La Paz  - Rufina Morales, a first cousin of Bolivian President Evo Morales, was murdered and mutilated in the central Bolivian city of Cochabamba, police said Wednesday.

The woman, 73, who had gone missing last week, was found dead by locals Tuesday in a ravine.

Police were working on the hypothesis that she had been attacked by robbers who then threw her body in the ravine, then dismembered by stray dogs. Only her head and her pelvis were found intact, while her heart and other internal organs were missing

"The woman's body was devoured by street dogs that wander around the area where she was found," Bolivian media quoted Cochabamba police as saying.

Rufina Morales had been reported missing on June 8, after she left her home to get a subsidy that the Bolivian state grants to people above 60 years of age. (dpa)