Family of trailblazing female Spanish mayor hail DNA match to remains

Discovery after cemetery exhumation throws spotlight on legacy of Maria Dominguez Remon

More than eight decades after she was murdered, the remains of Spain's first female mayor of the second republic have been identified, wrapping up a months-long investigation that has helped to cast a spotlight on Maria Dominguez Remon's trailblazing legacy.

An exhumation, carried out earlier this year in the small town of Fuendejalon, Aragon, ignited hopes that the remains of Dominguez had been found. A handful of clues hinted that the remains were those of the feminist and rights activist; the location dovetailed with reports of where she was believed to be, the skull bore a hole where it had been punctured by a bullet and lying with the remains was a small brown comb like that worn by Dominguez.