Found Deceased Greece - Dr. Suzanne Eaton, 60, American, gone for a run, Crete, 2 Jul 2019 *ARREST*

[Elainera]

But it raises the troubling question: she was not merely murdered. She was abducted as well. Why?

Many murderers love to prolong the act of killing by precluding it with (repeated) rape and torture. For that they need a spot where they can't be observed.

 

[indicolite22]

The red arrow points down hill.

View attachment 193379

The bench is actually next to the car on your pic.

 

[Elainera]

Just thinking out loud, might envy be part of the motive? A comparatively poor local sees these "rich" and highly educated Americans and Germans etc come there year after year, and some form of hate develops in him?

 

[indicolite22]

Otto - a few questions regarding your theory. If only one attacker, how was Suzanne restrained if the perp drove the car? If he was a predator, presumably rape was the motive. Why were there no signs of rape when the body was discovered? Why was she fully clothed? If rape was the motive, why dispose of a body in a tunnel where all evidence of rape would remain untouched??
You keep alluding to the perp having done this before, but murders are extremely rare on Crete.

I agree with your last point. If he did this before, who else is missing from the area? Where did he put them? I think he might have other offences, but this was likely his first murder. It's also possible that he used to live somewhere else and only came in close contact with the bunker after moving to the area.

If rape was involved, he probably thought that she would never be found in the bunker or that the evidence would be gone by then.

 

[otto]

Just thinking out loud, might envy be part of the motive? A comparatively poor local sees these "rich" and highly educated Americans and Germans etc come there year after year, and some form of hate develops in him?

Men who are most violent and abusive might be most insecure. If so, then yes, envy could be a problem between men and intelligent women.

 

[indicolite22]

Just thinking out loud, might envy be part of the motive? A comparatively poor local sees these "rich" and highly educated Americans and Germans etc come there year after year, and some form of hate develops in him?

A local spotting her running would have no idea of her nationality, education or wealth. She was one of the many tourists. People often vacation in the same area.

 

[CityDancer]

1. Either the motive was sexual, or

2. She was run over by a car (bad visibility and abrupt turns at the stretch between "bridge" and the intersection before the Academy) and the driver panicked

• Perhaps underage
• Perhaps drunk
• Perhaps a repeat offender

and decided to hide the accident.

If run over and her injury was serious but not fatal, the perp may have thought of driving away, leaving her there, but

• She might have been moaning loudly and generally would draw attention very quickly -> someone with a car could chase after him, or report having just seen his car drive by,
  
• She would be taken to hospital, possibly recover, and would be able to describe the perp and his car to police.

The so-called "stab" wounds may in fact be due to the car accident (hard to tell, her body is found severely decomposed) and the mouth and nose asphyxiation may be due to the killer wanting to silence her/finish her off.

 

[otto]

OK Otto, you raise good points. I was with you, too, and believed as you did, up until the point that I discovered that there's no evidence of a sexual assault.

BBM
Do you have a link stating that there is "no evidence of sexual assault"? Wearing clothing does not mean no sexual assault.

Word is out regarding sexual assault. It was published at the time that her body was found on July 8 that it would take 2 weeks to determine sexual assault. The corpse was 6 days old, making it more challenging to find, obtain and analyze evidence.

We should hear something abut whether there was sexual assault on July 22.

 

[otto]

1. Either the motive was sexual, or

2. She was run over by a car (bad visibility and abrupt turns at the stretch between "bridge" and the intersection before the Academy) and the driver panicked

• Perhaps underage
• Perhaps drunk
• Perhaps a repeat offender

and decided to hide the accident.

If run over and her injury was serious but not fatal, the perp may have thought of driving away, leaving her there, but

• She might have been moaning loudly and generally would draw attention very quickly -> someone with a car could chase after him, or report having just seen his car drive by,
  
• She would be taken to hospital, possibly recover, and would be able to describe the perp and his car to police.

The so-called "stab" wounds may in fact be due to the car accident (hard to tell, her body is found severely decomposed) and the mouth and nose asphyxiation may be due to the killer wanting to silence her/finish her off.

I don't believe that shallow stab wounds can be mistaken for car crash injuries.

 

[LemonMint]

Suzanne Eaton Murder Case: Ten people brought to police - Keep Talking Greece

 

[otto]

Suzanne Eaton Murder Case: Ten people brought to police - Keep Talking Greece

Are, or were, any of them called Nico?

