A tragic end to the case of the missing Greek student Vangelis Giakoumakis, after his body was finally discovered on Sunday 15 March, 37 days after his disappearance. What is now raising questions in Greece, is the fact that the student’s body was discovered in a creek only 800 meters from the Dairy School of Ioannina, which he attended.
Additionally, numerous police officers have revealed that during the search operations organized over the course of the disappearance, those participating have passed through the spot where the 20-year-old was found dead. According to police sources, the body was found by a young couple whose car got stuck in a muddy lane nearby; they called the authorities. A knife was also found next to the dead young man and police later confirmed that the body had knife cuts on the right wrist.
The student’s uncle, George Viviedakis, has come forth and identified the boy to be his nephew. “They found Vangelis, he is dead,” a tearful relative told the Greek media.
The police are not excluding any possibilities as to the causes of death, even though reports in the Greek media speculate that it was a suicide.
Minutes after the body was discovered the coroner of the University Hospital of Ioannina arrived on scene. The coroner’s report is expected on Monday.
Missing since 6 February
The authorities searched through the city of Ioannina and the surrounding regions in northern Greece looking for 20-year-old Dairy School student Vangelis Giakoumakis who went missing on February 6. Private investigators, volunteers and numerous people who have never met the young man were also involved in assisting with the case.
According to police reports, Giakoumakis lived in the school dorms. On February 6, he went missing but the investigation revealed that he had left his wallet and mobile phone behind. Since then Greek authorities in collaboration with Private Investigator Giorgos Tsoukalis had been trying to track down the young man.
A victim of vicious bullying
An administrative inquiry completed on Friday, March 6, mentioned that Vangelis Giakoumakis a native of Crete was being continuously bullied by a group of other Cretan students in the school. The inquiry conducted in the Dairy School of Ioannina where Giakoumakis used to study, resulted in several a history of vicious and violent bullying against Vangelis coming to light. According to testimony by other students in the school, the group of tormentors tied Vangelis to a chair and then locked him in a closet more than once. Giakoumakis was so afraid of them that he would not even go to the bathroom at night, the inquiry revealed.
After the intervention of a teacher in the school, things were briefly better for the young student but according to the report, the teasing and attacks started once again in January 2015, a few days before he went missing. Furthermore, the inquiry also found that during that time, the “leader” of the Cretan group had returned to Ioannina to receive his diploma.
