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Investigators in Central Greece are leaning toward the conclusion that 39-year-old Vassilis Kalogirou, whose badly decomposed body was found earlier this week on a remote hill near the banks of the Pineios River in Tirnavos, died of exhaustion or possibly of some kind of narcotic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Specialized tests have been expedited and are expected to provide clearer answers, though investigators are reportedly very close to ruling out foul play. The only reason why that\u2019s still on the table is a deep wound on Kalogirou\u2019s throat, that may have been caused by scavengers or may point to strangulation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Apart from that, the 39-year-old appears to have died while lying on his back, with one arm behind his head and the other in his pocket, his spectacles neatly folded and deposited nearby. The relaxed pose of the body, the absence of injuries of a defensive nature and forensic evidence that he died in the exact position where he was found, seem to corroborate the cause of death by exhaustion and exposure.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His mother told investigators that he left the family home after a row on December 30, on foot and without his phone.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kathimerini spoke with several colleagues of Kalogirou, who worked as a psychologist at special education elementary schools in the region of Kastoria, and they described him as a quiet, church-going man who was well respected by staff and students alike.\u00a0<\/p>\n
His death, however, has caused something of a political and social media storm, mainly because his mother is a prosecutor in Larissa, the city at the epicenter of ongoing investigations into the 2023 Tempe railway disaster, even though her role in those investigations has only been tangential.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n