Master Detective - August 2022

54 Pages·2022·19 MB·English

MASTER LANCASHIRE’S
ISLE OF MAN SHOCKER
PITCHFORK OR SHOTGUN?
“DAD’S ARMY”
DETECTIVE’S
CRIMSHOOETING
How Was The Old Man Murdered?
CASEBOOK
Divorce Dad Shot
Dead In Custody

AUGUST 2022
Battle – But Was
It Self-Defence?
HIGH
NOON AT
WA L M A R T
MONA DUNDEE’S
MYSTERY
HANGED
OF THE
FOR GRINNING
SKULL...
WITCHCRAFT
...And A Voice From The Grave
MURDER
WHY DID
DINO DIE
ESCAPE – TO THE
ON HIS
DEATH HOUSE
DOORSTEP?
JOYCE EXONERATED
– After 27 Years In Prison For Rape And Murder
www.truecrimelibrary.com
InsideMD
Thomas arrived to
collect his daughter
for her birthday
party and was shot
www.truecrimelibrary.com August 2022
in the heart by his
In her younger days the charismatic Mona Fandey had been a pop singer
estranged wife
and dancer. But it’s as a headline-making witch doctor and killer that she
is most widely remembered. Today, more than 20 years after her execution Kayla...
for the murder in Malaysia of politician client Datuk Mazlan Idris, black
magic practitioners pay homage to her at her graveside. Turn to page 43
and International Casebook Of Women Executed For Their Crimes – Mona
This Report By
Hanged For Witchcraft Murder for the full, shocking story.
Mark Davis and
How do you turn a lengthy prison sentence into a death sentence?
Answer: Escape on a murderous rampage... See page 20 and US Francesca Morrison
Executions – The Rock ’n’ Roll Years – Escape To The Death House.
Finally to Scotland and the 1970s case of young mum Helen Wilkie. See S
page 12 and Dundee’s Mystery Of The Grinning Skull. Enjoy the read! USoMutMh EstRatSe oINf L tohue iAsiamnear iccaann bDe eep
2 HIGH NOON AT WALMART unbearably hot and humid, so
How a young father lost his life at the hands of his when a man fell face-down in a Walmart
estranged wife car park one particularly oppressive
September morning in 2018, onlookers
4 PAUL DONNELLEY’S MURDER MONTH
assumed at first he had heatstroke.
More Murder Months on pages 7, 18, 25 and 49 Thirty-year-old Thomas Coutee had
6 EUROPEAN CRIME REPORT arrived minutes earlier to pick up his little
daughter and her two step-sisters for a
“Why Did Dino Die On His Doorstep?”, “Student Killed
birthday celebration at Chuck E Cheese,
Five Relatives Over ‘A Domestic Matter,’” “Migrant
a chain of family entertainment centres
Husband Said, ‘I Want To Go Home’”
specialising in pizzas, games, and parties.
11 VIEWPOINT He wanted it to be a special day and
More of your letters and a chance to win a prize prayed his estranged wife Kayla wouldn’t
mess it up with their ongoing custody
12 SCOTLAND’S CLASSIC CASES: DUNDEE’S
battles and
MYSTERY OF THE GRINNING SKULL
fights over
Why did Helen Wilkie, 18, vanish suddenly on the day of money. Last
her baby son’s christening in February 1974? Four years time they’d
later, the answer emerged with a grisly discovery... met in a car
park she’d
16 JOYCE EXONERATED
punched him
Convicted of the rape and murder of a four-year-old girl,
in the eye, so
Joyce Watkins always maintained her innocence. Finally, this time he’d
the wheels of justice turned in her favour suggested
20 US EXECUTIONS – THE “ROCK ’N’ ROLL a different
YEARS”: ESCAPE TO THE DEATH HOUSE one near the
local police
When dangerous inmates escaped from Vermont State
Prison they went on a murder rampage
29 MD FORUM: PITCHFORK OR SHOTGUN? HOW
WAS THE OLD MAN MURDERED?
John Kewish’s fate was to be the last man hanged on
the Isle of Man. But did he actually deserve to go to the
gallows?
37 HANGED AT STRANGEWAYS: PART NINE
How a sex-obsessed soldier, a Yugoslav refugee and eight
others came to be executed at the Manchester gaol
43 INTERNATIONAL CASEBOOK OF WOMEN
EXECUTED FOR THEIR CRIMES:
MONA HANGED FOR WITCHCRAFT MURDER
Placing his trust in singer-turned-witch doctor Mona
Fandey proved fatal for an aspiring Malaysian politician
47 MONSTER IN OUR FAMILY
When Robert McDermott drank heavily he turned nasty. A
And that spelt terrible danger to those closest to him...
