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

[Elainera]

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?

It's possible the knife was only brought to threaten and induce fear and compliance. Maybe the perp did not want to leave blood at the location, or get blood on their clothes, or in their car.

 

[indicolite22]

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

In the original article? Translations often give a mix of pronouns. So we have a fisherman, a farmer (gardener) and this lady.

 

[Patrick Jane]

I'm inclined to think the obvious - a predator grabbed her when she was alone in an isolated location. Her murder was brutal and probably lasted from the time that she was abducted until almost the time that her body was dropped 3 or more hours later. The only thing this suggests to me is that this was not his first abduction and murder.

Every criminal event has a conspiracy theory. Almost always, there is no conspiracy. It's just a straight forward predator who abducted a female because he pre-planned to murder a female if he thought he could get away with it.

I'm not sure on the time gap between struggle and murder, and I'm also not sure that this wasn't the perp's first murder.

But, things are certainly pointing to this being an opportunistic murderer, who is most likely a psychopath.

 

[Curiousobserver]

Oh my, I just had a horrible thought. Perhaps he grabbed her by the ear and tore it off in the struggle? I believe she would have fought very hard for her life. Perhaps it was not any significant reason that her ear was missing but instead a sign of how hard she fought? And the knife wounds too could have been from her resistance.

MOO.

I mentioned this up thread a couple of times. When I was an EMT way back when... having an ear partially torn off was a very common injury to see in drunk street or bar fight. If you grab a person by the head and your nails get behind their ear it is very easy to tear it. Usually not completely torn off, just sort of a flap (and we don't know that it was completely torn here either). Right away I thought the ear indicated she put up a heck of a fight.

 

[Curiousobserver]

Men are physically stronger with a different center of balance than women (might be lower, need to double check). Historically, men could always overpower women. I don't know that a self-defense course can change that.

Agree- there is a reason there are weight classes even in single-sex sports for men. If you significantly outsize another person in mass they can't hit you hard enough to cause enough damage to stop you.

 

[Patrick Jane]

It's possible that the person who murdered Suzanne is a nazi sympathizer. That does not mean that her murder is related to nazism.

Exactly. The bunkers are so obscure that there is a short list of people who would know of it. Nazi sympathizers would be on that short list.
And a psychopathic opportunistic killer may also be a Nazi sympathizer. The two are not mutually exclusive.

 

[Patrick Jane]

Unarmed combat vs. an assailant armed with a knife is one of the most difficult and dangerous fight scenarios you can ever face.
Traditional martial arts, like Tae Kwan Do, teach mostly ineffective and unreliable knife defense. However, even if a person were trained in more effective modern counterknife techniques, unarmed combat vs a knife is still very difficult.

 

[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.

This ABC news article references the Greek source I was referring to:

The coroner also told a local media outlet that "something complicated happened" regarding her death.

"Her death was not immediate," he said. "It is not like in a shooting. There was duration involved."

This article is also interesting because we have this:

The American scientist found murdered on the Mediterranean island of Crete fought for her life against an attacker armed with a knife, according to a police source who spoke to ABC News on the condition of anonymity due to the ongoing investigation.

Evidence of Suzanne Eaton's struggle, according to the police source, is based on substantial knife wounds to her body that were discovered during a forensic examination.

The wounds were described as "defensive" in nature.

American found murdered in WWII bunker in Greece fought for her life, police say

AFAIK this is the first time we've heard that the knife wounds were "substantial" and "defensive".

 

[Kitsey]

Patrick Jane, do you have a link to the Greek article that states she died a slow death?

<modsnip - off topic>

 

[Patrick Jane]

Patrick Jane, do you have a link to the Greek article that states she died a slow death?

I saw the phrase "slow death" in this CBS news article.

American scientist murdered in Crete suffered a slow death, forensic pathologists say

It confused me because in English "slow death" one thinks of hours, but I had remembered reading his comments in Greek which sounded like he meant to say that her death was not instantaneous, which could mean hours, but could also be minutes.

I haven't found the Greek source, but the ABC news article I posted above, quotes it.

 

[indicolite22]

It confused me because in English "slow death" one thinks of hours, but I had remembered reading his comments in Greek which sounded like he meant to say that her death was not instantaneous, which could mean hours, but could also be minutes.

