The case of the brutal murder of 19-year-old Carla Georgescu, who was killed by her stepfather last February on a university campus in England, went to trial on Tuesday.
Carla’s body was found on February 5, her 20th birthday, in a student residence at the University of Lancashire.
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Her 32-year-old stepfather, Nathan Owens, was arrested as the suspect and is accused of strangling her because, as stated in court, he had developed a “dangerous sexual obsession” with his stepdaughter.
It was described in court that Owens had left his home the previous evening, likely motivated by “sexual jealousy,” after learning that Carla was going to meet a man with whom she had developed a romantic relationship online.
As reported, Owens developed a “sexual obsession” with Carla after his marriage to her mother, Janina, with whom he had moved to the United Kingdom when the unfortunate girl was 12 years old, after her mother had separated from her husband and the girl’s father.
University staff described finding the 19-year-old slumped against a closet door, almost in a sitting position, with injuries to her face and a leather belt “tightly tied” around her neck.
“Her death was the culmination, the final point, of weeks, months, and possibly years of a one-sided sexual obsession. “It was he who had the sexual obsession with Carla, and it was he, Nathan Owens, who killed Carla,” said the prosecutor.
The investigation that uncovered the crime
The defendant reportedly claimed that he visited his stepdaughter’s apartment to retrieve her mother’s wallet, which she had supposedly left behind during her previous visit, a few days earlier.
Although the initial impression was that it was a suicide—since the belt around the young woman’s neck was tied to the closet handle— the forensic investigation revealed that “there was more to it” and that Carla’s head was in a different position than that typically found in people who commit suicide. The autopsy also revealed that the 19-year-old had sustained two severe blows to the head, wounds on her cheek caused by a knife or other sharp object, as well as cuts and bruises on her mouth and nose. At the same time, her hands were covered in blood, indicating that she had tried to protect herself from knife blows, and she had also sustained sexual injuries.
As revealed during the investigation, Owens had disposed of items—including bloodstained clothing, sex toys, and Carla’s bedding—in an attempt to cover his tracks.
The shocking findings
When the defendant was arrested by the police, he “briefly” denied having any connection to her death, but, as the jury heard, he said nothing further.
The prosecution argues that in the months and weeks leading up to the 19-year-old’s murder, he had been gathering material about her, as he allegedly took photos of her without her knowledge, focusing on her buttocks, as part of an “escalating pattern” of his “sexual attraction” toward her. The prosecution added that he videotaped himself having sex with his stepdaughter’s dolls and toys, one of which was a life-size “replica” that he had dressed in her nightgown.
Source: Proto Thema
