A 53-year-old man with a documented history of domestic abuse fatally ha stabbed his estranged 44-year-old wife inside their family home, striking as she returned to the village to celebrate their minor daughter’s birthday.
The victim was discovered with severe stab wounds to the neck by a relative, and the couple’s adult daughter immediately alerted authorities.
Hellenic Police confirmed that two of the family’s three children were inside the residence in the northern region of Rodopi when the mid-day attack occurred.
Following the killing, the suspect reportedly turned a knife on himself and ingested heating fuel. He remains hospitalized under police guard and faces charges of intentional homicide, domestic violence, and weapons violations. Investigators seized two knives from the crime scene.
The fatal attack follows a prolonged history of reported abuse.
The victim had filed a formal criminal complaint against her husband in 2022, leading to his arrest in Crete for making threats.
Local media reported a total of five previous police complaints against him for abuse and domestic violence, some of which were co-signed by the children.
Despite the husband undergoing mandated psychiatric monitoring for the past three years, authorities had previously rejected the victim's petition to have him involuntarily committed for his extreme, pathological jealousy.
The victim had spent the summer working at a hotel on the island of Thassos and had only returned to Dialampi for the birthday celebration before the tragedy unfolded. Authorities withhold the names of both the suspect and the victim pending the ongoing investigation.