October 11, 2026

Athens News

News in English from Greece

Marathon: the daughter admitted that she buried her mother for the sake of a pension – but the body was never found


History with missing pensioner in Marathon became even more mysterious: the woman’s daughter, according to Greek media, admitted that about ten years ago she buried her mother in the courtyard of the house, to continue receiving her pension, but after large-scale excavations the remains were never found.

On Thursday, September 3, police and special teams with heavy equipment arrived at a house in the Marathon coast area and began to literally dig up the yard.

According to Proto Themethe daughter of an elderly woman during the investigation indicated the place where, as she claims, she buried her mother about ten years ago.

The reason for concealing the death, according to her alleged confession, was the desire continue to receive mother’s pension.

The yard was dug up – no body

However, the investigation immediately ran into an unexpected problem.

Despite the use of excavators and survey of a large part of the site, human remains have not yet been found.

According to information News247the woman was unable to accurately indicate the location of the alleged burial and only approximately showed the area of ​​the yard where the grave could be located.

The search is ongoing and may be expanded to other parts of the area.

It all started with a granddaughter returning from France

As already Athens News reported The case began after an appeal from the granddaughter of the missing woman.

She lived in France for a long time, and after returning to Greece she tried to find out what happened to her grandmother, with whom the family had not had contact for about ten years.

According to her, the elderly woman, who would now be about 90 years old, previously lived with her daughter and grandson in a house on the coast of Marathon.

After the police contacted, another extremely important circumstance became clear: in the database e-EFKA death registration was missing pensioners.

Moreover, according to Greek media, her pension continued to be paid monthly. :contentReference[oaicite:0]{index=0}

Neighbors haven’t seen the woman for about ten years

Neighbors told reporters that the family had virtually no contact with others.

One of the residents of the area stated that he had lived across the street for about ten years and I’ve never seen an old woman.

According to him, the residents of the house led a very closed lifestyle and rarely appeared on the street. :contentReference[oaicite:1]{index=1}

Why hasn’t anyone been arrested yet?

The prosecutor has already been notified of the case.

However, at this stage he ordered do not arrestbut continue collecting evidence and transfer the full investigation material to the prosecutor’s office.

This is especially important now that the woman’s alleged confession has not yet been supported by the main physical evidence – the body of her mother.

The story gets stranger

It is the absence of remains that now becomes the central issue of the investigation.

If the body was indeed buried in the yard, investigators will have to determine the exact location. If he is not there, we will have to find out what really happened to the elderly woman and why her death was not registered.

The Athens News previously reported on similar cases in Greece. In particular, in Mystras a man Kept his father’s body in a freezer for four years to continue receiving his pension..

There have been other cases where relatives hid the death of loved ones for years in order to continue receiving social benefits.

Editorial comment

The story in Marathon at first seemed almost complete: a pensioner who disappeared ten years ago, an unregistered death, continued payments and a confession from her daughter.

But the absence of a body completely changes the situation.

Now the investigation needs to establish not only the fact of illegal receipt of a pension, but also a much more fundamental question: where is the woman herself and what happened to her.

That is why the prosecutor’s office, apparently, is in no hurry to make arrests. Until there are remains, no established cause of death, and no confirmed burial site, the confession itself leaves too many questions.

At the same time, history again shows the weak point of the system: if a person can disappear for ten years, his death is not registered anywhere, and the pension continues to be paid, then the question arises not only to relatives, but also to the mechanisms of state control.





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