00:00:09
[Music] our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents if you feel at any
00:00:18
time you need support please contact your local crisis center for suggested phone numbers for confidential support
00:00:26
and for a more detailed list of content warnings please the show notes for this episode on your app or on our
00:00:34
website this episode was originally released on Case Files patreon Apple premium and Spotify Premium feeds as an
00:00:42
early bonus for our paid subscribers these episodes are designed to be slightly shorter allowing us to
00:00:49
cover a broader range of cases to receive these episodes early and add free you can support case file on your
00:00:57
preferred platform [Music] it was around 430 a.m. on Tuesday May 11 2021 when haralambos
00:01:13
anopolis better known as babus was violently woken in bed babus rented a two-story masonet in
00:01:21
the affluent suburb of glicka on the outskirts of Athens Greece he had little time to react as
00:01:29
three intruders wearing hoods and motorcycle bavers grabbed him a scuffle ensued but babus was
00:01:36
quickly overpowered by The Men Who were armed with pistols they swiftly tied babus up and
00:01:43
blindfolded him with duct tape babbus could do little as The Intruders launched on his wife
00:01:50
19-year-old Caroline Crouch the chaos startled the couple's 11-month-old daughter who was sleeping
00:01:58
close by and began to cry the men spoke in broken Greek with Albanian accents they repeatedly asked
00:02:07
where is the money days earlier babus and Caroline had bought a plot of land to build their
00:02:15
dream family home Caroline's parents had gifted them €50,000 to facilitate the purchase in preparation for construction
00:02:25
costs the couple had hidden a little over €10,000 in their house it was common for people in Greece to
00:02:33
store cash at home as the banks were unreliable and in constant risk of bankruptcy wanting to end their torment
00:02:42
quickly babis told The Intruders exactly where they could find the money it was stored inside a Monopoly board game
00:02:50
box the men pocketed the loot but remained in the house roaming from room to room snatching jewelry and other
00:02:58
valuables they demand landed more money with nothing else to offer all babus and Caroline could do was beg for
00:03:06
their lives The Intruders then held a gun against the baby's head Caroline began
00:03:15
screaming babis couldn't see what was happening but his wife's panicked screams soon fell
00:03:23
silent babus fought desperately against his restraints the tape around his neck was
00:03:29
painfully tight and he kept drifting in and out of Consciousness babis awoke after one
00:03:36
fainting spell to discover the man had gone the only thing he could hear was his daughter
00:03:44
wailing it took about half an hour but babus finally maneuvered himself over to his mobile
00:03:50
phone using his nose he dialed the number for emergency services [Music] upon hearing the operator on the other
00:04:23
line Babas cried out help help ambulance ambulance the duct tape around his mouth muffled
00:04:32
his words and he was barely intelligible the operator asked him to calm down and explain what was going
00:04:40
on robbers came in was all babis managed before he broke down where are you the operator asked
00:04:49
glicka glicka babis yelled by the time First Responders arrived it was approaching 6:00 a.m.