Cover and contents of Master Detective produced by Magazine Design & Publishing Ltd. Printed and Top, victim Thomas Coutee Jr., 30;
bound by Warners Midlands plc, Bourne, Lincolnshire, PE10 9PH, for the Proprietors and Publishers. and above, the emergency services
Copyright and the rights of translation and reproduction of the contents of Master Detective are strictly attend the crime scene. Main
reserved. Distributed by Marketforce (UK) Ltd, 3rd Floor, 161 Marsh Wall, London E14 9AP. picture, Kayla Giles claimed she
Tel: [phone]. © Magazine Design & Publishing Ltd.
had shot Coutee in self-defence
2
station. But she’d refused on the repeatedly, but every call went to
grounds that Walmart was nearer voicemail.
her home. The girls watched in horror
As soon as the girls saw him, from the truck as a shopper
they waved goodbye to Kayla tried for 20 minutes to
and clambered into Thomas’s give Thomas CPR,
truck while he walked over but the bullet had
to her to arrange when he pierced his heart and
should bring them back. He he was eventually
was tense and apprehensive pronounced dead at
because their custody the scene.
handovers were always A dashcam
fraught and bitter. video from
He obviously needed the police car
to speak to her, so when taking Kayla
she seemed unwilling to into custody
even lower the window of showed
the Dodge SUV, he could her telling
feel the bile of anger rising officers she
in his throat. Sick of her shot her
games, manipulation and husband
abuse, he wrenched open “because he
the door to try and reason scared me
with her. and I thought
She shot him at such he was gonna
close range that he fell hurt me.”
sideways, bleeding heavily The same
but still breathing. Three video later
people who ran over showed her
when they saw Thomas left alone
on the ground remarked briefly on
later that Kayla looked so the back seat
calm and composed that muttering:
they thought she was a “What a
bystander. *******
The 911 service received day. Happy
six calls from witnesses about birthday ”
the emergency, and one from daughter.” r
e
Kayla who gave the location The t
but no explanation about couple had h
what had happened. The separated g
u
operator rang her
back a
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HIGH NOON *
*
*
*
*
*
*
AT WALMART A

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M
3
Paul Donnelley’s
MURDER MONTH
August
Sugar daddy murder. Like many
men of a certain age, Michael McNew,
61, was not ready to take his place by a
roaring fire with his pipe and slippers
and look back on a life well-lived. Long
divorced, he had a son, a daughter
and two grandchildren. He also had
a four-bedroom house in Washington
Crossing, Pennsylvania, and a lot of money
in the bank. After studying at West Virginia
University, he went into the pharmaceutical
business and had risen to become an
executive.
In 2014, he visited the Club Risqué
striptease bar. His eyes fell on Jennifer Kayla Jean Giles with her estranged husband, Thomas Coutee Jr.
Morrissey, 30, who was 5ft 11in, blonde-
haired and covered in tattoos. They bonded in February 2018 after four years of knocked the shit out of Coutee and it
over their joint love of motorbikes and, marriage. Thomas worked as a welding felt really good!”
despite it being against club rules, the instructor at a local technical college and In a crucial interview with detective
unlikely pair began a relationship. Kayla – who had been in the military Colin Butler that was shown later at
The clean-living sexagenarian overlooked – had two daughters from a previous her trial, Kayla continued to protest her
his new paramour’s past indiscretions, relationship. Thomas was very happy to fear of her husband although she never
which included heroin addiction, drink- be part of their lives, especially after his reported him for hurting her, never
and drug-driving convictions daughter was born, but the loving family photographed injuries, and refused to
and losing custody of her he’d hoped for seemed increasingly name friends she’d allegedly told about
young son. McNew bought elusive. the abuse. And none of them ever said
Jennifer a car, took her on By June 2018 he’d filed for a divorce, they’d seen bruises on her.
holiday to Puerto Rico and custody and property separation “I shot him because I was scared as he
spent $1,200 to pay off her agreement. Then two months later he approached my car. He started yelling
electricity bill. sought a new trial to decide who should at me. I tried to shut my door. He was
Michael In January 2015, Jennifer have custody of their two-year-old coming after me. He wanted to talk to
McNew Morrissey moved into me. I didn’t want to deal with it. He was
and McNew’s home. She owed mad. He called me a bitch twice.”
