On November 16, the case of the brutal murder of the distinguished American molecular biologist Suzanne Eaton, motivated by her sexual abuse by 31-year-old Haniotis, who accidentally spotted his “prey” jogging very close to the facilities of the Orthodox Academy of Crete, in Kolymbari.

It is a case that has extensively covered even the international media, in America and Europe, as well 60-year-old Suzanne was a leading scientist in her field.

The young perpetrator, the son of a priest, married with young children, did not even know her, nor had he even seen her before in his life. It was July 2019 and Suzanne was a speaker at a scientific conference at the Orthodox Academy premises. In between morning and afternoon sessions, Eaton, who was an accomplished Tae Kwon Do athlete, went for a jog. She didn’t have her cell phone with her as there was no signal in the area, something she had realized the day before so she left it in the room. On the way she was spotted by the 31-year-old Chaniotis, who put his evil plan into action.

He hit her two or three times with the car, going back and forth, in order to neutralize her. He loaded her covered in blood into the trunk, took her to the Maleme area where he allegedly raped her multiple times (alive and dead), until he got rid of her, throwing her body from a great height, through a hole in the roof of the German shelter where she body found accidentally days later.

The defendant tried to turn the tables

Although preliminary the young accused had confessed everything in chilling detail, in the court of first instance he tried (unsuccessfully) to turn the black into white and to overturn the existing facts.

“He was jogging. I didn’t feel anything sexual. I passed her, turned, turned. This was all an accident. He wanted to cross the street, he didn’t look back, I didn’t have time to react. I trapped her under the car and to free her, I reversed. I saw her condition and was disgusted. She was heavy, with a severed ear. I thought he wouldn’t live. I only saw these in the movies. I couldn’t see it as a picture so I put it in the trunk. At first I thought about saying it but I was afraid. That was a big mistake but I wasn’t thinking clearly. I took her to the shelter. I backed up as close as I could to the vent hole. With what little I know, I took his pulse and saw that he was starting to freeze. He wasn’t breathing. So I thought of throwing her away. That’s wrong too. I thought he was dead. While I was driving I heard noises and the moans of the forgiven woman. I couldn’t understand words. I grabbed her by the legs, dragged her and threw her. I went to a cemetery, I bleached the car and sat for 20 minutes to calm down. I washed the car again two or three days later. I couldn’t stand her smell and I could still hear her moans. And with the bleach…the voices disappeared.”

Both friends testified in court that on the fateful night they were supposed to enter the metal detector shelter and find themselves in front of the body of the missing Susan. Their presence in this mysterious place functioned as a divine judgment because if they did not find it, perhaps the end of the thread would never be found. The 31-year-old was sentenced at first instance to life imprisonment for the murder of the American biologist and to 13 years in prison for raping her. It is recalled that the victim’s husband and two sons were not present at the trial. Even then they were unaware of the chilling aspects of the case and were psychologically supported.