Mitsero murders

The Mitsero murders were a series of murders on the island of Cyprus committed by 35-year-old Cypriot Army officer Nikos Metaxas, taking place between September 2016 and August 2018. Five of his seven victims were female foreigners (from Nepal, the Philippines, and Romania) he had met on the online dating site Badoo.[1] The remaining two victims were young children, and were the daughters of two of the women he had killed.[1]

Mitsero murders
DateSeptember 2016 – August 2018
LocationNicosia District, Cyprus
Deaths7
ConvictionsNikos Metaxas
Sentence7 life sentences

The case came to public attention in April 2019 when unusually heavy floods brought the body of the first victim, Mary Rose Tiburcio, to the top of a mine shaft near Mitsero, where it was discovered by a German tourist. Another body was discovered in a well at a firing range by Orounta.[1] Three of the victims were stuffed into suitcases and disposed of in the Red Lake near Mitsero, so named because the toxic chemicals present in the lake from nearby mining operations gave it a red hue.[2] The latest body, that of Tiburcio's six-year-old daughter Sierra, was found in Lake Memi near Xyliatos in June.

During his apprehension, Metaxas reportedly attempted to swallow a SIM card in front of police before they stopped him.[3] After he was named as a suspect, multiple women came forward to accuse him of crimes such as rape, and he was also formally accused of evidence tampering and obstruction of justice; however, critical evidence for these charges was believed to have been destroyed or lost.[3] Metaxas told investigators that he had strangled two of his victims and their daughters because he suspected that the women were planning to "pimp out" their daughters, and he wanted to punish the women and "free" the children.[1] He pleaded guilty on 24 June and received seven life sentences, the biggest sentence ever handed down in Cyprus.[1]

The murders sparked criticism towards the negligence and incompetence of the island's police force, as many of the victims had been reported missing by relatives or friends as far back as September 2016, only to be met with indifference and a lack of progress in the investigations—President Nicos Anastasiades condemned the authorities' "sheer negligence and inefficiency", adding his belief that their actions were "definitely not guided by any racist motives".[4] In the midst of the case, Justice Minister Ionas Nicolaou resigned and police chief Zacharias Chrysostomou was fired.[4] As of July 2019, an investigation into the police's handling of the reports is underway.[4] That same month, Cypriot MPs began meetings to address the fact that 37 women had been killed in Cyprus between 2000 and 2019.[5]

Cypriot businessman Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou, founder of British airliner easyJet, announced that he would donate €10,000 each to the closest relatives of each victim.[6] As of July 2019, he has been unable to contact the relatives of two of the victims, and has said that he will donate the additional sums of €10,000 each to Metaxas' eight-year-old son and six-year-old daughter for their education in the meantime.[6]

References
  1. Hadjioannou, Bouli. "Mitsero murders: Metaxas pleads guilty to killing 5 women, 2 children".
  2. "Mitsero murders: New plan for the Red Lake".
  3. "Serial killer's SIM card points to more women | Kathimerini". www.ekathimerini.com.
  4. Hadjioannou, Bouli. "President slams 'sheer negligence' in investigating disappearance of serial killer's victims".
  5. "The murders of 37 women over the past 19 years 'could have been prevented' MPs hear". July 8, 2019.
  6. Reporter, Staff (July 24, 2019). "Stelios foundation donates to families of serial killer's victims, seeks relatives of two".
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