generalspeaking

Wednesday, July 17, 2019

Death of a Molecular Biologist

"It is of course part of the investigation [suspicious location where body was found]."
"It is a curious place to leave a body, especially when the victim was living and working in Germany."
"Forensic evidence showed suffocation as a cause of death. Further forensic examination presented that the body had many broken ribs, face bones and multiple injuries at both hands."
Eleni Papathnaslo, spokesperson, Crete Police

PHOTO:Molecular biologist Suzanne Eaton in a photo provided by her family.

"We have come to know Suzanne as a lively and committed woman who made a decisive contribution to the development of our institute. Her sudden and untimely death is devastating for us all."
"We will remember Suzanne as a remarkable person. We are profoundly saddened and speechless."
Michael Schroeder, director, TU Dresden Biotechnology Center

A 59-year-old woman randomly selected by a psychopath for abduction, rape and murder. A visitor to Greece, an American woman whose many skills made her quite special. A pianist, an outdoor and exercise enthusiast. A woman with a black belt in taekwondo. A wife and mother. And just incidentally senior research leader at the Max Planck Institute in Germany where she was a molecular biologist with distinction. She was on Crete to attend a conference.

Her colleagues at the conference assumed when she failed to appear at one of the sessions on July 2nd that she had gone out on a regular morning run and was running late. But she never did show up. And an alert went out, the concerned gathering confused and upset at her absence. There were meetings taking place where her attendance was expected, and no reasonable explanation existed to explain why she would voluntarily choose not to be present.

The mystery was cleared up in the most unexpectedly horrible manner when, after establishing that her passport, money and laptop were still present in her hotel room and the wake-up alarm had never been disarmed, the suspicion that she had failed to return to her room the night before was realized. She was nowhere to be seen, and nor were her running shoes. Until two amateur cave explorers discovered her body 11 kilometres from the site of the conference, lying in a Second World War Nazi bunker.

Bundled and tied in burlap, her body manifested signs of torture. Her body was so badly decomposed she was identified through dental records. She had last been seen on July 2 by her colleagues, and her body was discovered on July 8. It was clear a knife had been used in attacking her. She had defensive wounds, but it was by slow asphyxiation that she died, according to the coroner's report. Investigators looked for muscular men with the ability to overpower the woman whose taekwondo skills would certainly have been used.

"[Her body showed signs of] a violent criminal act and possibly sexual abuse."
"This fact, [car tracks leading to the bunker] in combination with the position of the body in the area, strongly supported the argument that the victim was transferred to this location."
"[The apprehended suspect]"provided too many conflicting answers [but], "under the light of the ]collected evidence, [he] confessed his crime."
Konstantinos Lagoudakis, chief of police, Crete

A 27-year-old local man confessed that he had seen the woman alone in an isolated spot where she had taken a break from the conference, and planned to rape her. He rammed her twice with his car rendering her unconscious, placed her in the trunk of the vehicle and drove to the abandoned bunker where he entered through a ventilation shaft. Suzanne Eaton, athlete, musician, scientist, was raped, tortured and murdered. A horrible crime that took place on an idyllic Greek island, committed by a psychopath.