00:04:59
they raced up the front steps and entered the home the living space and kitchen had
00:05:04
been ransacked drawers were open and empty with belongings and clothing strewn about a monopoly box lay open on the
00:05:14
floor a small indoor security camera had been torn off a living room wall and left behind a couch its memory card was
00:05:24
missing dangling from a staircase banister was a brown and white husky puppet she was hanging by her own leash
00:05:34
dad upstairs in the main bedroom police found Baba sanog stopus on the floor his
00:05:41
hands and feet restrained tightly behind his back his eyes and mouth were covered in
00:05:47
duct tape that circled down to his neck laying face down on the bed nearby was Caroline
00:05:55
Crouch her baby girl was half on top of her crying while clapping pushing and hitting her mother's body doing anything
00:06:03
she could to Rouse her although the baby was in distress she was physically unharmed Caroline on the other hand was
00:06:13
so pale it was immediately clear she was [Music] deceased babus was released when he saw
00:06:25
his wife's body he was visibly shocked his Carol BL dad he asked before cradling his infant
00:06:34
daughter once the child was safe with an officer babus detailed the violent home
00:06:40
invasion based on his account and an examination of the crime scene police concluded that three men had broken in
00:06:47
while a fourth kept a watch outside they' likely followed an obscured dirt path that led to the rear
00:06:55
of the house upon failing to break into a back door they removed security pins from a basement window and climbed in
00:07:03
through that once inside the men silenced the family's 7-month-old husky Roxy by
00:07:10
choking her with her leash and throwing her over the banister strangling her to death the men then confronted babis and
00:07:20
Caroline asleep in the bedroom they spent over an hour ransacking the house before Caroline was
00:07:27
smothered to death with a pillow a coroner concluded Caroline had endured an agonizing not instant death with the
00:07:36
attack lasting up to 6 minutes bruising on her lips and tongue appeared to have been caused by a sharp
00:07:45
object other bruises across Caroline's body indicated she'd put up a fight but there were no signs of sexual
00:07:54
assault babis's description of coming in and out of Consciousness suggests he had
00:07:59
suffered hypoxia a potentially fatal lack of oxygen The Intruders likely mistook
00:08:06
babis for dead and left thinking there were no witnesses to their crime babus would have died too had his
00:08:14
attackers not inadvertently left him with a tiny field of vision through his duct tape
00:08:20
blindfold this enabled him to find his nightand where his mobile phone was located despite the Damage Done to the
00:08:30
couple's home the perpetrators had left no clear evidence behind yet one of the men's bavs had
00:08:37
slipped during the initial struggle with babus and he'd gotten a brief glimpse of
00:08:41
the man a composite sketch was created depicting a tall dark skinned overweight male who was under 30 years
00:08:51
old babus was also able to identify two of the handguns the asants were carrying
00:08:57
a silver cult and a black pistol all up the perpetrators escaped with over €1,000 in cash and around € 20,000
00:09:07
worth of jewelry police were certain those responsible were professional criminals they had likely watched Babas
00:09:16
and Caroline for some time familiarizing themselves with the family's routine before choosing the opportune moment to
00:09:25
strike while gang L killings were not unusual in grece the slaughter of a mother in front of her baby shocked the
00:09:33
country a police spokesperson said we've seen several other ugly murders throughout the years but this
00:09:42
was extremely brutal and violent it took someone with a strong antisocial personality and a distinct
00:09:50
lack of emotion to carry out such a heinous act one investigator remarked in a robbery the motive is his
00:09:59
money it was not necessary to kill to achieve this goal therefore the question on
00:10:08
everyone's Minds was why was Caroline Crouch killed it was speculated that The Intruders had been high on drugs and
00:10:17
unable to control their actions perhaps Caroline got a decent look at them or knew
00:10:24
them Caroline was also a black belt kickboxer she might have fought back with a level of strength or skill the
00:10:32
Invaders didn't anticipate so they killed her to keep her under control maybe her frantic screaming
00:10:39
after a gun was pressed to her daughter's Temple forced them to silence her before alarms were
00:10:49
raised given that the perpetrators knew to ask for the money the couple had stashed away the only thing
00:10:55
investigators ascertained with any degree of certainty was that the the attack was
00:11:01
premeditated those in babus and carolin's Inner Circle were questioned perhaps someone among them had tipped
00:11:08
off the gang meanwhile security footage collected from nearby homes and businesses showed a dark colored car
00:11:17
