The 43-year-old self-confessed perpetrator of the murder of Stavroula Leventaki had been desperately trying to throw dust in the eyes of authorities. Leventaki had disappeared from Chania on May 30. The North Macedonian suspect appears to have been in contact with the 45-year-old’s brother, expressing deep concern about her disappearance while feigning complete ignorance — all in an attempt to mislead him. At the same time, he was actively trying to pin the blame for her disappearance on her own brother. Despite his efforts to deceive everyone around him, the North Macedonian tenant of Stavroula Leventaki — who had been sought for 22 days — was considered a prime suspect from the very beginning. Indeed, the damning evidence was found at his home, leading to his arrest. He subsequently confessed to the crime, providing shocking details in his account.
Stavroula Leventaki: The audio recording of the suspect’s conversation with her brother
It should be noted that Giannis Leventakis, Stavroula’s brother, reported her disappearance eight days after the brutal crime. He had been hospitalized until early June and had not been in contact with her, which is why it took him several days to realize she had gone missing.
According to an audio recording revealed by Live News, the accused can be heard speaking with Stavroula Leventaki’s brother after committing the horrific crime, pretending to know nothing while expressing his “concern” about finding her.
- Self-confessed killer: I’m telling you, I’m absolutely terrified — I mean it. Like, come on, enough already. We had a peaceful life here every summer, one thing, another… I wish, right now, at this very moment, someone would call me and say: “You know what, they found her, calm down.”
- Brother: We all want that, but I’m telling you again — get in touch with them. I can’t tell you what to do.
- Self-confessed killer: No… no… I mean it. I mean it, oh my God, right? I mean it. Above all else, I mean it.
- Brother: Yes.
- Self-confessed killer: If there’s any news, give me a call, man… So we can calm down, I don’t care… My wife and I are both a mess, what can I say.
- Brother: Yes, I know. We all are — what can I say?
- Self-confessed killer: I’m telling you, I wish with all my heart — believe me — I would be happier to get a call from you saying they found her than to have the whole world brought before me. To be told: “You know what, tomorrow morning you’ll wake up as Onassis, whoever you want” — I don’t care. I just want a peaceful life. I just want my health.
He tried to frame Stavroula Leventaki’s brother for her disappearance
On the other hand, the self-confessed perpetrator attempted to implicate the 45-year-old’s brother as being responsible for her disappearance, claiming the two siblings had differences, frequently argued, and disagreed over property matters. He even went so far as to claim he was receiving threats from Giannis Leventakis “to keep quiet about the victim” — the very woman he himself had killed.
- Self-confessed killer: My life is in danger from her brother and his friend. I’m hiding because yesterday, as soon as the police left my house after three hours, a guy showed up and threatened me with a weapon, telling me not to say anything.
- Journalist: Who is threatening you?
- Self-confessed killer: Stavroula’s brother, telling me not to talk. They came to the house. They knew which day Stavroula would come. A guy knocked on my door, I opened it, and he came inside with a weapon and a hood. “I won’t do anything to you — I just want Stavroula, to scare her into signing everything over to Giannis.”
What the self-confessed killer’s wife had to say
Just hours after the perpetrator confessed to the murder of the 45-year-old, Live News spoke with the wife of the 43-year-old tenant, who had been living with him at the house where the killing took place in Chania. Speaking to MEGA, the North Macedonian’s wife — who was working in Gavdos at the time — described the deceased as “strange” and “odd.” On the subject of any potential relationship between the landlady and her husband, she said: “Him having a relationship with her? Our relationship is excellent. Romantically — I won’t even entertain the thought, it disgusts me. And the way she was. My husband never looked at another woman. Not recently now that we’ve been together 20 years, not even at the beginning when he was younger.”
Stating that the case was now in the hands of justice, the 43-year-old’s wife added: “Not to pressure him! To tell him: ‘My love, you have nothing to hide. You’ve gotten mixed up in something — they’ve set you up. You need to talk.’ Not to pressure him. I know him. I know who my husband is — I’ve known him for 25 years, not since yesterday. And all of Chania knows him, everyone knows him, and he wouldn’t hurt a fly! And that needs to come out. And that needs to be investigated. And it will be, you can be sure the truth will come out. For my husband — our family, all of us who adore him and he adores us. He never had a thought to do something like this. It doesn’t even cross our minds, he’s not that kind of person, he never showed any such signs. Why are they accusing him? He had no motive, no reason. For the past two and a half years — and this will be proven — we’ve been getting permits to build our own house, we were going to leave.”
“We have plans, we have dreams, we have everything. This is a trap that’s been set for him and it will be proven — the truth will come out. I’m certain and sure of it, my husband is innocent. I support him to the death — his family, all of us. You can ask all of Chania, the entire company where 60 people work, where he worked for 20 years at the same company. Ask them, look into these things. I want the truth to come out. And if it is him, then yes, he should pay! Because we’ve learned that whatever you do, you pay the price. That’s the kind of people we are. But it’s not my husband. Others are hiding behind this.”