Jennifer “Thomas was a loving
$6,000 in unpaid legal fees, “So you shot a man because he called
Morrissey
which McNew paid. He also father, son, teacher you a bitch?” challenged detective Butler.
took out two life insurance policies to the “Didn’t you have the gun ready to shoot
and all-round great
tune of $360,000 and Jennifer was the sole him? You’ve already told me it was in a
beneficiary. guy who met a cruel, holster in the driver’s door pocket. You
In 2017, Jennifer met biker Charles would have needed both hands to get it
calculating and
Kudlow, 55, nicknamed Ruthless. A out and use it.
member of The Breed Motorcycle Club, manipulative woman “I haven’t seen a single tear during this
he had convictions for assault, drugs interview, yet you’ve been supposedly
who planned his
and robbery. When he learned what his ‘crying’ for the last half-hour over what
girlfriend was up to, McNew was bereft. murder” happened.”
On August 6th, 2017, he texted her, “I
wanted you to be with me for ever. You
chose not to. You have a new boyfriend daughter, claiming Kayla’s violent
now... I have always loved you beyond outbursts made her an unfit mother and
your imagination and mine, but you chose her new live-in boyfriend was a drug
differently.” addict.
Two days later, he did not turn up for He argued that the law stated “no
work. A colleague went to his house to see parent who has a history of perpetuating
if McNew was all right. The front door family violence shall be awarded sole or
was open and his co-worker went in. In the joint custody of the children,” and said
front room, she found McNew dead in his he wanted a better life for his daughter.
favourite armchair – a bullet hole between Although Thomas never pressed
his eyes. When police turned up they charges against Kayla for abuse, he filed
spotted his watch was missing. a number of reports about her escalating
Jennifer Morrissey was arrested for domestic violence with local police and
violating probation. She denied being in the sheriff’s office, saying he just wanted
McNew’s house for weeks but her DNA it all put on record. He also reported her
was found on his jeans. At her January to the police days before the shooting for
2019 trial, a forensic scientist revealed that attempting to steal £5,200 from his bank
the gun had been held just an inch from account.
McNew’s head. One of the reports included a photo
Thomas Coutee had filed
Found guilty of first-degree murder, taken by the interviewing officer of the
domestic abuse reports against
she was sentenced to life in prison swelling on Thomas’s jaw where Kayla
Kayla as her behaviour became
with of chance of parole. had thumped him, plus a text she’d
increasingly violent
sent to a friend saying: “Have just
4
the act has specific intent.” A forensic
computer expert added that he’d found
“You can’t plan
sites on Kayla’s laptop relating to “use
of force” and “justifiable homicide” self-defence. Only
accessed four days before the shooting. murder. So consider
Realising the laptop could incriminate
her, Kayla tried to get her friend Jennifer her preparations: the
Dennis and then her sister to look after illegal purchase of a
it. She also rang Jennifer from jail to ask
her to juggle some bank accounts and gun...the domestic
delete certain files. abuse incidents on
“But I knew this wasn’t a good look
for me so I went to the police,” said Ms. file, the imminent
Dennis. custody case. Killing
The manager of the Red River Bank
testified that Kayla had written to him Thomas was her only
in December 2019, just over a year after way out”
Thomas’s death, seeking access to one of
his accounts. But after a risk assessment,
Kayla Giles. After she had
shot her husband, she phoned
911, then called her insurance
company before the police
arrived
Over the weeks, evidence mounted
against Kayla Giles Coutee and she
was at last charged with second-degree
intentional murder and obstruction of
justice, and held on a million-dollar
bond.
From the start, her lawyers claimed
Defence attorney George Higgins III (left) and Kayla Giles arrive at the
she’d acted in self-defence within
Rapides Parish Courthouse during her second-degree murder trial
the new “stand your ground” law
because she felt her life was in danger.
Thirty-eight American states have now the manager decided she needed a court – noted at the time of the shooting
adopted this statute, but opponents order to release any funds. and during the trial – was the result of
say it’s little more than a permit to Although CCTV footage from the car military training and PTSD. He said she
“shoot first.” In Florida, for example, park was too blurred to show for sure also suffered from bipolar disorder, but
self-defence claims have tripled since it who opened Kayla’s door, a shell casing no one testified in court to her having
became law. from the bullet that killed Thomas was either of these medical conditions.
America now has 400 million guns found outside the car, casting doubt on “The video taken after the shooting
– more than the population itself – her allegation that he leaned inside to shows she was scared, but answered
and more gun deaths than any other lunge at her. questions about where the gun was,
advanced nation. So the trial of a lone In his scathing attack on Kayla what happened, who the victim was,”
woman apparently using firepower to Giles’ character, LeBeau told jurors: said Higgins. “She also kept asking if
defend herself unleashed a storm of pro “If you want to know how callous and her kids were ok after they were moved
and anti publicity. cold-blooded she is, remember that to a police vehicle. And it must be
straight after calling 911 to report the remembered that detective Butler admits
W
hen it began in January 2022, the shooting, she had a long call to the he didn’t interview all the witnesses in
prosecution argued forcefully that insurance company from whom she’d the car park. Evidence about the shell
the shooting was neither justified nor bought a self-defence liability policy just casing being outside the car is also
necessary. Opening the car door was not 12 days earlier. The police aren’t even questionable as it could have been kicked
unlawful or a forced entry so using a on the scene and she’s started her claims outside.”