cruising around the couple's house on the morning of the crime it was closely followed by a
00:11:25
motorbike the vehicles were filmed turning along the streets that led to babus and Caroline's
00:11:32
home 3 days after her murder Caroline Crouch was late har rest on the Greek island of
00:11:40
alos she'd lived there since she was two her parents having fallen in love with the idyllic Coastal surroundings and
00:11:47
decided to relocate there from England Caroline embraced her Beachside upbringing developing a passion for
00:11:55
scuba diving and swimming it was on during a good Friday parade in 2017 where Caroline met and fell in love
00:12:05
with babis and agnostos a handsome and successful commercial helicopter pilot paying tribute to his late wife
00:12:15
babis said I was lucky that I met you very lucky that you loved me and even more
00:12:22
lucky that you are the mother of my child she will grow up not remembering her wonderful mother but Caroline who
00:12:31
was the joy of life will always be near me through our [Music] daughter as Caroline Crouch was being
00:12:46
laid to rest police in Northeast Greece pulled a car over for a routine stop the 36-year-old male driver was a
00:12:55
Georgian National who was on route to the Bulgarian board order he handed over his passport for identification but it
00:13:03
was quickly determined to be a fake as it turned out the man was Georgie harod isy a violent criminal
00:13:12
with multiple convictions he was wanted in relation to 12 break-ins committed around Athens
00:13:18
over the past 6 months three were around Caroline Crouch's neighborhood of glicka one was in December the previous
00:13:30
year harod zish whey and three others broke into a house via a rear window and dragged the female occupant by her hair
00:13:38
before threatening to slid her throat the offenders made off with almost 10,000 in cash as well as
00:13:47
jewelry on March 7 2 months before babus and Caroline were targeted harod zish whey and four accomplices tied up an
00:13:56
elderly couple and their cleaning lady Dre during a home invasion they made off with cash and
00:14:02
other valuables harod zish whey bore remarkable similarities to the composite sketch babus had helped
00:14:11
create given his Georgian Roots history of carrying out violent break-ins with the gang and his attempt to flee the
00:14:19
country police were confident that they had finally found Caroline's killer Georgie Herod zishy was placed
00:14:27
under arrest he was interrogated for 4 days straight during which he was tied up and beaten
00:14:34
by interviewing officers they asked over and over how did you get out there how did you get in
00:14:42
the house how did you kill her harod Z's treatment at the hands of police left him
00:14:50
concussed he maintained that he had never heard of Caroline Crouch and when evidence against him came up the dry
00:14:57
harod is wheelie was clear cleared of any involvement in her murder three officers were demoted from
00:15:04
the Athens homicide squad for the treatment Georgie Herod zishy endured while in
00:15:14
custody police set their sights on a local Albanian organized crime group eventually they widowed a list of
00:15:22
100 potential suspects down to just 10 people these individuals were on what detectives refer to as the Red List
00:15:32
known criminals with a penchant for being particularly cruel Baba anagnostopoulos was shown mug
00:15:40
shots of the suspects though police wouldn't divulge any further insight into their
00:15:46
identities they're all hardcore criminals of different nationalities albanians Georgians and Greeks may all
00:15:53
have been involved organized crime knows no Frontiers was all a detective was willing to say before
00:16:01
adding it's a difficult case it's taken longer than we thought to get here but we are getting
00:16:09
closer members of the public were starting to lose patience as racial hostilities
00:16:15
grew a €300,000 reward for information went unclaimed meanwhile robberies and burglaries continued throughout Athens
00:16:26
leaving residents fearful someone else would soon be killed a criminologist told the son
00:16:34
online if this was an ordinary burglary it would have been solved by now we read
00:16:40
that there is no DNA no fingerprints that there is little evidence and yet they seem like
00:16:47
amateurs something is not [Music] right but Caroline's loved ones remained grateful for the investigative effort
00:16:57
with her husband telling reporters I hope what happened to me and my family and my wife's family never
00:17:04
happens again the police know how to do their job and they will find them despite the emotional toll babus
00:17:15
continued to front the media to keep his wife's case in the public Consciousness he willingly fielded
00:17:22
questions from journalists via his Instagram account while expressing his gratitude for the outpouring of support
00:17:29
he was receiving from around the world on June 17 2021 37 days after Caroline Crouch was killed police
00:17:40
revealed they were closer than ever to tracking down her killer though they didn't
00:17:47
