Body in a suitcase in Kypseli: 26-year-old posed as a jihadist killer – The misleading messages

The 26-year-old Afghan man accused of murdering 38-year-old Scottish national Elizabeth Jane Ross is expected to appear before an investigating magistrate on Wednesday morning to enter his plea. Her body was found on July 18 by a homeless man, inside a suitcase in an abandoned building on Evelpidon Street.

The suspect had been living in Greece for 10 years and was a boxing champion. During the examination of the crime scene, it was established that the body had been wrapped in black fabric, parts of which had been secured with grey packing tape, while around the neck the fabric had been wound into loop-like knots. The victim was wearing a blue short-sleeved top and athletic shorts, but no shoes.

According to the forensic pathologist who carried out the post-mortem examination, the advanced state of decomposition made it impossible to determine the cause of death. However, the condition in which the body was found, the manner in which it had been transported and the location where it was discovered all pointed to foul play.

The Homicide Department’s investigation established that Ross lived permanently in Scotland with her family. From a young age, she had been actively involved in voluntary work with churches and other organisations in the United Kingdom, Greece and several other countries. Those who knew her described her as calm, generous and non-confrontational.

The 38-year-old Scottish woman flew from Edinburgh to Greece on June 29. She is initially believed to have stayed in rented Airbnb accommodation and was subsequently hosted, until July 9, at the home of a couple she knew in Keratsini.

On July 2, Ross received the keys to a ground-floor flat at 9 Rethymnou Street in Exarchia from an American friend, so that she could stay there until July 16. The suspect also had keys to the flat, as did his wife, who was a friend of the victim.

The victim worked as a volunteer for a major church-affiliated NGO of the Protestant Church, based in Zimbabwe. The flat belonged to the NGO and was used as communal accommodation for anyone who needed a place to stay. Ross herself was wealthy and was the daughter of a prominent Scottish lawyer who also works with the country’s government. Her American friend, who is married to the Afghan suspect, was employed by the NGO.

During the evening of July 15, the victim spoke by telephone with someone in her circle of friends. This was the last confirmed sign that she was alive. Following that final phone call, no one close to her saw her in person. However, people around her noticed “unusual” behaviour in subsequent text-message exchanges, mainly because the language and style of her messages had changed and because of her sudden stated desire to isolate herself.

This is consistent, on the one hand, with the admission that the user of the victim’s mobile phone had changed and, on the other, indicates an attempt at controlled deception designed to make it appear that the victim was alive and had voluntarily withdrawn from contact.

Analysis of communications data showed that, on July 19, the victim’s mobile phone connection was routed through a mast in Arachova. In addition, video footage established that, on that day, the suspect, who had been on friendly terms with the victim, was in Arachova with his wife and their child.

Officers from the Homicide Department subsequently questioned the victim’s friend, who is also the suspect’s wife. She said that shortly after midnight on the night of July 15 to 16, she woke up and realised that her husband was not at home.

Using his shared location, she discovered that he was at the NGO-owned flat at 9 Rethymnou Street in Exarchia.

She also told police that on July 30, the day the victim’s identity and details were made public, she began to suspect that her husband may have been involved in her friend’s murder. She then left their home with their baby and stayed at a hotel.

After she moved out of the family home, the suspect gave her €2,550. On July 16, he had also given his wife a new Apple iPhone 17 Pro.

The phone and the sum of €2,550 were handed over to the Homicide Department by the victim’s friend. She believed that the money had been taken from the victim by the suspect and refused to keep property she thought had belonged to Ross.

What the cameras showed

A review of the video footage collected during the investigation established the following:

• During the evening of July 16, the suspect drove to 9 Rethymnou Street in Exarchia, where he collected a suitcase from the ground-floor flat in which Ross had been staying.
• At 10:43 p.m. on July 16, the suspect was recorded walking along Evelpidon Street towards the open-air area of the building complex at 7 Evelpidon Street in Kypseli, carrying the suitcase containing the victim’s body and another blue bag of unknown contents.
• At 10:56 p.m., the suspect was seen leaving the location where the suitcase was later found. He was no longer carrying either the suitcase or the blue bag and was holding only a light-coloured backpack.

Following these findings, officers located the suspect and took him to the headquarters of the Directorate for Combating Organised Crime. During questioning, he claimed that on the evening of July 15 he went to the flat at 9 Rethymnou Street, where he found the 38-year-old already dead in the bathroom. He said that he placed her body in a suitcase and, on the evening of July 16, transported it in his wife’s car to the abandoned building complex at 7 Evelpidon Street.

He also said that in the following days he used the victim’s bank cards to withdraw money and used her mobile phone to send messages to people close to her while pretending to be her.

During the morning of August 1, police searched the first-floor flat on Aiginis Street in Athens, where the suspect lived with his family. Among the items found and seized were a black metal replica Glock pistol and a black military-style knife.

The second phone and the alleged “proselytising”

The suspect continued the deception even after the victim’s identity had been made public.

He obtained another phone and telephone number and, pretending to be a jihadist and an unknown killer, sent messages to himself, his wife, friends and the victim’s father. In those messages, he claimed to be the man who had killed her and said he had done so for religious reasons because the 38-year-old taught the Bible and allegedly tried to convert people.

When he met his wife, he is said to have converted from Islam to Christianity, initially joining the Protestant Church, later the Catholic Church and, more recently, the Orthodox Church.

Police regard the religious claim as a fabrication and believe the most likely motive was robbery, as more than £12,000 was withdrawn using the victim’s bank cards. In his formal statement, however, the suspect denies killing her.