It was a matter of time and evidence. From the night of May 11th, when 20-year-old Caroline was found murdered, next to her 11-month-old baby, until the investigation of the shocking crime was solved with the confession of the murder, by her own husband.
The revelation of the truth took place on the same day that the young mother's memorial service was held. In the morning, her confessed killer was in Alonissos, the place where the girl grew up. He wore black, hugged his mother-in-law. They mourned together Caroline's unjust loss. After the memorial service, as had been agreed, police officers of the homicide department asked him to follow them to the General Police Quarters of Attica, as informed by the ELAS spokesman Apostolos Skrekas.
The 33-year-old pilot was transported to Athens by boat, air and road, added the spokesperson of the Greek Police, Anna Efthymiou. Late at night, 7 hours after his transfer to Athens and 38 days after the murder, Babis Anagnostopoulos finally stopped lying.
The information gathered by the police was unshakable. They had already dismissed every aspect of his original testimony. He was the only witness, against all technology and data evidence, collected from the forensic laboratories. "These facts are not refuted in court," Thanassis Katerinopoulos, a retired brigadier general, told MEGA.
At 9.30 pm a short announcement from the Greek police confirmed the most horrible possibility. "Investigation of the homicide of a 20-year-old native that took place on May 11 in Glyka Nera. The perpetrator is her 33-year-old husband, who confessed to his act ".
According to information in his testimony, he stated that he was jealous of her and they had a lot of fights lately. Caroline threatened to leave him and take the child. She was even looking for hotels to stay.
"We had another fight that night. At one point he threw the child in the crib and told me to get up and leave the house. She pushed me and punched me. "I blurred , lost it, choked her and then directed the whole robbery senario," he said in his confession.
But even if the alleged killer killed his 20-year-old wife in the heat of the moment, what followed showed cold method. According to the details revealed, he also hung and killed the family dog from the handrail of the stairs. Removed the memory cards from the security cameras. He put tape around his mouth. He placed the baby next to it's lifeless mother. He tied his limbs with a rope he had at home and called the police, dialing with his nose. The first police officer to enter the crime scene described in an ELAS video what exactly he saw.
The police released the man and listened to what he had to say. He told them about three robbers, speaking foreign language, who entered the house and while offered money they were so ruthless that one of them killed his wife and dog. Shortly afterwards, he spoke to reporters as the devastated victim, calling for the perpetrators to be caught and for such a tragic event never to happen again, to any family.
The news of the murder of 20-year-old Caroline made the world news headlines. She was half British. The 33-year-old pilot posted hymns of love to his murdered wife. He was crying at her funeral. He supported his in-laws, who lost their only daughter. He had won the sympathy of the public.
But it was only a matter of time before the sympathy became rage. A matter of time, for the police to analyze the data and not find a trace of the robbers. It was a matter of time before he confessed to the heinous murder of his wife, in front of the innocent eyes of an 11-month-old child. Of their own child.
The child, he claimed was the reason, he did not confess to the murder earlier. In order not to leave such a young baby without a mother and without a father.
This child is perhaps the biggest victim in this modern Greek family tragedy.
She will not meet her mother. Young Caroline.
She will only remember her from the photos and descriptions of the people who met her during her short 20-year life, before the thread of her life was cut from her husband's hand.
Another tragic victim of domestic violence.
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