Greek farmer goes on trial for US scientist's rape, murder

ATHENS: A farmer from the Greek island of Crete will go on trial Tuesday after confessing to raping and killing an American scientist last year.

Yiannis Paraskakis, a married father of two, has been charged with manslaughter, rape and illegal weapons possession. 

The body of Suzanne Eaton, a molecular biologist at the Max Planck Institute at Dresden University, was found near the city of Chania nearly a week after she was last seen by friends in July 2019.

Eaton, 59, had been attending a conference near the city and had gone out hiking on the day of her murder, leaving behind her cellphone, the police said.

Police said the suspect had encountered Eaton on a rural road, and ran her over twice with his car to incapacitate her.

They said he then put her in the trunk of the car and drove to an abandoned World War II bunker where he sexually assaulted her.

He subsequently threw her down a ventilation opening in the bunker's ceiling.

The little-known bunker had been used by German occupation forces during World War II.

The 28-year-old suspect, a priest's son, has been incarcerated in a prison at the town of Tripoli. He has been transferred to the Cretan town of Rethymno for the trial.

Eaton was married to British scientist Anthony Hyman. The couple has two sons.

In a statement released after her death, the Max Planck Institute said it was "deeply shocked and disturbed by this tragic event".