The 59-Year-Old Scientist Who Was Killed By A 27-Year-Old Youtuber

Suzanne Eaton was born on December 23, 1959 in Oakland, California.

There is any information about her family or her first years of life but what is known is that she has always been a very intelligent girl and that at 8 years old she was already a talented pianist.

After graduating from high school, she began studying biology at Brown University and in 1981 she completed a master’s degree in microbiology at the University of California. For her doctoral work, the Association of Academic Women awarded her the Sydney C. Award. Rittenberg for Distinguished Academic Achievements in the field of microbiology.

Suzanne began her research career working on genes of heavy chains of immunoglobulins at the University of California. In 1988 she switched to developmental biology, investigating how cells obtain their tissue identities in the fruit fly,

In 1993 she moved to Germany to work in the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and in 2000 she became one of the founding members of the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, where in 2015 she became a professor of cell biology of the development of invertebrates.

At the time of the events, Suzanne had been married to the British scientist Anthony Hyman for several years and they were parents of two children. Everyone says that at 59 years old she was an athlete, a runner and had a black belt in Taekwondo.

Her sister declared some time later that she really liked to prepare exquisite meals and had an exotic sense of fashion. She loved perfumes, finished the crosswords too quickly and read a lot.

Unfortunately in the summer of 2019 Suzanne attended a scientific conference on the island of Crete and there she was unlucky enough to come across a real monster who randomly selected her for her perverse purposes.

The facts:

In July 2019, Suzanne attended a scientific conference with some colleagues at the Orthodox Academy of Chania, Crete. One day she went for a run and no one else saw her alive again.

On July 2, after the conference, Suzanne was seen playing the piano in the lobby of the hotel where she was staying. It is believed that she then went up to his room, put on her sneakers and went for a run. But the hours passed and when her colleagues realized that there was no trace of the woman, they decided to report her disappearance to the police.

The agents began to investigate quite quickly and the first thing they did was check the room in which she was staying. As they noticed there that her sneakers were missing, they assumed that the woman had gone for a run because she also didn’t take her wallet or her mobile phone.

The family immediately moved to Crete to help in the search for Suzanne. Together with their colleagues and friends, they opened a Facebook page that coordinated the search efforts and offered a reward of €50,000.

But six days after the disappearance, some hikers made a terrible discovery just 10 kilometers from Suzanne’s hotel.

On July 8, two locals who were hiking entered a cave that had been a bunker during the Second World War. Under a 7-meter-high platform they found a lifeless body so they immediately notified the police.

The agents who arrived at the scene saw the body of a woman who was later identified as Suzanne’s. At first they thought that she had gone to that cave to visit since it was a very popular place on the island and that she had fallen accidentally, however when the autopsy revealed the opposite they had no choice but to open a murder investigation.

According to the coroner’s report, there was nothing to indicate that Suzanne’s death had been accidental. To begin with, it was established that the cause had been asphyxia but not only that, the killer had abused her although it was not clear whether before or after her death. On the other hand, she had multiple fractures and tears in addition to the mutilation of one of his ears.

The police immediately interviewed 9 suspected men who had been seen near the cave area. After police pressure, one of them collapsed and confessed everything.

It was Giannis Paraskakis, a 27-year-old married Greek and father of two children.

During the interrogation and with spooky details he admitted that on July 2 at about 2 p.m he was driving with the intention of looking for someone to maintain relationships. Suddenly he saw Suzanne running on the side of the road.

Without hesitation for a single moment he made a U-turn and hit her with his car twice until she was unconscious, then he put her in his trunk and drove to the bunker place where he abused her and let her die denying at all times that he had deprived her of air. After the crime he went to a cemetery to clean his car of blood and other traces.

Apart from his statement, the agents had several evidence that placed the man at the crime scene: the first was that one of the tires of his car had left a mark at the exit of the bunker, the second was the signal from his mobile phone that placed him at the scene on the day of the events and the third that a security camera captured his vehicle in the area.

But, who was this man really?

It is known that Giannis was the son of a priest, that he had been married for 3 years and that he was the father of two children of 1 and two years old respectively.

By profession farmer for a few months had a second job in a furniture store. On the other hand, he was very active on social networks, reaching about 4,000 followers on Instagram. According to his profile, he loved nature, wild beauties, the secret treasures of Crete, sports, martial arts and his family.

The curious thing is that he also had a YouTube channel and in several of his videos dated in 2016 he appeared in the bunker where some time later he left Suzanne’s body showing what seemed to be femur bones.

As you can imagine, this individual was arrested and taken by the authorities to the bunker to recreate the facts.

After being formally charged at the hearing of premeditated murder and abuse, Giannis responded the following: “I accept what is valid.”

The trial:

The Giannis Paraskakis trial began in the fall of 2020. According to the prosecutor on the afternoon of the events, this individual randomly selected Suzanne and hit her first with the left side of his vehicle to knock her down.

The woman fell to her knees at the moment in which he took the opportunity to run over her, leaving her body under the car. Still alive, he put her in the trunk and drove to the abandoned bunker to abuse her.

Something that could never be determined was the way in which Suzanne died deprived of air. There were two possibilities, one that the accused had closed his mouth and nose so that she could not breathe or that while the woman was in the trunk she died from injuries and shortness of breath.

But despite his previous statement, Giannis said before the court that it was all an accident and that if he pleaded guilty it was because he was under coercion.

The police officer who questioned him the first time also testified in the trial.

“He said he was possessed by demons who gave him orders.”

Because of this, the defense tried to hold on to his client’s mental problems, but the prosecutors said that it was impossible for the accused not to realize what he was doing at that time since his movements were determined and “methodical.”

The testimony of Suzanne Eaton’s family deeply shot those attending the trial and made it clear that they wanted the woman to be remembered as an acclaimed scientist, a talented athlete and a beloved mother.

Julie, the deceased’s sister, spoke to the media to tell that Suzanne’s husband was under psychological treatment for the trauma caused by the way his wife died and that he could not even work.

According to Julie, life at home for the Eaton family was extremely difficult because no one could accept the fact that she was no longer in their lives.

“It was very difficult for me to be here, but I came to testify about how loving my sister was. She was a wonderful wife, mother and sister. I also came to thank the authorities and all the people here who helped with the investigation.”

Finally in October 2020, a court in the city of Chania found Giannis Paraskakis guilty of murder and abuse. For murder he was sentenced to life imprisonment and for abuse to 13 years. In addition, the court did not accept any mitigating circumstances.

Giannis was taken to Tripolis prison, in the Peloponnese, where he is currently serving his sentence.

In March 2021, the European Molecular Biology Organization launched a new scholarship in memory of Suzanne Eaton that supports young researchers from all life sciences to enter a new field or give a new direction to her work.

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