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Master Detective - August 2022 PDF

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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: +44 (0)330 390 6555. © 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 D y a d h t r i B y p p a H y. a D HIGH NOON * * * * * * * AT WALMART A t a h W “ D 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

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