elaborate that same day a small memorial service was held for Caroline on aosu MERS soon noticed that detectives
00:17:57
had arrived the detectives waited for the service to conclude before discreetly approaching
00:18:03
bis anagnostopoulos and asking him to escort them to Athens important information had emerged
00:18:11
and there was a new suspect they urged babus to come and help identify the man babus
00:18:20
agreed he approached Caroline's mother Susan to give her the update he gave her a tearful Embrace before prepar in to
00:18:28
depart for [Music] Athens investigators had followed up a host of leads that emerged from babis's
00:18:39
Recollections of the night his wife was killed but all had reached dead ends over time several details didn't
00:18:48
appear to add up detectives had failed to uncover indisputable evidence that the basement
00:18:56
window had been breached by in Intruders the window was very small raising doubts that several men one of
00:19:04
whom Baba said was tall and overweight could access the house in this way and although babis and Caroline's
00:19:12
house had been ransacked something about the mess felt remarkably polished for a
00:19:17
violent home invasion the only thing a neighbor had heard was the sound of the couple's
00:19:23
puppy crying in distress they didn't hear any ransacking screams calls for help or a baby
00:19:33
crying most perplexing was the absence of foreign fingerprints or biological material in the
00:19:40
house this was unheard of and investigators wondered how the offenders had gotten so
00:19:47
lucky it was also unusual for home Invaders to restrain a male victim and leave him unharmed while opting to fight
00:19:54
a female victim not a single p piece of forensic evidence was uncovered on Caroline's
00:20:01
body despite the fact she had fought her attacker for upwards of 6 minutes even swabs taken from underneath
00:20:08
her fingernails came back negative for any outside DNA then there was the matter of the
00:20:16
home security camera which was found damaged in the living room it is common for criminals to take
00:20:22
security cameras with them but in this instance the offender had merely removed the memory card
00:20:30
data revealed the card had been removed at 1:20 a.m. yet babis said the thieves broke in at 4:30
00:20:38
a.m. at the time of her death Caroline Crouch was wearing a smartwatch that automatically monitored her
00:20:45
pulse at 3:58 a.m. her heart rate indicated she was fast asleep at 405 her pulse increased
00:20:55
abruptly by 50% showing she was in an an extreme state of mental or physical stress at 4:11 a.m. Caroline's heart
00:21:05
stopped beating all together this too was before the time babis said she must have been
00:21:13
[Music] murdered an examination of babis's phone revealed he had a fitness app installed
00:21:20
that tracked his physical activity data from the night of the crime showed he was moving around at the
00:21:27
exact time time he' supposedly been tied up and blindfolded by the alleged Intruders police also attempted to
00:21:35
reenact babis's claim that he used his nose to dial Emergency Services on his phone's
00:21:42
touchscreen at the time he'd been tightly restrained from head to toe and blindfolded with duct
00:21:49
tape no officer was able to successfully dial the number while in the same condition in investigators also
00:21:58
uncovered evidence that Caroline had attempted to book herself and her daughter into a hotel on the night of
00:22:04
her murder a text she sent to a friend around this time revealed why Caroline had threatened to leave her
00:22:20
husband Baba sosis had been on holiday in alasas when he first met Caroline Crouch
00:22:28
his mother lived on the island and was a teacher at the school Caroline attended Caroline was just 15 years old
00:22:36
when babus introduced himself he was 27 described as charismatic clever and photogenic he was also well off
00:22:48
financially Babas gained Caroline's attention by flying his helicopter over the school despite the 12year age Gap Carol
00:22:58
oline believed she had found her perfect match and assured her family that she was
00:23:04
happy within a year and a half babus proposed to the then 17-year-old Caroline 3 days after Caroline turned 18
00:23:14
the pair exchanged vs and settled in glicker nrow Caroline attended University in
00:23:20
Athens while babus continued working as a pilot both Caroline and B were active on
00:23:28
social media sharing many photos and videos of their life together online they looked like a joyful and romantic
00:23:37
couple yet Caroline was far more honest when writing in her private diary in coded entries dating back to
00:23:46
2019 Caroline questioned her relationship with babis that year she wrote I Fought with babus again this
00:23:57
time it was serious I am thinking of leaving I am thinking of going to my sister I don't know if I can keep going
00:24:05
with him over time babus became increasingly manipulative and controlling towards
00:24:14
Caroline it began with their very non-traditional wedding Greek weddings are typically
00:24:21
elaborate celebrations attended by a large crowd of family and well-wishes however Babas eloped with
