Missing UK scientist found dead in Greece
NICOSIA (AFP) — The body of a missing British scientist has been found in a ravine on the Greek island of Ikaria two days after she disappeared, Greek police said on Wednesday.
Officials have ordered an autopsy to determine the cause of death of Natalie Christopher, an astrophysicist based in the Cyprus capital of Nicosia who had been on holiday with her partner when she went missing.
Greek police with a helicopter, port patrols, firefighters and volunteers had been searching for the 35-year-old after she reportedly failed to return from a run on Monday.
Her body was recognized by her clothing when it was discovered by a volunteer firefighter 1.5 kilometers from the hotel where she was staying with her Cypriot partner near the port of Agios Kirykos, police said.
The Cyprus Mail website said Christopher’s companion notified the police that she had not returned at around 12:40 p.m.
A hotel maid reported that the couple had quarrelled the day before the disappearance.
The incident comes three weeks after the murder of US molecular biologist Suzanne Eaton on the Greek island of Crete.
The 59-year-old Eaton had been attending a conference near the city of Chania and gone out on July 2 without taking her mobile phone, police said.
Her body was found six days later in an abandoned World War II bunker. A 27-year-old farmer confessed to raping and killing Eaton, who had worked for the Max Planck Institute at Dresden University.