New details emerge in Lakatamia deaths

Authorities are keeping a tight lid on the Lakatamia murder-suicide case under investigation, with reports saying police were being extra cautious over reports that a handwritten note pointed to the man killing the woman before committing suicide.

Reports said state forensic pathologists believe a couple found dead in the man’s living room in Lakatamia died of gunshot wounds, but more information was expected after the post mortems.

Police believe they are dealing with a murder-suicide after initially ruling out the involvement of a third individual in the deaths of a man described as 56-year-old Christakis Christodoulou and a woman, 44-year-old NIki Shieftali.

A friend of Christodoulou reportedly discovered the bodies Monday night around 9:30pm, according to police, saying the apartment front door appeared to have been locked from the inside at the time of the discovery.

But reports said witnesses living in the building never heard any screams or noise coming out of the apartment in Lakatamia, a western suburb of Nicosia.

"It had to be done"

A handwritten note found at the scene and thought to have been written by Christodoulou was described as a “main focus” of the investigation. Reports said the message said “It had to be done” but police declined to comment while also neither confirming or denying knowledge of who might have written the note.

Christodoulou and Shieftali had visible gunshot wounds, with the man injured in the chest and the woman in the neck. Additional reports said a hunting rifle was found next to the woman, who also sustained a hand injury.

According to local media, Christodoulou and Shieftali had been romantically involved but were separated, with investigators trying to ascertain the circumstances under which the woman went to the man’s residence.

The times of death have not been announced, while reports said investigators were keen on getting forensic test results that could shed light on who killed might have the other person and then committed suicide as well as who wrote the note and under what circumstances.

Some media outlets speculated that the woman’s hand injury could be related to the use of a hunting rifle, but police declined to comment citing an ongoing investigation.