DNA tests have confirmed that a Bulgarian Roma couple living in abject poverty are the biological parents of a 'mystery blonde girl' named who was discovered near a camp last week, Agence France Presse reported. Svetlozar Lazarov, the Bulgarian interior minister and prosecutors involved the case have yet to decide whether Maria's parents will be detained since she may have been sold, an official said. The young girl, Maria, has been placed in temporary care, The Associated Press reported.
"DNA samples showed that Sasha Ruseva is the biological mother and Atanas Rusev is the biological father of the child called Maria," Lazarov told reporters. "A pre-trial probe was opened on the case against [Ruseva] for allegedly agreeing to sell her child in Greece in 2009," he added. Ruseva allegedly has admitted to giving up a baby in Greece, BBC News reported.
DNA tests proved that a 39-year-old man and 40-year-old woman taking care of Maria were not her real parents, and have been arrested on charges of abduction.
"We gave the child for free. I did not take any money. I had nothing to feed her," Ruseva told reporters in Nikolaevo on Thursday.
Prosecutors have also announced that they pressed preliminary charges against Ruseva for 'deliberately selling a child while residing out of the country," BBC News also reported.
The 35-year-old Ruseva "told police that she had given birth to a baby girl while working in Greece several years ago and left it there with her Greek employers when it was seven months old," as reported by the AFP.
Ruseva had earlier declared that she was ready to take Maria back if DNA tests confirmed that she was her real mother, news reports said.
