A beautiful young Ukrainian woman whose lifeless body was found dumped in a field and hidden among brambles was beaten with a metal bar before being suffocated to death with a pillow.

Victim Yana Malayko, 23, originally from Ukraine, was allegedly killed by her ex-boyfriend Dumitru Stratan, 33, from Moldova, in the community of Castiglione delle Stiviere, in Lombardy, Italy, on 20th January.

Her lifeless corpse was found by volunteers and the Carabinieri in the field on Wednesday, 1st February, after a 12-day search. Yana was reportedly found wearing pyjamas.

An autopsy determined that she had been beaten with a metal bar before being suffocated to death with a pillow. The autopsy also determined that she had defensive wounds.

Stratan was arrested after investigators saw him on CCTV footage of his apartment building dragging a large bag down the stairs and loading it into the boot of his car.

Prosecutors believe that the bag contained Yana’s corpse and that Stratan had tried to clean up the crime scene after allegedly murdering her.

Oleksander Malaiko, the young woman’s father, reportedly said in tears after his daughter’s body was found: “She was my sun, and he killed her and threw her on the street like a rubbish bag.

“I only ask that justice be done, I entrust myself to the judiciary: he must pay for everything he has done.”

The grief-stricken father added: “I want to thank everyone: the carabinieri, the volunteers, the citizens of Castiglione and my friend Francesco Porrello, the criminologist Gianni Spoletti, anyone who has been close to me in these days of hell. It’s only thanks to you that I haven’t gone mad.”

Yana’s body is set to be buried in Romano di Lombardia, where she grew up and where her father and grandparents still live.

Stratan remains in custody and is accused of premeditated murder and concealment of a corpse.

The investigation is ongoing.