deadly response was “unreasonable.” process. On her 35th birthday, Kayla Giles was
“Thomas was a loving father, son, “You can’t plan self-defence. Only found guilty of second-degree murder
teacher and all-round great guy who met murder. So consider her preparations: and obstruction of justice. As well as a
a cruel, calculating and manipulative the illegal purchase of a gun, trying to mandatory life sentence, she got an extra
woman who planned his murder,” said withdraw money from an account that 20 years for trying to wipe her laptop
assistant district attorney Joseph LeBeau. wasn’t hers, the domestic abuse incidents clean.
“As we shall see, she prepared the on file, the imminent custody case. A jamboree of cheering erupted
ground for it and then plotted to plead Killing Thomas was her only way out.” outside the courthouse and a cloud of
self-defence.” Defence attorney George Higgins balloons floated skywards in memory of
Jurors heard that Kayla had tried, had a swathe of public support from Thomas.
unsuccessfully, to borrow a gun from a the ‘stand your ground’ lobby when “My baby got the justice he
friend and had then bought one from a he insisted no one in their right mind deserved,” whispered his mother
shop in Texas 12 days before using it to would chose a Walmart car park at Cathy Pearson. “Happy birthday,
kill Thomas. She had to lie on the form noon to commit murder: “No, she was Kayla,” said his father sadly as they
purchasers have to fill out or she could a frightened woman who was scared watched her taken away – their son’s
not have bought it. for her life at that moment when the killer and one more contributor to
LeBeau said procuring a weapon is deceased leaned into the car.” the toll of 45,000 gun-related deaths
“integral to committing a murder and He added that her lack of emotion in America every year.
5
EUR PEAN
C R I M E R E P O R T
WHY DID DINO
DIE ON HIS
DOORSTEP?
“I had nothing to do
with it,” his wife tells
an Italian court. Ten
years later she is still
fighting to clear her
name – and to efface
an 18-year sentence
for murder...
t
r S
o ONIA BRACCIALE didn’t
p like her husband Dino. Nothing
e unusual in that, perhaps. But
R he needed to be taught a lesson, she
decided.
s
Quite why is a mystery. They were
r
e living apart, each with their own home.
d It would have been much more sensible
n just to forget the past, to leave it alone.
a But the animosity, and the primitive Sonia Bracciale appearing on Italian TV. She has spent more than a decade
S desire for revenge, ate into Sonia. seeking to prove her innocence in relation to her husband’s murder
She called two men she knew who
n
she felt would do anything for her. darkness. stone, fought back. He was a mountain
h
“I’m tired of Dino’s infidelity, the Dino probably made a mental note to of a man, physically strong and used to
o
mistreatment, the abuse,” she told them. do something about that. We shall never humping heavy equipment on his own.
J
“Just give him a beating. His right leg know, for at that moment two men The fight became a brawl.
d
is his weak point. Hit him there. He emerged from the shadows and sprang The harder Sanna and Trombetta
n
deserves all you can give him.” at him. hit him the harder Dino returned their
a For the two lackeys, Thomas Sanna Wielding iron bars, they beat him on blows. So they hit him harder and

e and Giuseppe Trombetta, there was the back and across the shoulders. In harder, until he moved no more.
n something about Sonia’s hypnotic eyes the heat of the moment they forgot all They took a long look at his prostrate
r that demanded instant obedience. Her about his weak leg. Dino, weighing 18 form, his crumpled limbs, smashed
a word was their command. Forthwith skull and broken jaw. Then Sanna said,
C “I’m tired of Dino’s
they armed themselves with weaponry. “We’ll have to tell Sonia.”
d Dino Reatti, 48, made a living of sorts infidelity, the Sonia, 44, was distraught when they
l repairing domestic appliances. He lived mistreatment, the called. Her knuckles turned white as she
a in Persiceto, north-west of Bologna. abuse. Just give him a gripped the edge of a table. She drove
n
On the night of June 7th, 2012, he to Dino’s place to see for herself, then
o arrived home at 1 a.m. after dining beating. His right leg she rang emergency.
D with friends. The spent heat of the day is his weak point. Hit The call became a central feature of
D was still heavy on the driveway. As he him there. He deserves her trial. Emergency operators expect
M switched on the driveway lights they the caller to be distressed, angry, ready
all you can give him”
failed, leaving the area still plunged in to blurt out their needs in any form.
