Casefile True Crime - Case 269: Caroline Crouch

Episode Date: December 2, 2023

*** Content warning: Animal cruelty ***In May 2021, residents of the affluent Athens suburb of Glyka Nera were left shaken by news of a violent home invasion. Three masked intruders had killed 19-year-old Caroline Crouch as she slept beside her 11-month-old daughter before ransacking the house. Caroline’s husband, Babis Anagnostopoulos, was the only witness, but he’d been bound and blindfolded during the attack. The desperate search for those responsible led investigators down a path no one saw coming.---Narration – Anonymous HostResearch & writing – Milly RasoCreative direction – Milly RasoProduction and music – Mike MigasMusic – Andrew D.B. JoslynSign up for Casefile Premium:Apple PremiumSpotify PremiumPatreonFor all credits and sources, please visit casefilepodcast.com/case-269-caroline-crouch Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Our episodes deal with serious and often distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis centre. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. This episode was originally released on CaseFiles Patreon, Apple Premium and Spotify Premium feeds as an early bonus for our paid subscribers. These episodes are designed to be slightly shorter, allowing us to catch. cover a broader range of cases. To receive these episodes early and ad-free, you can support case file on your preferred platform. It was around 4.30am on Tuesday, May 11, 2021, when Harrow Lambos and Ognosopoulos, better known as Babas, was violently woken in bed.

Babas rented a two-story mazenet in the affluent suburb of Glicka Nara on the outskirts of Athens, Greece. He had little time to react as three intruders wearing hoods and motorcycle balaclavas grabbed him. A scuffle ensued, but Babas was quickly overpowered by the men who were armed with pistols. They swiftly tied Babas up and blindfolded him with duct tape. Babas could do little as the intruders launched on his wife, 19-year-old Caroline Crouch. The chaos startled the couple's 11-month-old daughter who was sleeping close by and began to cry. The men spoke in broken Greek with Albanian accents. They repeatedly asked, where is the money? Days earlier, Babas and Caroline had bought a plot of land to build their dream family home.

Caroline's parents had gifted them 50,000 euros to facilitate the purchase. In preparation for construction costs, the couple had hidden a little over 10,000 euros in their house. It was common for people in Greece to store cash at home, as the banks were unreliable and in constant risk of bankruptcy. Wanting to end their torment quickly, Babas told the intruders exactly where they could find the money. It was stored inside a monopoly board game box. The men pocketed the loot, but remained in the house, roaming from room to room, snatching jewelry and other valuables. They demanded more money. With nothing else to offer, all Babas and Caroline could do was beg for their lives. The intruders then held a gun against

the baby's head. Caroline began screaming. Babas couldn't see what was happening, but his wife's panicked screams soon fell silent. Babas fought desperately against his restraints. The tape around his neck was painfully tight, and he kept it drifting in and out of consciousness. Babas awoke after one fainting spell to discover the man had gone. The only thing he could hear was his daughter wailing.

It took about half an hour, but Babas finally manoeuvred himself over to his mobile phone. Using his nose, he dialed the number for emergency service. Upon hearing the operator on the other line, Babas cried out, Help, help, ambulance, ambulance. The duct tape around his mouth muffled his words and he was barely intelligible. The operator asked him to calm down and explain what was going on.

Robbers came in, was all Babus managed, before he broke down. Where are you, the operator asked. Glicka Nera, Glicka Nera, Babass yelled. By the time first responders arrived, it was approaching 6am. They raced up the front steps and entered the home. The living space and kitchen had been ransacked. Draws were open and empty, with belongings and clothing strewn about. A monopoly box lay open on the floor.

A small indoor security camera had been torn off a living room. wall and left behind a couch. Its memory card was missing. Dangling from a staircase banister was a brown and white husky puppy. She was hanging by her own leash, dead. Upstairs in the main bedroom, police found Babas Sanognostopoulos on the floor, his hands and feet restrained tightly behind his back. His eyes and mouth were covered in duct tape that circled down to his neck, Laying face down on the bed nearby was Caroline Crouch. Her baby girl was half on top of her crying while clapping, pushing and hitting her mother's body, doing anything she could to rouse her.

Although the baby was in distress, she was physically unharmed. Caroline, on the other hand, was so pale, it was immediately clear she was deceased. Babas was released. When he saw his wife's body, he was visibly shocked. Is Caroline dead, he asked, before cradling his infant daughter? Once the child was safe with an officer, Babas detailed the violent home invasion. Based on his account and an examination of the crime scene, police concluded that three men had broken in while a fourth kept a watch outside. They'd likely followed an obscured dirt path that led to the rear of the house.