00:24:29
Caroline overseas in a guest ceremony upon their return home babus further isolated Caroline from her
00:24:38
friends and family he was also the bread winner while Caroline was a university student
00:24:44
with no money making her totally dependent on him whenever Caroline's mother sent her
00:24:51
money babus would take it Caroline wrote of her anguish in her diary quote I love babus so much that I can't
00:25:02
leave him even though this relationship hurts me Caroline later detailed a tearful
00:25:10
confrontation she had with babis wherein she expressed her desire to leave him but she had just discovered she was
00:25:18
pregnant with his child Caroline wrote I stayed with him so my daughter would not grow up without her two
00:25:26
parents in July 2020 Caroline wrote today my little one is a month old it's also the day I told babus I want to
00:25:39
leave I feel awful she went on to write that she had found a house for herself in the Athens
00:25:47
suburb of hry hours before Caroline was killed phone records revealed that she and
00:25:54
babus had exchanged several combative texts while at home [Music] together Baba anagnostopoulos was
00:26:10
informed that the suspect who had emerged in his wife's murder investigation was in fact
00:26:16
him he was presented with the overwhelming evidence that revealed the inconsistencies in his original
00:26:23
story after more than 8 hours of interrogation babus broke down babus confessed that on the night
00:26:33
of Monday May 10 2021 he and Caroline had started arguing early on although Caroline's diary entries
00:26:42
indicated the couple had had issues from early in their relationship babus claimed they only ever thought about
00:26:48
their daughter he said that Caroline was determined to take their child and leave
00:26:55
this angered babus who claimed his daughter was his whole life he lost his temper babis told
00:27:04
police at some point Caroline threw the child in her cot and she told me to get up and leave the house she pushed me and
00:27:11
punched me my judgment became blurred I strangled her Caroline tried to fight babus off as
00:27:21
he pressed a pillow down on her face with the entire weight of his body he killed her in front of their
00:27:27
11-month-old daughter afterwards babus panicked he thought about getting rid of Caroline's
00:27:36
body but said it was impossible for him to do so he just looked at her and cried the thought then crossed his mind
00:27:45
to say someone else killed Caroline he staged the home invasion killing their puppy Roxy to bolster his
00:27:53
story he knew no one would believe he was capable of killing his own own dog babus then placed his wailing baby
00:28:01
daughter alongside the body of his wife before tying himself up with rope duct tape and
00:28:09
handcuffs babus conceded that he deserved to be punished saying I owe a big apology to the people
00:28:17
I've hurt I know it doesn't matter now what I did was not justified he did however try to shift
00:28:26
blame onto car line by saying she had become unstable and aggressive since giving
00:28:32
birth he made out that she was a terrible mother and implied that he had killed her to save their
00:28:40
child in Caroline the murder that fooled the world domestic abuse expert Dr Emma
00:28:46
Catz said this attempt to besmer Caroline's character and make people think badly of
00:28:53
her is of course an attempt to get babus more sympathy and more more lenient treatment which goes completely against
00:29:00
the narrative that he has any remorse or Contrition for what he's done in reference to babis painting
00:29:09
Caroline out to be the aggressor Dr Katz explained we do often see victims arguing back and we see victims even
00:29:18
physically fighting back against the coercive control sometimes people then think they
00:29:25
can't be a real victim they fought back babus might have given the impression Caroline wasn't a real Victim
00:29:32
Because she fought back but in my opinion she very much was Baba said he lied to police because
00:29:42
he didn't want his daughter to grow up without either of her parents I'm devastated he said I only
00:29:50
cared about my daughter I hid the truth so I would be able to raise her Greece's chief of police claimed that
00:30:02
they had suspected babis anagnostopoulos from the beginning when police first arrived at
00:30:08
his home babus was remarkably cold about his wife's murder his demina made one officer so
00:30:14
uncomfortable she took babis's baby away from him yet any misgivings about babus were
00:30:22
kept private as investigators ruled out other possibilities they publicly refuted any
00:30:28
suggestions he was responsible to prevent him from fleeing babus was so confident that he
00:30:35
had convinced police of his story that he didn't feel the need to destroy evidence such as his mobile
00:30:42
phone babus cleverly blamed the crime on foreigners because he knew this would shift public discourse to the
00:30:49
perpetrator nationalities rather than the crime itself authorities described babus as as
00:30:57
