Human remains found in Chania field, DNA tests pending on two missing-women cases

Discovery in Voukolies

A 54-year-old man from Platanias was clearing his olive grove in the Voukolies area of Chania on 25 October when he came across a human skull and bones. Nearby he also found women's clothing and a black women's shoe. He alerted police immediately, and the site was cordoned off from the first moment. A forensic pathologist went to the scene, and samples were sent to laboratories of the Hellenic Police to establish the identity of the person. Reports say the bones lay under brambles at a spot cut off from the village, and the shoe may become one more clue for investigators trying to identify the woman.

Two missing-women cases under review

First examinations of the find point to a woman, and police have turned to older disappearance reports from the area. The main focus is a 75-year-old woman from Alikianos who went missing in September, although sources disagree on the year: Kathimerini and ΣΚΑΪ say 2022, while NewsIT, iefimerida and NEWS 24/7 say 2023. ΣΚΑΪ reports that early suspicions the remains could be hers are fading, and NewsIT says the clothing identified does not point to her. A second line of inquiry concerns a 77-year-old woman who disappeared in 2011 from a village close to the find site. ΣΚΑΪ, citing ERT Chania, reports that the woman's son has been asked to give a DNA sample so that a genetic match can be tested. NewsIT says its first scientific data point even further back, to a disappearance 19 years ago that shook the area.

Earlier charges and denials

ΣΚΑΪ reports that in October 2024 prosecutors brought charges of intentional homicide, committed in a calm state of mind with possible intent and as co-perpetrators, against the village priest and two Czech workers, a father and son who were doing work at the local cemetery at the time. New charges against the same three followed in April 2025, after an assessment of witness statements, video material and mobile phone data. The scenario examined by investigators, as ΣΚΑΪ describes it, is that the woman was hit by the priest's car and that those involved later helped conceal her body. The accused deny any involvement. NEWS 24/7 says the case has not yet been examined by a judicial council. NewsIT gives a different early account, in which a foreign worker was charged first after being questioned as a suspect alongside the priest.

Next steps

DNA samples have been taken in both cases, and the results are expected to show whether the remains belong to one of the missing women. The skeletal remains have been transferred for forensic and laboratory examinations, and the investigation is handled by the Chania crime prosecution and detection subdirectorate. Police have not publicly identified the remains, and the reports give no final answer on who the woman was. Timing is still open, but NewsIT notes the results could either shed light on the case or cloud it even further.