Upon failing to break into a back door, they removed security pins from a basement window and climbed in through that. Once inside, the men silenced the family's seven-month-old Husky, Roxy, by choking her with her leash and throwing her over the banister, strangling her to death. The men then confronted Babas and Caroline asleep in the bed. bedroom. They spent over an hour ransacking the house before Caroline was smothered to death with a pillow. A coroner concluded Caroline had endured an agonising, not instant death, with the attack lasting up to six minutes. Bruising on her lips and tongue appeared to have been caused by a sharp object. Other bruises across Caroline's body indicated she'd put up a fight, but there were no signs of sexual assault. Babas's description of coming in and out of consciousness suggested he had

suffered hypoxia, a potentially fatal lack of oxygen. The intruders likely mistook Babas for dead and left, thinking there were no witnesses to their crime. Babus would have died too had his attackers not inadvertently left him with a tiny field of vision through his ductate blindfold. This enabled him to find his nightstand where his mobile phone was located. Despite the damage done to the couple's home, the perpetrators had left no clear evidence behind. Yet, one of the men's balaclavas had slipped during the initial struggle with Babas and he'd gotten a brief glimpse of the man. A composite sketch was created, depicting a tall, dark-skinned, overweight male who was under 30 years old. Babbas was also able to identify two of the handguns the assailants were carrying, a silver

colt and a black pistol. All up, the perpetrators escaped with over 10,000 euros in cash and around 20,000 euros worth of jewellery. Police were certain those responsible were professional criminals. They had likely watched Babas and Caroline for some time, familiarising themselves with the family's routine before choosing the opportune moment to strike. While gang-led killings were not unusual in Greece, the slaughter of a mother in front of her baby shocked the country. A police spokesperson said, We've seen several other ugly murders throughout the years, but this was extremely brutal and

violent. It took someone with a strong anti-social personality and a distinct lack of emotion to carry out such a heinous act. One investigator remarked, In a robbery, the motive is money. It was not necessary to kill to achieve this goal. Therefore, the question on everyone's minds was, why was Caroline Crouch killed? It was speculated that the intruders had been high on drugs and unable to control their actions. Perhaps Caroline got a decent look at them, or knew them. Caroline was also a black belt kickboxer. She might have fought back with a level of strength or skill the invaders didn't anticipate,

so they killed her to keep her under control. Maybe her frantic screaming after a gun was pressed to her daughter's temple forced them to silence her before alarms were raised. Given that the perpetrators knew to ask for the money the couple had stashed away, the only thing investigators ascertained with any degree, of certainty was that the attack was premeditated. Those in Babas and Carolines's inner circle were questioned. Perhaps someone among them had tipped off the gang.

Meanwhile, security footage collected from nearby homes and businesses showed a dark-colored car cruising around the couple's house on the morning of the crime. It was closely followed by a motorbike. The vehicles were filmed to, turning along the streets that led to Babas and Caroline's home. Three days after her murder, Caroline Crouch was laid to rest on the Greek island of Alonisos. She'd lived there since she was two, her parents having fallen in love with the idyllic coastal surroundings and decided to relocate there from England.

Caroline embraced her beachside upbringing, developing a passion for scuba diving and swimming. It was on Alonisos. during a Good Friday parade in 2017, where Caroline met and fell in love with Babas and Agnostopoulos, a handsome and successful commercial helicopter pilot. Paying tribute to his late wife, Babas said, I was lucky that I met you, very lucky that you loved me and even more lucky that you are the mother of my child. She will grow up not remembering her wonderful mother, but Caroline, who was the joy of life, will always be near me, through our daughter. Case File will be back shortly.

Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support CaseFile to continue to deliver quality content. As Caroline Crouch was being laid to rest, police in northeast Greece pulled a car over for a routine stop. The 36-year-old male driver was a Georgian national who was on route to the Bulgarian border. He handed over his passport for identification, but it was quickly determined to be a fake. As it turned out, the man was Georgi Harrodsishwili, a violent criminal with multiple convictions.

He was wanted in relation to 12 break-ins committed around Athens over the past six months. Three were around Caroline Croucher's neighbourhood of Glicka Nera. One was in December the previous year. Harrodzishwili and three others broke into a house via a rear window and dragged the female occupant by her hair before threatening to slit her throat. The offenders made off with almost 10,000 euros in cash as well as jewelry. On March 7, two months before Babas and Kemp, Caroline were targeted, Haradzishwili and four accomplices tied up an elderly couple and their

cleaning lady during a home invasion. They made off with cash and other valuables. Harad Zishwili bore remarkable similarities to the composite sketch Babas had helped create. Given his Georgian roots, history of carrying out violent break-ins with a gang and his attempt to flee the country, police were confident that they had filed. finally found Caroline's killer. Georgie Haradzishwili was placed under arrest. He was interrogated for four days straight, during which he was tied up and beaten by interviewing officers.

