Miriam Azzopardi

Miriam Azzopardi was a 47 year old Maltese woman from St Paul's Bay who was not a public figure until she was killed. She became known to the wider public only through the circumstances of her death, which has been treated by Maltese police as a femicide, and through the tributes paid to her afterwards by her children and family.

She was the mother of three, a son and two daughters, and those who knew her described her in the days after her death as warm and funny. Her family said she had a good sense of humour and, according to relatives quoted in Maltese media, that she never caused anyone trouble. Her sister Loriana Azzopardi paid tribute to her, remembering her sense of humour and asking her to watch over the family she left behind.

Azzopardi was found dead on the morning of Wednesday 23 September 2026 in a field off Triq is Salib tal Marsa, in the Marsa area of Malta. A passer by alerted police officers who were on foot patrol nearby after spotting what appeared to be a lifeless woman lying beneath trees. Officers confirmed the discovery at around 10.20am and forensic experts were called to the scene.

An autopsy carried out that afternoon found that she had died from strangulation, with marks on her neck consistent with having been strangled by hand, and investigators estimated she had been dead for roughly twelve hours, placing her death on the Tuesday night before her body was found. Police initially could not rule out that she had been killed elsewhere and her body moved to the field, but CCTV footage later established that the killing took place on the spot where she was discovered. Her death was formally classified as a homicide, and a magisterial inquiry was opened under Magistrate Joe Mifsud alongside the police investigation.

A 34 year old Ghanaian man living in Marsa was arrested within hours of the discovery of her body, after investigators traced him using CCTV footage and seized a number of his belongings. He was named in court as Isaac Asare, and on Friday 25 September 2026, two days after her death, he was arraigned before Magistrate Astrid May Grima charged with her femicide and with the violent theft of a phone and other items. He pleaded not guilty to both charges and did not request bail. No motive or relationship between Azzopardi and the man charged in her death has been made public.

Her death prompted an outpouring of condolences in Malta, where it was reported as the country's second murder of the year, and her daughters shared photographs and memories of their mother on social media in the days that followed. As of today, no funeral or memorial arrangements have been publicly announced.