doing that. We’ve thought of everything possible,” she said.
With the 20-year-old’s personal belongings still in her room, including her passport, money and clothes, her friends said it was unlikely she’d run off.
Maria said: “She would also text her family very often and call them once a week. Since last week, she’s done neither.”
She added: “I wanted to stay here until the end of October. Now I’m just waiting for news about Janka. I want her to be found and then I want to go back to Slovakia… The police don’t tell us details. I don’t want to know. I just want her to come back. That’s all I want.”