a top class actor his willingness to speak to investigators and the media ensured he
00:31:03
came across as a man with nothing to hide in front of news cameras he convincingly played the role of grieving
00:31:12
husband many viewers were fully convinced he was a man in pain babis told the media take care of your family cherish
00:31:23
your loved ones as much as you can while the homicide investigation was underway babus was active on social
00:31:32
media posting happy pictures of him and Caroline along with captions like together
00:31:40
forever he kept up this charade for over a month Caroline's mother Susan later revealed that she hadn't suspected her
00:31:48
daughter's husband for a second she had placed all her hopes in her son-in-law and was left full of
00:31:55
anger upon his confession the word wife was promptly removed from Caroline Crouch's White marble headstone
00:32:04
leaving the words to our much loved mother and daughter babus was charged with premeditated murder he also faced
00:32:14
charges for perverting the course of Justice lying to authorities and animal abuse public opinion about babus was so
00:32:23
vitriolic that outside Court he dawned a bulletproof and was flanked by armed police he was dubbed the most aile man
00:32:33
in Greece though not everyone agreed a small group of middle-aged women gathered at the court to support
00:32:41
the alleged killer one of the women told the Times by no means do I justify what he
00:32:49
did but he's quite handsome and dashing another remarked he's quite sensitive not the narcissist they paint him out to
00:32:59
be I think about him a lot I've collected pictures of him and pinned them on my bedroom
00:33:08
wall in court prosecutors walked through babis's actions leading up to and immediately after Caroline's
00:33:16
murder they argued that each action from removing the memory card in his home security camera to meticulously staging
00:33:24
the crime scene indicated someone acting calmly with pre-planned intent the fact that babus attacked
00:33:32
Caroline as she slept showed the crime was premeditated and coldblooded in his dayong testimony
00:33:41
babus told the court I ruined my life I ruined my family's life I wish I could go back in
00:33:50
time he called his marriage to Caroline a fairy tale and claimed that her happiness was his absolute PR
00:33:58
priority he claimed that after Caroline became a mother she turned Moody and was
00:34:03
prone to emotional Outburst this caused him to snap babus was expressionless as he
00:34:12
detailed the night he killed Caroline he claimed responsibility for her death but denied it was murder
00:34:20
maintaining the attack was a crime of passion Done In the Heat of the Moment in May 2022 after a month-long trial the
00:34:31
jury unanimously found babis anagnostopoulos guilty of all charges he was sentenced to life
00:34:41
imprisonment prison life has been difficult for babis and agnostos he has expressed fear for his
00:34:48
life after being beaten by men of the nationalities he tried to pin his crimes on
00:34:58
Caroline Crouch was one of 17 women killed by their romantic partner in Greece in
00:35:05
2021 in almost every instance the victim had tried to enter the relationship before her
00:35:12
death these types of killings fall under the definition of femicide the killing of women or girls because they are
00:35:20
female in almost 40% of reported femicide cases the perpetrator is the victim's spouse or
00:35:30
partner issues of domestic abuse weren't openly discussed in Greece meaning victims like Caroline Crouch suffered in
00:35:38
silence a journalist appearing on the documentary Caroline the murder that fooled the world
00:35:45
said The only positive thing to come out of this case was that the term femicide
00:35:50
has been introduced in the Greek media this case gave tragically an opportunity for the Greek society to
00:35:58
realize how deep this problem is I hope that this case will live along in the Greek society's memory because it
00:36:06
will remind us of the many wrong perceptions we have about people and it will also remind us how much we should
00:36:13
look into the issue of domestic [Music] violence before Caroline Crouch met babis and agnostos she was a popular
00:36:23
young woman renowned for always having a smile on her face others immediately wanted to befriend
00:36:30
her and she was so well-liked that she was like a mini celebrity in a Lona sauce a friend and former neighbor of
00:36:38
Carolines said I consider the people that hadn't met Caroline unlucky the loss is really great I
00:36:48
really miss her Caroline was also a loving and doting mother in what would become the
00:36:56
fin final video she ever posted to her Instagram account Caroline is on the beach by her home joyfully holding her
00:37:03
baby daughter in the air before planting a kiss on her cheek the little girl is now being cared
00:37:11
for by Caroline's parents David and Susan on the same Greek island where Caroline herself grew
00:37:18
up when writing about her daughter in her diary Caroline said my love for her is stronger than
00:37:27
anything in the [Music] [Music] world