Nearly two months after the disappearance of 50-year-old You Ting from Artemida, questions continue to outnumber answers. The Chinese-born translator, who had been living and working in Greece for more than twenty years, vanished on May 20 without leaving behind a single clue to explain what happened.
Read also: The disappearance of You Ting from Artemida: The mystery surrounding a gas station purchased by Chinese investors through her mediation — the sale, the debts, and the seizure of her bank account
Speaking exclusively to parapolitika.gr, her husband, Vasilis Karavasilis, categorically rules out the possibility that the 50-year-old left of her own accord. He reveals what the last confirmed digital trace of her phone shows, and expresses serious doubts about location signals that later appeared in the regions of Evrytania and Mytilene.
Shortly before she disappeared, You Ting sent three photographs to her mother-in-law. However, as her husband clarifies, only one of them was taken on the day she went missing — the other two were older photos she had simply resent. The single photo from May 20 shows her at a bus stop near the Spata municipal building. From that point on, her whereabouts remain completely unknown.
Husband of missing Chinese translator: “I spoke to her for the last time on May 20”
Mr. Karavasilis describes to parapolitika.gr the final hours before he realized something had gone terribly wrong. “The last time I spoke to her was on the 20th of the month — the day she disappeared,” he says.
He explains that he did not immediately grow concerned, as the nature of her work meant she would often be away for days at a time. “Until May 25, I was only sending her messages. On the 25th, I tried calling her for the first time, and that was the first sign that something might be wrong. Even then, not many days had passed, and I assumed she may have left for some work-related reason and hadn’t had the chance to let me know,” he says.
It is worth noting that Mr. Karavasilis was in China at the time for professional reasons.
The last confirmed digital trace
You Ting’s husband reveals that, to this day, only one confirmed digital piece of evidence exists. “The last thing we have is that her phone communicated with Google at 3:23 a.m. on May 20. That is the last confirmed digital trace,” he notes.
Location signals in Evrytania and Mytilene
Digital location signals later emerged that directed the search first to Fourna in Evrytania, and then to Mytilene. In Evrytania, authorities — accompanied by Mr. Karavasilis and his brother — conducted searches at an abandoned pigsty, while a nearby monastery was also checked, all without turning up any evidence. Further searches in Mytilene likewise yielded no results.
Nevertheless, Mr. Karavasilis remains skeptical about the reliability of these signals. “Those location pings came from an application that was generating these indications. Whether they reflect reality, we simply don’t know,” he points out.
Awaiting data from the lifted communications confidentiality order
He notes that proceedings to lift telephone confidentiality have been initiated, yet authorities are still waiting on critical information. “As far as I know, they are still awaiting data from the mobile phone companies and from the banks. The process has been set in motion, but not all the data has been sent yet,” he clarifies.
The passport
You Ting’s husband also confirms that the 50-year-old had her passport with her when she disappeared. “The passport was not at home. She had it with her. However, as far as I know, it has not been used, and there is no indication that she left the country through an airport or a port,” he stresses.
“There’s not a single chance she left voluntarily”
Mr. Karavasilis firmly rejects any suggestion that his wife disappeared of her own free will. “There is not a single chance she left voluntarily. Based on her behavior that day and the fact that she took nothing from the house, there was no intention to leave. So something else has happened. What exactly — that is what needs to be found,” he states.
He adds that every day that passes without new developments only deepens the anguish. “The longer you go without finding something, the more alarming it becomes. The possible scenarios keep narrowing,” he says tellingly.
“She had not expressed any concerns”
When asked about her personal and professional life, her husband insists he had noticed nothing that gave him cause for concern. “If there had been something important, she would have told me. She had not mentioned any worries,” he notes.
The same, he says, applies to her last scheduled appointment with a plumber and a building manager — a meeting she ultimately never showed up for. “I wasn’t aware of that particular appointment, because it was something completely routine in her line of work. She would often go to show apartments, collect rent, or open up a property,” he adds.
“She didn’t carry large sums of money”
Addressing theories about a financial motive behind the disappearance, he makes clear that his wife avoided carrying large amounts of cash. “Even when she collected rent, she would usually deposit it directly into the bank. If she had money on her, it would typically be less than 500 euros,” he explains.
Despite ongoing investigations spanning digital data, financial transactions, and witness testimonies, the case remains shrouded in mystery. To this day, the last confirmed digital trace, the photographs she sent shortly before vanishing, and the disputed location signals from different parts of the country form a puzzle with far more questions than answers.
