Missing Ecuadorian lawyer found murdered, husband wanted

A young woman lawyer was found murdered in Ecuador 10 days after going missing, the government said, in the latest femicide in a country plagued by violence against women.

The body of Maria Belen Bernal, who was 34, was found on a hill some five kilometers from the Quito police training school where she went missing on September 11 on a visit to her husband there, Interior Minister Patricio Carrillo said on Twitter.

Her husband, Lieutenant German Caceres, is on the run and is considered the main suspect in the woman's death, according to police.

"I deeply regret her death, a femicide that will not go unpunished," Carrillo said as he announced the discovery of Bernal's body.

President Guillermo Lasso, also on Twitter, vowed that Bernal's "femicide will not go unpunished and all those responsible will be subject to the law."

Bernal disappeared after entering the police college to visit her instructor husband, according to her family.

Two days after she was reported missing, Caceres also disappeared, prompting a manhunt and his dismissal from his job.

The head of the training school was also fired, and the government has offered a $20,000 reward for Caceres' capture.

"We will not rest until we bring the murderer to justice," a police statement said.

The crime of femicide is punishable by up to 26 years in prison in Ecuador.

According to the prosecutor's office, at least 573 femicides have been registered in Ecuador's population of 17.7 million since 2014.