Suffocation death would not be instantaneous. Perhaps similar to strangulation. In another case, Sarah Stern was being strangled for half an hour by Liam McAtasney before she died.

 

[Patrick Jane]

I haven't found the Greek source, but the ABC news article I posted above, quotes it.

Ok, I found the Greek source:

«Έγινε κάτι … περίπλοκο και ο θάνατος της Αμερικανίδας δεν ήταν άμεσος. Δεν είναι δηλαδή όπως γίνεται με ένα πυροβολισμό… Εδώ υπήρχε διάρκεια και συνέβη κάτι το περίπλοκο” τόνισε ο διακεκριμένος Κρητικός ιατροδικαστής.

Δολοφονία Σούζαν Ήτον: Δεν την σκότωσαν στη σπηλιά – Οι λεπτομέρειες είναι προς όφελος του δράστη ή των δραστών - zarpanews.gr

and here's the English from the ABC News article again, which is an accurate translation of the Greek above:

The coroner also told a local media outlet that "something complicated happened" regarding her death.

"Her death was not immediate," he said. "It is not like in a shooting. There was duration involved."

American found murdered in WWII bunker in Greece fought for her life, police say

 

[Eloise]

Unarmed combat vs. an assailant armed with a knife is one of the most difficult and dangerous fight scenarios you can ever face.
Traditional martial arts, like Tae Kwan Do, teach mostly ineffective and unreliable knife defense. However, even if a person were trained in more effective modern counterknife techniques, unarmed combat vs a knife is still very difficult.

Too much is being made of SE being a black belt in tae kwan do imo. My partner's ex was a black belt in karate. One night, she got mugged. She said she just froze and the guy just took her stuff (probably the safest thing in the end anyway). In that moment, all her years of self defence training came to naught. That kind of martial arts won't necessarily help in a real situation, where the person you're up against isn't following any rules or obeying any kind of honour system. I imagine there are other kinds of fight styles that are probably more relevant to the kind of violence you'd encounter on the street, e.g. styles based on military fighting (krav maga, for example)

And of course, as already mentioned, a smallish unarmed 60 year old woman vs a man with a weapon? It's no match.

 

[Snoopster]

<modsnip - quoted a removed post and responded to it>


People with knowledge of the bunker could also be people who simply like exploring caves, etc. But I still think is a local who had familiarity with the specific location due to work or residence nearby.

 

[Kitsey]

Ok, I found the Greek source:

«Έγινε κάτι … περίπλοκο και ο θάνατος της Αμερικανίδας δεν ήταν άμεσος. Δεν είναι δηλαδή όπως γίνεται με ένα πυροβολισμό… Εδώ υπήρχε διάρκεια και συνέβη κάτι το περίπλοκο” τόνισε ο διακεκριμένος Κρητικός ιατροδικαστής

Thank you! Ok, so what I’m getting from this is they can’t isolate one specific cause of death? Something complex, he says...

 

[indicolite22]

Thank you! Ok, so what I’m getting from this is they can’t isolate one specific cause of death? Something complex, he says...

No, I've seen it reported that the cuts didn't cause her death, suffocation did. With "complicated" they probably mean the sequence of events.

 

[Elainera]

The coroner also told a local media outlet that "something complicated happened" regarding her death.

I was wondering what that means. Could it be that it looked like there were several attempts to kill her? A knife was used, a rope was mentioned - did they find rope marks around her neck? - but eventually she was killed by someone's hands over her nose and mouth.

It's so sad to think how she must have fought. In the end the guy was too strong for her, or maybe there were more than one.

Moo

 

[glassheater]

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?

This is a good question. Not sure.

 

[Kitsey]

Possibly “complex” points to unintentionally killing her in the process of carrying out other plans (kidnapping for ransom, sexual assault, even extracting information)

ETA: has robbery been explored as a motive? I know she didn’t have a wallet on her, but maybe they were trying to get her card and PIN number?

 

[indicolite22]

Possibly “complex” points to unintentionally killing her in the process of carrying out other plans (kidnapping for ransom, sexual assault, even extracting information)

What could point to unintentional killing? I don't believe extraction of information was a motive here, but even then it could end up in victim's death afterwards. I'm not sure how one could suspect kidnapping for ransom without additional clues.