They asked over and over, how did you get out there? How did you get in the house? How did you kill her? Haradzishwili's treatment at the hands of police left him concussed. He maintained that he had never heard of Caroline Crouch, and when evidence against him came up dry, Harad Zishwili was cleared of any involvement in her murder. Three officers were demoted from the Athens Homicide Squad for the treatment Georgie Haradzishwili endured while in custody.

Police set their sights on a local Albanian organised crime group. Eventually, they whittled a list of 100 potential suspects down to just to just. 10 people. These individuals were on what detectives referred to as the red list, known criminals with a penchant for being particularly cruel. Babas and Anagnostopoulos was shown mugshots of the suspects, though police wouldn't divulge any further insight into their identities. They're all hardcore criminals of different nationalities. Albanians, Georgians and Greeks may all have been involved. Organised crime knows no frontiers, was all a detective was willing to say, before adding. It's a difficult case. It's taken longer than we thought to get here, but we are getting closer.

Members of the public were starting to lose patience as racial hostilities grew. A 300,000 euro reward for information went unclaimed. Meanwhile, robberies and burglaries continue. throughout Athens, leaving residents fearful someone else would soon be killed. A criminologist told The Sun Online, If this was an ordinary burglary, it would have been solved by now. We read that there is no DNA, no fingerprints, that there is little evidence, and yet they seem like amateurs. Something is not right. But Caroline's loved ones remained grateful for the investigative effort, with her husband,

telling reporters. I hope what happened to me and my family and my wife's family never happens again. The police know how to do their job, and they will find them. Despite the emotional toll, Babas continued to front the media to keep his wife's case in the public consciousness. He willingly fielded questions from journalists via his Instagram account, while expressing his gratitude for the outpouring of support he was receiving from around the world. On June 17, 2021, 37 days after Caroline Crouch was killed,

police revealed they were closer than ever to tracking down her killer, though they didn't elaborate. That same day, a small memorial service was held for Caroline on Alonisos. Morners soon noticed that detectives had arrived. The detectives waited for the service to conclude before discreetly approaching Babas' Sanognostopoulos and asking him to escort them to Athens. Important information had emerged and there was a new suspect. They urged Babas to come and help identify the man. Babas agreed.

He approached Caroline's mother, Susan, to give her the update. He gave her a tearful embrace before preparing to depart for Athens. Investigators had followed up a host of leads that a emerged from Babas's recollections of the night his wife was killed, but all had reached dead ends. Over time, several details didn't appear to add up. Detectives had failed to uncover indisputable evidence that the basement window had been breached by intruders. The window was very small, raising doubts that several men, one of whom Babas said was tall and overweight, could access the house in this way.

And although Babbis and Caroline's house had been ransacked, something about the mess felt remarkably polished for a violent home invasion. The only thing a neighbour had heard was the sound of the couple's puppy crying in distress. They didn't hear any ransacking, screams, calls for help, or a baby crying. Most perplexing was the absence of foreign fingerprints

or biological material in the house. This was unheard of, and investigators wondered how the offenders had gotten so lucky. It was also unusual for home invaders to restrain a male victim and leave him unharmed while opting to fight a female victim. Not a single piece of forensic evidence was uncovered on Caroline's body, despite the fact she had fought her attacker for upwards of six minutes. Even swabs taken from underneath her fingernails came back negative for any outside DNA. Then there was the matter of the home security camera which was found damaged in the living room.

It is common for criminals to take security cameras with them, but in this instance, the offender had merely removed the memory card. Data revealed the card had been removed at 120am, yet Babas said the thieves broke in at 4.30 a.m. At the time of her death, Caroline Crouch was wearing a smartwatch that automatically monitored her pulse. At 358 a.m., her heart rate indicated she was fast asleep. At 405, her pulse increased abruptly by 50%, showing she was in an extreme state of mental or physical stress. At 4.11 a.m., Caroline's heart stopped beating altogether.

This too was before the time Babas said she must have been murdered. An examination of Babas's phone revealed he had a fitness app installed that tracked his physical activity. Data from the night of the crime showed he was moving around at the exact time he'd supposedly been tied up and blindfolded by the alleged intruders. Police also attempted to re-enact Babas's claim that he used his nose to dial emergency services on his phone's touchscreen. At the time, he'd been tightly restrained from head to toe and blindfolded with duct tape. No officer was able to successfully dial the number while in the same condition. Investigators also uncovered evidence that Caroline had attempted to book herself and her daughter into a hotel on the night of her murder.

