Greek police identified the body found in a suitcase in Athens as Elizabeth Jane Ross, a 38-year-old British woman last seen by friends on 15 July. The remains were identified 11 days after the suitcase was discovered in a derelict building in Kypseli.
The identification shifts the case from an unknown body to a named victim with a recorded travel trail. Greek police were also examining CCTV, flight records and hotel bookings while drawing on fingerprints sent to Interpol after local databases produced no match.
Police alerted Greek authorities after a homeless man found the suitcase on 18 July in the abandoned building on Evelpidon Street. Ross had been staying in Athens with friends, and Greek media said she had arrived in Greece on 29 June from Cyprus after travelling from the US.
Konstantina Dimoglidou said Greek police were treating the death as a criminal act given how the body was found. Local media said there was no evidence of a struggle or signs of injury, a detail that leaves investigators trying to match the condition of the body with the route Ross took before she died.
That gap is why the timeline matters now. The finding in Kypseli gives investigators a fixed point, but the inquiry still depends on reconstructing the days between Ross's last sighting on 15 July and the discovery on 18 July, including who she met and where she went inside Athens.
A British Foreign Office spokesperson said, "Our thoughts are with Elizabeth’s family during this difficult time. We are providing consular support and are in contact with the local authorities." The office said the family had been informed, and Greek officials did not rule out UK investigators joining the inquiry.
