Greek farmer who raped and killed an American scientist in 2019 claimed that he was possessed by demons, a police officer told a courtroom in Crete on October 13.
Greek farmer "possessed" by demons
In July 2019, the body of a molecular biologist, Suzanne Eaton, who worked at the Max Planck Institute at Dresden University, was found near Chania's city on the Greek Island.
The police were able to identify the suspect, Yiannis Paraskakis, a married father of two. He is on trial for rape, manslaughter, and illegal weapons possession. He is also the son of a local priest.
According to the police officer who interrogated Paraskakis, he confessed after being interrogated for six hours straight. In court, he told the judges that he was possessed by demons giving him orders, as reported by The Times.
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The 59-year-old victim had gone out hiking on the day of her murder, leaving behind her mobile phone. Paraskakis ran over her on the road, put her in the trunk of his car, and drove to an abandoned World War II bunker.
That was where he sexually assaulted her and dumped her lifeless body. Six days later, she was found by cave explorers.
The 28-year-old suspect is the son of a local priest. He had been held in prison at the town of Tripoli on the Greek mainland, but he was eventually transferred to the Cretan town of Rethymno for the trial, according to CrimeOnline.
In a released statement after Eaton's death, the Max Planck Institute said that it was deeply shocked and disturbed by the tragic event.
The crime
Dr. Eaton was a renowned molecular biologist with the Max Planck Society in Germany. She was attending a conference on the Greek Island when she decided to leave her hotel room to go for a jog in the afternoon of July 2, 2019.
An extensive search was launched by the police, local residents, and Eaton's family members, who thought she got lost and may have become dehydrated and collapsed somewhere. They dismissed the possibility that she was attacked as she had a black-belt in Taekwondo.
However, Eaton's beaten, and bloodied body was discovered days later in an abandoned World War II bunker. With the bunker surrounded by massive overgrown bushes and shrubbery. Few people know of its existence. Paraskakis had uploaded videos of himself exploring the tunnels, which lead the police to his door.
Paraskakis admitted to the police that in a state of irritation, he rammed into Eaton twice with his car after he noticed her jogging alongside the Memorial for Greek Cadets on July 2, according to The New York Post
The suspect then got out of his car, stabbed Eaton to stifle her cries before putting her unconscious body into the trunk of his car. He also said that putting her in the back of his car had given him a "sexual thrill." He then drove to the bunker, where he raped her and left her to die.
An autopsy of the doctor's body confirmed that she had suffered severe fractures as a result of being struck by the car, leaving her defenseless.
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