A text she sent to a friend around this time revealed why. Caroline had threatened to leave her husband. Babas and Ognostopoulos had been on holiday in Alonisos when he first met Caroline Crouch. His mother lived on the island and was a teacher at the school Caroline attended. Caroline was just 15 years old when Babas introduced himself. He was 27. Described as charismatic, clever and photogenic, he was also well off financially.

Babas gained Caroline's attention by flying his helicopter over the school. Despite the 12-year age gap, Caroline believed she had found her perfect match and assured her family that she was happy. Within a year and a half, Babas proposed to the then-17-year-old Caroline. Three days after Caroline turned 18, the pair exchanged vows and settled in Glicka Nera.

Caroline attended university in Athens, while Babas continued working as a pilot. Both Caroline and Babas were active on social media, sharing many photos and videos of their life together. Online, they looked like a joyful and romantic couple. Yet, Caroline was far more honest when writing in her private diary. In coded entries dating back to 2019, Caroline questioned her relationship with Babas. That year, she wrote, I fought with Babas again. This time it was serious. I am thinking of leaving. I am thinking of going to my sister. I don't know if I can keep going with him. Over time, Babas became increasingly manipulative and controlling towards Caroline.

It began with their very non-traditional wedding. Greek weddings are typically elaborate celebrations attended by a large crowd of family and well-wishes. However, Babas eloped with Caroline overseas in a guestless ceremony. Upon their return home, Babas further isolated Caroline from her friends and family. He was also the breadwinner while Caroline was a university student with no money. making her totally dependent on him. Whenever Caroline's mother sent her money, Babus would take it.

Caroline wrote of her anguish in her diary, quote, I love Babus so much that I can't leave him, even though this relationship hurts me. Caroline later detailed a tearful confrontation she had with Babus, wherein she expressed her desire to leave him. But she had just discovered she was pregnant with his child. Caroline wrote, I stayed with him so my daughter would not grow up without her two parents. In July 2020, Caroline wrote,

Today my little one is a month old. It's also the day I told Babas I want to leave. I feel awful. She went on to write that she had found a house for herself in the Athens suburb of Herlandry. Hours before Caroline was killed, phone records revealed that she and Babas had exchanged several combative texts while at home together. Case File will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support CaseFile to continue to deliver quality content.

Babas and Ognostopoulos was informed that the suspect who had emerged in his wife's murder investigation was in fact him. He was presented with the overwhelming evidence that revealed the inconsistencies in his original story. After more than eight hours of interrogation, Babas broke down. Babas confessed that on the night of Monday, May 10, 2021, he and Caroline had started arguing early on. Although Caroline's diary entries indicated the couple had had issues from early in their relationship, Babas claimed they only ever thought about their daughter. He said that Caroline was determined to take their child and leave. This angered Babus, who claimed his daughter was his whole life.

He lost his temper. Babass told police. At some point Caroline threw the child in her cot and she told me to get up and leave. leave the house. She pushed me and punched me. My judgment became blurred. I strangled her. Caroline tried to fight Babass off as he pressed a pillow down on her face with the entire weight of his body. He killed her in front of their 11-month-old daughter. Afterwards, Babas panicked. He thought about getting rid of Caroline's body but said it was impossible for him to do so. He just looked at her and cried. The thought of

thought then crossed his mind to say someone else killed Caroline. He staged the home invasion, killing their puppy Roxy to bolster his story. He knew no one would believe he was capable of killing his own dog. Babas then placed his wailing baby daughter alongside the body of his wife before tying himself up with rope, duct tape and handcuffs. Babas conceded that he deserved to be punished, saying, I owe a big apology to the people I've hurt. I know it doesn't matter now. What I did was not justified. He did, however, try to shift blame onto Caroline by saying she had become unstable and aggressive since giving birth. He made out that she was a terrible mother and implied that he had killed her to save their child. In Caroline, the murder that fooled the world,

abuse expert, Dr. Emma Katz, said, This attempt to besmirch Caroline's character and make people think badly of her is of course an attempt to get Babas more sympathy and more lenient treatment, which goes completely against the narrative that he has any remorse or contrition for what he's done. In reference to Babas painting Caroline out to be the aggressor, Dr. Katz explained. We do often see victims argue. arguing back, and we see victims even physically fighting back against the coercive control. Sometimes people then think they can't be a real victim, they fought back.