6
They don’t expect the caller to be calm,
polite and hesitant. MURDER MONTH
It went like this:
“Emergency.” August
“Good evening. Wait…How are you?”
P
“Tell me what you need.” oliceman goes bad...In his long
“Oh, uhm. There was an attack, you career Ohio policeman Gary Stroud
see, at his home, there is blood. The had served with honour and distinction.
address is…Thank you.” His wife, Diane, had devoted her time
“Madam, stay on the phone please!” and energy to the local council and they
“Oh, yes, thank you. I’m still here.” were respected in their community in
The operator alerted the ambulance Mentor-on-the-Lake, in the north-east of
and the carabinieri. She returned to the state. It was a total shock when Stroud
Sonia. announced that Diane had left him.
“Where are you, Madam?” Stroud, 58, was from 1979 a
“There was an attack. I found my policeman, and then from 2005
husband outside. I don’t understand a sheriff’s deputy and then a
anything. I don’t know what happened. part-time special policeman. He
How can I know?” was renowned for his ability to
“Is there blood?” get on with everyone he came
Dino Reatti. He was beaten to
“There is a lot of blood.” across, young and old.
death in 2012
“Can you check if he is breathing?” Leaving full-time policing, he
“No, he is not breathing much. He worked as a security guard in
is finding it hard to breathe. He has a Sanna because it was so dark. court, delivered legal papers and Gary
heart problem.” The presenter described Sonia as escorted staff to the bank. In Stroud
Seconds later the carabinieri arrived. a seductive woman in conversation, 2011, he was made redundant.
They arrested Sonia, Sanna and and the murder as “a real Hitchcock At the time, Diane Stroud, 53, had been
Trombetta. Sonia was stunned. She mystery, where no one is quite what a councillor for seven years and looked
denied everything, although her two they seem to be.” after their two children. The job loss
lackeys were happy to cooperate. They The interview was closely timed. It was a bitter blow to Stroud as the family
were ashamed, they said. “We did it for was aired as Sonia’s lawyer sought a were suffering financial problems and
Sonia,” Sanna said. “But things got out judicial review of her case, and was in danger of losing their house. Then in
of hand.” widely reported in the media. Sonia November 2011, Stroud said his wife had
Dino Reatti died at 3.47 a.m. as the was perceived as convincing, and the run off to join a cult. Oddly, her car was
ambulance reached the doors of the interview raised doubts about the still in the garage on Marine Parkway but
Ospedale Maggiore in Bologna. her computer was gone.
“I loved that man. I didn’t want to Six weeks after she left, Mrs. Stroud’s
harm him,” Sonia, dressed in a smart, daughter, Stephanie, smelled a weird
sleek woollen outfit, insisted at her trial. odour emanating from the garage. She
But to no avail. She pursed her lips, mentioned it to her father who dismissed
narrowed her eyes as she listened to it as a dead chicken. Stephanie was not
Sanna giving his damning evidence. He satisfied and rang the police. When they
didn’t like to talk about it, he said, but investigated on November 27th, they
he could remember everything. discovered that the smell was actually the
Sonia was sentenced to 21 years. decomposed remains of Diane Stroud.
Her two lackeys got 16 years each. All Her head was encased in a plastic bag,
three appealed – Sonia’s sentence was sealed with duct tape. Her body was
reduced to 18 years and the two men wrapped in plastic, put into a sleeping
had their sentences reduced to 14 years bag, covered with a tarpaulin and again
each. duct-taped.
The femme fatale refused to concede Gary Stroud was inside watching
defeat. For the next decade she sought TV when police knocked on the door.
to prove her innocence. In June Police at the murder scene He refused to follow their instructions
2020, while working her way through to get on the ground and was Tasered.
the appeals process, she appeared An autopsy revealed that Mrs. Stroud
on an Italian programme similar to original verdict. had died from blunt-force trauma to the
Crimewatch. In January 2022 Sonia, currently head. She had been hit – probably with
The presenter, Franca Leosini, asked studying law in prison, won the right to a hammer – a dozen times. In July 2012,
her, “When you saw your husband a review. Her lawyer said: “There is new shortly before his trial, Stroud pleaded
lying there on the ground, did you have evidence proving she is innocent – and guilty to murder and the gross abuse of a
a name in mind for who did it?” also that there is no evidence against corpse.