“I can’t name names and people.” Those who find them will say so. But I want them to be investigated and they will be. Because our dreams, our plans — I can’t leave them unfinished. We started building our house in September, in October — the house we’d waited 20 years together to build and move into. My husband had no reason to do such things,” said the 43-year-old’s wife.
His life was in danger
When asked why he confessed to the crime if he didn’t commit it, his wife responded: “Because his life was in danger! He said so. His life was in danger. And him — if someone tells him his life is at risk, or mine, or his sister’s, or our daughters’ — he would give his life for us. It’s 100%, 1,000%, 1,000,000% exactly what I’m telling you. Exactly that. We hadn’t spoken because he was constantly without his phone. They kept taking it from him, they wouldn’t let him talk!
“He was in a terrible state. Very terrible! And very frightened… And he said: ‘I fear for my life.’ And he’ll take everything on himself, I’m sure of it. Because I know that they may have told him: ‘If you don’t take the blame, your family will.’ And he always gives his life for us. We know that.”
“My husband with the 45-year-old? She smelled even when she was alive”
On the subject of Stavroula Leventaki, the wife said: “Yes, sure, I remember her. She used to come and check on the house… Look, she was a strange woman, obviously. She wasn’t completely right in the head. She was an odd person. But we went along with her ways. When it came to our accounts, we were always by the book — all of this will be proven. Not a day, not a moment were we ever late paying her rent, utilities, electricity, whatever she asked. In our name. The house was spotless, well-maintained… Two people in such a big house — and we’d even told her: ‘Look, we don’t need all of it, but fine, since you want to rent it out in full, we’ll take it.’ What could we do? We needed another contract anyway. We’d been there three years, we wanted another three years, and after that I told her, we’ll be leaving anyway to go to our own place. We have no reason to stay here!
“All of this is nonsense! My husband and I had no bad relationship whatsoever — we were excellent. We’d discussed all of it. And yes, I’m away in the summer, and all of that, but we spoke on the phone 10 times a day. My husband had set up an app and I could see at any hour, any moment, where his phone was! Are these things people say? Him having a relationship with her?
“Our relationship is excellent. Romantically — don’t even ask me to think about it, it disgusts me… And the way she was? She smelled even when she was alive, let me just say it plainly! My husband never looked at another woman. Not recently now that we’ve been together 20 years, not even at the beginning when he was younger. Because I trusted him and he trusted me. Even with me being away, and him being away for five months in summer. A man who wanted to have romantic flings wouldn’t be reachable every single time I called him. Not once did I ever call him and have him not answer.”
When asked whether police had requested the data from the tracking app through which she could see her husband’s location, she replied: “No, no… they didn’t ask me for it. Everything will come out. But it takes patience.”
What she said about the videos that were made public
The 43-year-old’s wife also spoke about the video in which she is seen speaking with Stavroula’s brother: “And you can clearly see it in the videos — it was the first time in my life I had ever met him, because I was leaving the house at that moment and he was looking for some speakers or something specific… And I said: ‘If you want, come in and I’ll open up the whole house for you, go inside and look around, in case we had done something…’ And he started — he was saying things to me… And at some point I went: ‘Oh my God!’ You can see it, you’ve seen it… These things are extraordinary. I didn’t know about any of this… I heard it for the first time. What was that… Was it staged back on February 2nd? It wasn’t staged! Don’t make it out to be staged.”
Asked whether she had access to the house cameras, she replied: “Me? No. Because we’d only installed them recently and I kept telling my daughters… ‘Come on, set them up for me, come on set them up for me.’ Well, in the end she didn’t come over, and I left. Fine, it doesn’t matter to me either. I trusted my husband, I didn’t care, he had one, it’s fine. But I’d tell him: ‘Set mine up too’ and we’d talked about it. But fine, he didn’t get around to it. I left… That’s the only reason, nothing else. There was nothing to think about. ‘Oh my God!’ God forbid! We had informed her because with the slightest thing — because she was extremely strange — with anything we did, even if we put a nail in the wall, we’d ask her. We’d say: ‘I don’t know… we’re going to put up a camera.’ ‘Oh, fine, fine,’ you know. She agrees. ‘Yes, yes.’ OK, we put it up. Because we’d have to make a hole in the wall, and you know… that might bother her. We asked her about everything, everything! But we didn’t do anything else, that’s what I want to say — but OK.”
Stavroula Leventaki’s brother: “I will file charges against the killer’s wife”
“I don’t feel vindicated, nor satisfied, because my sister isn’t coming back. Him — fine, I don’t know what sentence he’ll get. I’d want something far worse for him, certainly. The 43-year-old called me after he’d been summoned and questioned by the security police, to tell me that it was his first encounter with the police and that he’s a quiet person, and that while everything was fine, his life had suddenly been turned upside down and so on. And in fact he told me he was going to throw away the cameras and the cards, to get some peace in his life. And of course that was… like a confession to me.
“Fine, thankfully… this man — who in my eyes is not only a murderer but despicable — him and his wife now, because I heard just before… they’re also fools, thankfully. And they burn themselves. That video they sent you, showing
