Authorities in Chania have been put on alert following the discovery of a human skeleton in a rural area near Voukolies, while at the same time, two cases of missing women that appear to be linked to the case have resurfaced.
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The story was reported by zarpanews.gr, which states that a local landowner discovered the human remains while clearing his field.
The man immediately notified the police, and the Chania Sub-Directorate for Crime Prevention and Investigation took over the investigation to determine the identity of the deceased.
An initial examination of the findings revealed that the remains were those of a woman, leading authorities to reexamine older missing persons cases from the wider area.
The Disappearance of Saniko Tsaousi
One of the first cases to come under scrutiny was that of 75-year-old Saniko Tsaousi, who mysteriously disappeared from Alikianos, Chania, on September 23, 2022.
She had left her home that morning to visit a relative who lived nearby. However, she vanished without a trace, and since then there has been no evidence leading to her whereabouts.
Her disappearance caused great concern in the area, while her family insisted from the very beginning that something bad had happened.
The case took a new turn in October 2024, when the prosecutor’s investigation led to criminal charges being filed for intentional homicide, committed in a calm state of mind, with possible malice aforethought and as accomplices, against the village priest and two Czech workers—a father and son—who were carrying out work at the local cemetery at the time.
According to the scenario examined as part of the investigation, the elderly woman was allegedly struck by the priest’s car, after which those involved are alleged to have helped conceal her body.
The defendants, however, deny any involvement, and the case has also prompted reactions from their defense team.
Developments continued in April 2025, when, following an evaluation of witness testimony, video footage, and cell phone data, new criminal charges were filed against the priest and the two workers.
In July of that same year, one of the Czech workers was remanded in custody following his testimony before the Chania investigating judge, facing a charge of intentional homicide by omission. He denied any involvement in the case. Despite the legal developments, Saniko Tsaousi’s body has not been found to this day, and her children continue to seek answers about their mother’s fate.
A Second Case in the Spotlight
However, this particular disappearance does not appear to be the only one under investigation by police. According to information from zarpanews.gr, preliminary forensic findings from the examination of the human remains point to an even older case, one that had shocked the region about 19 years ago.
Specifically, namely, a disappearance dating back to around 2007, with authorities now searching for evidence that could lead to the identification of the woman and link the bones to that specific case.
Another factor complicating the investigation is that, based on the identification of the clothing found alongside the human remains, it appears unlikely that the remains belong to the 75-year-old woman from Alikianos.
In any case, the answer is expected to come from laboratory tests. Authorities have already collected DNA samples to conduct comparisons with both missing persons cases.
The results will determine whether the remains belong to one of the two women or whether the investigation will need to take a different direction, raising a new set of questions surrounding a case that may have remained unsolved for nearly two decades.
Source: cnn.gr
