Second suspect arrested in retired teacher murder

A 34-year-old woman, who was arrested Saturday night in connection with the murder of a retired teacher in Nicosia, is refusing to allow medical examiners to photograph her without clothes.

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The suspect appeared in the Nicosia District Court on Sunday. She was remanded in custody for eight days in connection with Aglandjia crime case, where the body of a retired teacher, 80-year-old Androulla Vanezi, was found tied up and gagged in what appeared to be a robbery.

The woman, who is the second named suspect in the case, said she did not have a problem being jailed while being investigated but thought eight days was too long.

The suspect says she has command of the Greek language but she was assigned an Arabic language interpreter by the court.

According to Kathimerini, she did not answer questions by police and refused to disrobe in order for medical examiners to obtain photographs for tests.

The woman also wondered out loud in court as to why she was being placed under arrest if camera footage showed one person and not two.

Earlier, police had arrested a 29-year-old man Friday afternoon in connection with the case, based on a tip offered to police by a concerned citizen that the suspect tried to sell a stolen laptop.

Although the autopsy results were not made public, two possibilities were being played out by investigators as to whether the victim had died of suffocation or heart attack.

Forensic pathologists Nicolas Charalambous and Angeliki Papetta carried out the post mortem on Monday, and lab test results were due back.

Earlier this week, investigators were questioning suspects with a criminal past while media reports said police were considering the possibility that thieves might have cause Vanezi’s death by accident, after they tied her up.

The house appeared to have been in disarray, according to reports, suggesting a robbery might have taken place as things were thrown all over the place. The son of the victim had told police that his laptop was missing.

Police are carrying on with the investigation.