Police in Spain found an eight-year-old boy dead in the boot of his stepmother's car, the government said Sunday, in a case that has gripped the nation.
Hundreds of officers had been mobilised in the search for Gabriel Cruz after he went missing in late February in the southeastern village of Las Hortichuelas.
Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy tweeted his condolence. "I share with all Spaniards the pain of losing Gabriel," he wrote.
Police have arrested the father and his partner Ana Julia Quezada, the BBC reported.
The missing person's alert with a photo of the smiling boy went viral in Spain via mobile messaging services and social media.
"This morning, the Civil Guard stopped the companion of Gabriel's father while she was transporting the little boy's corpse in the boot of a car," Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said.
The boy was last seen on February 27 at his grandmother's house in the village of Las Hortichuelas in the Spanish municipality of Nijar, according to the BBC.
A T-shirt with the eight-year old boy's DNA was found 10 km from Nijar by his father Mr Cruz and his partner Ms Quezada.
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