Sonia replied: “I just said, ‘What did her. On August 8th, 2012, Gary Stroud
they do to you? Tell me, tell me, talk “The new evidence is in two parts. was sentenced at the Lake County
to me my love, tell me who…who did The first is a complete retraction of the Common Pleas Court to life in prison,
it.’ He tried to tell me but he couldn’t accusations made by Thomas Sanna. with a recommendation that he serve a
speak.” The second is a recording from the minimum of 16 years. Son Greg said:
“Why are two men saying you carabinieri barracks the day after the “You were always a good dad. Mom was
ordered it as retribution for the way attack that shows Sonia did not know a good mom. I miss you both very much.
your husband treated you?” of her husband’s death and did not I don’t understand. Why?”
“I have never said such things about organise a punitive expedition.” Stephanie added: “I had the best
my husband. There were arguments, A review later this year will parents a kid could ever ask for. I still
and sometimes he beat me, but I have decide whether the evidence love both my parents and I’ll never
always been loyal as a wife.” is compelling enough. Sonia is stop loving them. I miss my mom
She agreed her husband and Thomas confident. “I still believe in justice, every day and I miss my dad every
Sanna knew each other but on that but in this case I believe justice has day.”
night Dino wouldn’t have recognised been denied,” she said.
7
STUDENT KILLED
FIVE RELATIVES
OVER “A DOMESTIC
MATTER”
“My sister is getting too much attention,” Theo told his uncle. When the
uncle disagreed he was pushed over a cliff. That was the start of a chain of
murders that wiped out all the rest of the family...
GREEK LAW student Theo Sechidis
was as pleased as Punch when he
heard that his uncle Vasilis, the family
patriarch who lived currently in Belgium,
was coming to visit. “I’m so glad you’re
coming because there’s a domestic
matter I want to talk to you about,” Theo
wrote.
When Uncle Vasilis arrived at the
family home on the Greek island of
Thasos in May 1996 he was greeted
with open arms. “Let’s walk up to the
citadel, uncle,” Theo suggested.
The two men climbed the hill
through the olive groves to the ancient
city of Thasos. From the citadel, with
its Phoenician origins, there were
spectacular views of the island. Despite
the uplifting views and the delightful
spring weather, Theo was in a sombre
mood. “I wanted to talk to you about
Multiple killer Theo Sechidis is arrested by Greek police on the island of
Ermioni,” he said. Ermioni, 27, was his
Thasos. He claimed he killed his family members in self-defence
sister and had been diagnosed bipolar.
“Because of her condition every
member of the family is expected to saw him bleeding. In order to end his living-room. The two women came in
tread on eggshells,” Theo said. “We are pain I slashed his throat with my knife. I through the kitchen, with Maria calling
told to do this otherwise she will become had to do it.” out, “Dimitris, are you home?”
depressed, suicidal or violent. It is most Dimitris was stunned, then he became In the living-room Maria was
unfair, and spoiling our family life.” enraged. An argument broke out. confronted with the carnage. Before
“But what can we do?” Vasilis Alarmed, Theo shot his father in the she had time to scream Theo raised
reasoned. “Ermioni is attention-seeking back with the shotgun. the shotgun and fired. She fell dead
because she needs attention.” Later, when the police arrived they alongside her husband’s body.
Theo was in no mood to compromise. In a confession that was beginning to
“He had a knife. I was
He became angry. The conversation sound repetitive Theo told police, “She
heated up. Suddenly furious at his scared. As soon as too was holding a knife. I grabbed her
uncle’s defence of Ermioni, he rushed he turned to go to the hand, disarmed her and cut her throat.”
forward and pushed Vasilis off the cliff. The medical examiner shook his head.
Vasilis fell on to the craggy rocks below. toilet I shot him and Maria, he said, was shot through the
Theo climbed down the rocks and he fell dead. I cut his head with a shotgun.
finding his uncle still alive, cut his throat. Hearing all the noise, Ermioni had
carotid artery with
He hid the body among some tamarisk followed her mother into the living-
shrubs and walked into town, where he a knife” room. Theo killed her too. “She was
bought a new shirt and a single-barrelled holding a knife,” he explained in what
shotgun before returning home. asked, “Why did you kill your father?” was now a parody of the truth.
His father, Dimitris, a teacher, was the “He had a knife. I was scared. As soon He spent the rest of the evening
first to arrive at 7.30 p.m. “Where’s your as he turned to go to the toilet I shot him carrying the remains of his victims to
Uncle Vasilis?” he asked. and he fell dead. I cut his carotid artery the bathroom and cleaning the house.
Theo found this difficult to explain. with a knife.” Exhausted, he fell asleep.
He said hesitantly, “He tried to kill me Theo’s stepmother, Maria, 48, arrived Next morning Theo was wakened by
with a knife. I pushed him and he fell off an hour later with her daughter Ermioni. the sound of his grandmother, Ermioni
the cliff. I hurried down the slope and Theo was waiting nervously in the Kalamra, 75, arriving at the door.