 

[CityDancer]

Investigations now narrowed down to 3 or 4 suspects.
Στενεύει ο κλοιός για τη δολοφονία της Αμερικανίδας βιολόγου στα Χανιά: Συγκεκριμένα άτομα ερευνά η Αστυνομία - zarpanews.gr

 

[indicolite22]

The so-called "stab" wounds may in fact be due to the car accident (hard to tell, her body is found severely decomposed) and the mouth and nose asphyxiation may be due to the killer wanting to silence her/finish her off.

It would depend on the location of these stab wounds. If these were numerous defensive wounds, they would not be consistent with a car hitting her. Also, what part of a car would cause multiple small cuts?
Were there any prior cases when someone hit a person with their car unintentionally, with the person surviving the crash and they then murdered the person and hid the body in order to cover up the accident?

 

[indicolite22]

According to the article below, one of the sightings of Suzanne in Afrata could be unreliable, since the person only saw someone who looked like Suzanne from a far. The person went to check when their dogs started barking. Presumably (IMO) the eyewitness was at home at the time.

Το «σκοτεινό» τετ-α-τετ της Suzanne με το δολοφόνο, η κατάθεση και το γάβγισμα των σκυλιών | Cretalive

 

[Patrick Jane]

I'm confused on the coroner's "slow death" comment.
I seem to remember him (I believe this was in a Greek source) saying that her death was not instantaneous, which, to me, did not rule out the possibility of a struggle, followed by suffocation.
Is it possible she was suffocated at the scene of the struggle? Or shortly thereafter?
Some here are speculating that she might have been kept alive for hours. I'm wondering what that is based on.

 

[indicolite22]

I'm confused on the coroner's "slow death" comment.
I seem to remember him (I believe this was in a Greek source) saying that her death was not instantaneous, which, to me, did not rule out the possibility of a struggle, followed by suffocation.
Is it possible she was suffocated at the scene of the struggle? Or shortly thereafter?
Some here are speculating that she might have been kept alive for hours. I'm wondering what that is based on.

I would think that people speculate, based on the reported numerous cuts and the ear being cut off, that she was tortured. IMO it's possible that cuts were defensive wounds (experts could tell the difference) and that she was killed shortly after being assaulted.

 

[Patrick Jane]

Could it be possible that the motive was sexual assault, but that she fought so fiercely that the perp was taken aback, not expecting that, and he killed her in the process?

This has crossed my mind as well. He may of covered her face to prevent her from screaming and suffocated her in the process. ( I feel terrible typing this out)

The perp had a knife. Why not kill her with the knife? Can we deduce anything from the fact that she was suffocated rather than killed with the knife?

 

[Patrick Jane]

I would think that people speculate, based on the reported numerous cuts and the ear being cut off, that she was tortured. IMO it's possible that cuts were defensive wounds (experts could tell the difference) and that she was killed shortly after being assaulted.

Ok, thanks for the clarification.

I found this article you posted earlier in the thread, which also mentioned that LE might be looking for a rope.

Κρήτη: Η βιολόγος πάλεψε με τον δολοφόνο της - Συγκλονίζει ο γιος της αδικοχαμένης Suzanne Eaton.

So (to speculate) . . . . if there was evidence in the autopsy that she had been tied up by a rope, this would suggest the victim survived the initial struggle and was possibly tortured and suffocated at a secondary location (not the bunker).

 

[CityDancer]

According to the article below, one of the sightings of Suzanne in Afrata could be unreliable, since the person only saw someone who looked like Suzanne from a far. The person went to check when their dogs started barking. Presumably (IMO) the eyewitness was at home at the time.

Το «σκοτεινό» τετ-α-τετ της Suzanne με το δολοφόνο, η κατάθεση και το γάβγισμα των σκυλιών | Cretalive

This is probably a third sighting, apart from the two elderly men, as the eyewitness in this article is described as a "she".

 

[indicolite22]

The perp had a knife. Why not kill her with the knife? Can we deduce anything from the fact that she was suffocated rather than killed with the knife?

We possibly have 3 different locations: the spot where she was abducted from, the location where she died and finally where she was found. Deep stab wounds would cause bleeding and the perp didn't want to clean and leave more evidence behind. Also, the knife could have been small. Depending on where they were, they might have covered/taped her mouth to stop her from screaming.