Forensic science

Forensic experts on Thursday morning began investigating the area on the western coast of Ikaria, where the body of 34-year-old British astrophysicist Natalie Christopher was discovered the previous evening.

The lab tests conducted so far in the Caracal case showed the genetic profile of a single person - Alexandra Mihaela Macesanu, the result being based on the scientific comparison of the genetic profile of the sample taken from the defendant's house with the genetic profile of the girls' parents, the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism informed on Saturday.

Bone fragments collected from the home of alleged criminal Gheorghe Dinca in Caracal belong to a girl aged 15 to 17 years, show the results of a forensic anthropological analysis conducted by the National Institute of Legal Medicine (INML), according to sources with the institute.

Prosecutors of the Directorate for Investigating Organized Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) and forensic police will conduct on Friday a complex and thorough investigation at the home of Gheorghe Dinca, the main suspect in the case of the disappearance of two teenage girls in Caracal, examining also the concrete-filled pits in the house yard, said DIICOT spokesperson Mihaela Porime.

Prosecutors with the Directorate for Investigating Organised Crime and Terrorism (DIICOT) have opened an in rem criminal case regarding the recent Caracal crimes, for negligence in connection with the non-observance of the procedures by the police officer who took the 112 emergency phone calls of 15-year-old Alexandra Macesanu.

Judges at an Athens appeals court on Wednesday unanimously voted to uphold the conviction to life in prison for a 78-year-old man over the death of 26-year-old Marios Papageorgiou, who was snatched while on holiday in western Greece in August 2012 and is presumed dead.

Police in Cyprus found a body on Wednesday thought to be the seventh and last victim of a serial killer who preyed on foreign women for almost three years without detection.

A 32-year-old foreign national was arrested on Friday in connection to the murder of his former wife in the Athenian district of Kallithea earlier this week and is expected to appear before a prosecutor later in the day.
The 29-year-old victim, identified as a Georgian national, was found dead in her apartment on May 13. The forensic report concluded she was strangled to death.

A 35-year-old Cypriot man who is facing seven counts of murder and a rape charge is expected to appear in court on Monday, as police are still searching for two more of his victims.
A crucial autopsy on Monday is expected to show the cause of death of one of Nikos Metaxas' alleged victims, eight-year-old Romanian national Elena Natalia Bunea.

A well-known private forensic pathologist who has raised doubts over the Mitseros autopsies in the serial killer investigation says he also has reservations over the decision by local authorities to call on five UK experts.