Developments are moving rapidly in the case of 45-year-old Stavroula Leventaki in Chania, who had been missing since May 30. On the morning of Sunday, June 21, her body was discovered buried in a rural area, while the 43-year-old tenant of her property — who had been at the center of the investigation from the very beginning — confessed to her murder.
Chania: What Giorgos Kalliakmánis revealed to parapolitika.gr about the murder of Stavroula Leventaki
According to information, the body of the 45-year-old was found buried in a field in Vatolakkos, Chania, approximately five kilometers from the house where the tenant was living. The man, a national of North Macedonia, led police to the location and admitted that he was the one who took her life, subsequently attempting to destroy all evidence of the crime.
As Giorgos Kalliakmánis, president of the Police Officers’ Union of Southeastern Attica, told parapolitika.gr, the 43-year-old claimed that a heated argument with Stavroula Leventaki preceded the killing, triggered after she reprimanded him. According to his statement to police, he stabbed her during the altercation and then transported her body in his van to a field he owned in Vatolakkos, where he buried her.
Despite his claim that he killed her because he was angered by her reprimand, authorities are also investigating the possibility that the motive behind the crime was sexual.
Stavroula Leventaki’s last movements before she disappeared
These developments come just days after critical findings from forensic laboratories. Authorities had previously detected traces of the 45-year-old’s blood both inside the house where the 43-year-old was living and in the vehicle he was using. Particularly incriminating was the fact that he was the last person known to have seen the woman before she disappeared.
It is worth noting that the tenant had vanished for more than 24 hours when police attempted to locate him for a follow-up statement — a fact that significantly heightened investigators’ suspicions. After he was tracked down and arrested on a drug-related charge, police continued to apply pressure, drawing on evidence gathered from the house, the vehicle, and his movements in the days following the 45-year-old’s disappearance.
With the discovery of the body and the 43-year-old’s confession, the case now moves into the judicial investigation phase, while the results of the forensic autopsy are awaited and are expected to shed light on the exact circumstances of the crime.
