A mother who had advertised for a nanny’s job on Facebook was found dead in a field after she was beaten, raped and strangled.

The police in Argentina have arrested two men and a woman who are understood to have posed as potential employers after she advertised her services as a caregiver for children and the elderly.

Victim Maria Laura Cejas, 38 – who has an 18-year-old daughter – had used the social media platform to say she was looking for a job as a caregiver.

After a potential employer contacted her, she went off with him to discuss the new job.

But she was found dead in wasteland in General Rodriguez on Sunday, 8th January, brutally beaten and raped.

Her sister had to identify her body – wearing just a bikini – from her tattoos, reported local media.

Police seized three suspects, two men and a woman.

Local media reported that the woman is the girlfriend of one of the men and the daughter of the other.

Two of the suspects have been named as Emiliano de Jesus Orfei, 50, and Rocio Martinez, 25.

A third man – named as Martin de Moreno who had taken Maria to a farm – is not said to be a suspect.

CCTV footage – said to show two people dumping Maria’s body – is being examined by prosecutor Andrea Rodriguez.

An autopsy established that Maria had died of “traumatic heart failure” caused by “mechanical asphyxiation due to cervical compression”.

The victim was also found with “injuries to the upper and lower limbs, abdomen and head”.

The investigation is ongoing.