Babas might have given the impression Caroline wasn't a real victim because she fought back, but in my opinion, she very much was. Babas said he lied to police because he didn't want his daughter to grow up without either of her parents. I'm devastated, he said. I only cared about my daughter. I hid the truth so I would be able to raise her. Greece's chief of police claimed that they had suspected Babas and Ognostopoulos from the beginning. When police first arrived at his home, Babas was remarkably cold about his wife's murder. His demeanour made one officer so uncomfortable she took Babas's baby away from him. Yet, any misgivings about Babas were kept private as investigators ruled out other possibilities.

They publicly refuted any suggestions he was responsible to prevent him from fleeing. Babas was so confident that he had convinced police of his story that he didn't feel the need to destroy evidence, such as his mobile phone. Babas cleverly blamed the crime on foreigners because he knew this would shift public discourse to the perpetrator's national rather than the crime itself. Authorities described Babas as a top-class actor. His willingness to speak to investigators and the media ensured he came across as a man with nothing to hide. In front of news cameras, he convincingly played the role of grieving husband. Many viewers were fully convinced he was a man in pain. Babas told the media, Take care of your family.

Cherish your loved ones as much as you can. While the homicide investigation was underway, Babas was active on social media, posting happy pictures of him and Caroline, along with captions like, Together Forever. He kept up this charade for over a month. Caroline's mother, Susan, later revealed

that she hadn't suspected her daughter's husband for a second. She had placed all her husband. her hopes in her son-in-law and was left full of anger upon his confession. The word wife was promptly removed from Caroline Crouch's white marble headstone, leaving the words to our much-loved mother and daughter. Babus was charged with premeditated murder. He also faced charges for perverting the course of justice, lying to authorities and animal abuse. Public opinion about Babus was so vitriolic,

that outside court he donned a bulletproof vest and was flanked by armed police. He was dubbed the most vile man in Greece, though not everyone agreed. A small group of middle-aged women gathered at the court to support the alleged killer. One of the women told the times, By no means do I justify what he did, but he's quite handsome and dashing. Another remarked, He's quite sensitive, not the narcissist they paint him out to be. I think about him a lot.

I've collected pictures of him and pinned them on my bedroom wall. In court, prosecutors walked through Babas's actions leading up to and immediately after Caroline's murder. They argued that each action, from removing the memory card in his home security camera, to meticulously staging the crime scene, indicated someone acting calmly with pre-planned intent. The fact that Babas attacked Caroline as she slept showed the crime was premeditated and cold-blooded. In his day-long testimony, Babas told the court, I ruined my life, I ruined my family's life, I wish I could go back in time. He called his marriage to Caroline a fairy tale.

and claimed that her happiness was his absolute priority. He claimed that after Caroline became a mother, she turned moody and was prone to emotional outbursts. This caused him to snap. Babas was expressionless as he detailed the night he killed Caroline. He claimed responsibility for her death, but denied it was murder. maintaining the attack was a crime of passion done in the heat of the moment.

In May 2022, after a month-long trial, the jury unanimously found Babas and Ognostopoulos guilty of all charges. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. Prison life has been difficult for Babas and Ognostopoulos. He has expressed fear for his life after being beaten by men of the nationalities he tried to pin his crimes on. Caroline Crouch was one of 17 women killed by their romantic partner in Greece in 2021. In almost every instance, the victim had tried to enter the relationship before her death. These types of killings fall under the definition of femicide, the killing of women or girls because they are female. In almost 40% of reported femicide cases, the perpetrator is the victim's spouse or partner.

Issues of domestic abuse weren't openly discussed in Greece, meaning victims like Caroline Crouch suffered in silence. A journalist appearing on the documentary, Caroline, the murder that fooled the world, said, The only positive thing to come out of this case was that the term thamicide has been introduced in the Greek media. This case gave, tragically, an opportunity for the Greek society to realize how deep this problem is. I hope that this case will live long in the Greek society's memory because it will remind us of the many wrong perceptions we have about people, and it will also remind us how much we should look into the issue of domestic violence. Before Caroline Crouch met Babas and Ognostopoulos,

she was a popular young woman, renowned for always having a smile on her face. Others immediately wanted to befriend her, and she was so well-liked that she was like a mini-celebrity in Alonisos. A friend and former neighbour of Carolines said, I consider the people that hadn't met Caroline unlucky. The loss is really great. I really miss her. Caroline was also a loving and doting mother. In what would become the final video she ever posted to her Instagram account,

Caroline is on the beach by her home, joyfully holding her baby daughter in the air before planting a kiss on her cheek. The little girl is now being cared for by Caroline's parents, David and Susan, on the same Greek island where Caroline herself grew up. When writing about her daughter in her diary, Caroline said, My love for her is stronger than anything in the world.