080
Frankenstein and encouraged him to
turn the re-enactment into a theatrical
experience that left out nothing. He
turned on a reporter who asked a
question, snapping, “Don’t interrupt me.
I can’t perform properly if you do so.”
He showed no remorse during his first
visit to court. “I do not regret what I did.
I had to do it – it was in self-defence.
They wanted to kill me but I killed them
first.” He sounded almost persuasive. He
turned down the offer of a lawyer. “I’m
perfectly capable of speaking for myself.”
In prison he kept to a vegetarian diet
and told guards: “You should listen to
Bach, or other classical music, and read
books.” His arrogance towards other
prisoners put his life in danger and the
authorities were obliged to evacuate a
floor of 40 inmates so he could be held
Above, Sechidis in police custody. Below, left to right, his victims Dimitris, in solitary confinement.
Maria, Emmy (as a child), Granny and Vasilis Theo Sechidis was brought to trial
in June 1997. The confession he made
to police officers was read aloud to
the court. The star witness was Eleni
Sechidis, the aunt who refused to believe
her nephew’s lies.
“What made me suspect him initially
was when he told me that half the family
might settle permanently in Germany,”
she said.
Friends from the island said, “Theo
She just had time to call out “Good explained that Vasilis was in Italy on a was an excellent student, a good boy
morning” before Theo leapt up, stabbed business trip and the rest of the family who started to get weird and go crazy.”
her in the heart and cut her throat. He were in Germany for health reasons. One amplified: “He became abstract. He
told police: “She grabbed a knife to kill Eleni didn’t believe a word of it. She walked in a crouch, head forward, as if
me. Whatever I did, it was self-defence.” contacted the Belgian police who in someone were chasing him. He talked to
A classical music fan, he spent the rest turn liaised with Greece. The police in himself.”
of the day dismembering his granny and Thasos were instantly interested. Wasn’t Hospital psychiatrists described the
lining her up with the other victim pieces this Theo Sechidis the same guy they student as emotionless. “He is a person
while listening to Tchaikovsky. He cut stopped on the road last week with a anchored to space, time and himself.
off the heads, split them with a hacksaw rifle and cartridges on the back seat of He is articulate with a high IQ; he
and removed their brains. He placed the his car? They shuffled papers to find the answers honestly, he has humour. He is
brains on plates and stored them in the report. fully aware of his actions but lacks any
fridge. A team of officers and forensic staff feeling.”
He explained: “I have some psychiatric descended on Theo’s home where The defence said they were unable to
and medical knowledge and I wanted defend their client because he would not
to examine the anatomy of the human He cut off the heads, talk to them. All he would say was, “I do
brain. That’s all. I do not regret anything not regret anything.”
split them with a
– one brain was already smashed, the After a trial lasting only 11 hours the
others were available so why not put hacksaw and removed unrepentant student was unanimously
them in the fridge?” their brains. He stored found guilty by a panel of judges and
This home science project was never given five life sentences. In effect, this
them in the fridge
completed, however. “The refrigerator reached the upper limit of 50 years in a
was damaged and when I finished with Greek prison.
the corpses and went to retrieve the they were taken aback by the volume He chose not to appeal. “I have
brains after a week, they were damaged of evidence. There was dried blood in nothing new to present in court. I
so I threw them away.” every room and fragments of brain and know there is not the slightest evidence
He went to several small shops in other human tissue on the walls, toilet to support my claim of self-defence.
the town to buy rubbish bags – never and ceilings. A hacksaw, two chainsaws When there are five corpses, what does
more than a few at a time– and filled and an axe were examined. The word it matter that I previously led an honest
them with the dismembered parts of kako (evil) was painted on one wall. life? Of course I would be interested in
his family. In three trips in his father’s Apparently Theo liked dabbling in paint reducing the sentence but alas, this is
car he took the filled bags on the ferry when he wasn’t composing poems or ultimately a very serious case.”
to Keramoti on the mainland where he plays. For many years while he was in prison
disposed of them in a landfill. The story had got around about Theo Sechidis, dubbed by other inmates
Like many before him, Theo believed Theo’s murderous deeds so there was an as the Hannibal of Thasos, suffered from
he had committed the perfect crime. So unnerving moment when he arrived on a heart condition. On February 12th,
he might have done had it not been for the mainland escorted by police officers. 2019, aged 46, he was found dead in
the persistent wife of Uncle Vasilis. A surging crowd moved towards them the bathroom of the psychiatric wing of
Auntie Eleni Sechidis was growing screaming in the student’s face, and port Korydallos Prison.
concerned that she hadn’t heard from officers had a hard job defending them. During the 22 years of his
her husband or any member of his Over the next few days Theo confinement, Sechidis never
family. She left her home in Belgium and re-enacted the murders before received a single visit from a friend
arranged to meet Theo in a bistro on the investigators. The media, who were or relative. That was possibly
Greek mainland where the young man also invited, dubbed him the Son of because he had killed most of them.
9
THERE ARE lots of Romanians
He had set out to find a better life in a new
living in Rome. They move to Italy
from their native land for a better life country, but he didn’t like it. Then homesickness
and re-locate around the edge of the
turned him into a killer...
eternal city in thousands. By and large
they integrate successfully, because their
MIGRANT
natural skills are not dissimilar to the
Italians’.
Among these migrants were Adrian
Luminita, 40, and Elena, 32, his wife of
HUSBAND SAID,
10 years. They lived in a delightful villa
with a crafted garden surrounded by
cypress, boxwood and juniper hedging,
in the Strada della Speranza – the street
“I WANT TO GO
of hope.
Adrian worked as a caretaker in an
apartment building; Elena worked
in another apartment block nearby, HOME”
dealing with utilities problems, cleaning
corridors, minor repairs and decoration.
She also kept an eye on the residents,
many of whom were elderly.
The Luminitas were an artistic couple.
They played musical instruments and
painted portraits and landscapes.
For all the world their relationship
was idyllic. But Adrian Luminita was
unhappy. He yearned for his homeland,
the forests and mountains he mournfully
recreated in vivid colours in his paintings
– memories he carried in his heart.
One day he said to Elena: “I want to
go home. Back to Romania. We will go
together, of course.”
Elena shook her head. “I don’t want to
go back,” she replied. “I like it here. You
go, I’ll stay.” Her husband had become a
bit too controlling of late, she thought.
“I can’t go back alone,” he said. “You
must come with me. What will I say to
my family?”
He wouldn’t leave it alone. His mind
Left, Adrian and Elena Luminita. Right, forensic officers at the scene
was made up. Every day he woke up
thinking only of Romania. But Elena
wouldn’t budge. covered in blood and burns. Broken him, as if this explained everything.
Finally he snapped. In the evening of furniture and pottery lay everywhere – a Lawyer Paolo Malasoma said his client
December 6th, 2021, he picked up a significant pottery shard was embedded admitted the crime but suffered from
four-inch kitchen knife and turned on in Elena’s right eye. The experienced amnesia. “I don’t remember anything,”
her, becoming a wild beast. He stabbed officers knew that she had died several Luminita told his lawyer on several
her 25 times, attacking her from behind hours earlier. occasions. The lawyer agreed Luminita
in their isolated villa. Several times he A knife was found in her left hand, hid the knife but said this didn’t amount
slashed her throat. Unable to defend although she was right-handed. The to much. “If he had wanted to, he could
herself, Elena crumbled on to a sofa, intention, it appeared, was to make have hidden the body too.”
where she bled to death. Luminita, short and chunky, sat in a
Luminita dragged her body off the preliminary court hearing with his head
He stabbed her 25
sofa on to the floor, sprinkled it with down, dressed in a top with the hood
petrol and set it alight. It burned badly, times, attacking her pulled over. Throughout the proceedings
but the flames scorched him as he he showed no reaction to the evidence.
from behind. Several
struggled to keep them going. Admitting On occasion, he looked up with a blank
defeat, he hid the knife, still covered times he slashed stare at the screen where images of
in blood, behind a music system and Elena’s remains were shown. He faces a
her throat
went to bed. He slept soundly with the full murder trial later this year.
remains of his wife in the next room. For the elderly residents of the
Next morning he called the carabinieri, it look as though Elena attacked her apartment building managed by
an estimated 14 hours after Elena husband first. If so, this idea was later Elena, the shock of her death was
died. “I can’t take it any more,” he told abandoned. Forensics showed the knife great. One said: “When she didn’t
emergency. “Come with an ambulance. was inserted in Elena’s hand after death. turn up I was afraid she wasn’t well.
We killed each other. Now she is dead.” Stains on the bedclothes told analysts A friend then told me she was dead,
When officers arrived they found that Luminita took a nap after killing she was killed. For us, it was like
Luminita half-dressed. His ripped jeans and trying to incinerate his wife. A pan losing a member of the family. We
and underpants imbued with petrol and of fish was still on the oven top waiting really loved her a great deal.”
blood were found in the garden. He was to be eaten.
taken outside and handcuffed. The police arranged hospital care for
The police were confronted with a Luminita in Pisa, which has a burns unit. Join us next month for further
devastating scene inside the trashed villa. “She did not want to accompany me to astonishing European cases
Elena lay on her back with eyes open, Romania,” he told staff as they tended to
10