A 20-year-old Albanian has been arrested and is being held at the Santorini police station, accused of murdering 69-year-old hotelier, Nikos Halaris, who was found charred inside his business in Oia.
The murderer lives and works in the area, possibly in the hotel of the victim. The motive for the act was allegedly financial disputes.
Specifically, the 69-year-old allegedly owed 200 euros to the 20-year-old Albanian who beat him severely until he lost consciousness and then covered him in alcohol and set him on fire.
According to police sources, security cameras "caught" the 20-year-old, and so the authorities arrested him.
It is recalled that the unfortunate man was found charred on Friday morning, after a fire broke out on the premises of his hotel.
And while everything thought that he died due to the fire, investigation at the scene found evidence showed that it was a criminal act.
The revelations that come to light about the savage crime in Santorini are creepy.
"The source of the fire was on the body, while the high degree of charring indicates that someone had 'bathed' him with flammable liquid, or maintained the fire while the body was burning," said deputies of the Attica Security Directorate.
"We do not rule out that someone hit him at a point that caused a temporary anesthesia and then burned him," they added.
The Albanian worked at the hotel about a year ago and the hotelier owed him 200 euros.
They argued and then the 20-year-old punched him and then hit him on the head with a metal object. The Greek hotelier fell to the floor and then he was burned.
It has not yet been determined whether he was alive or not when he was burned, it may emerge from toxicological tests.
The autopsy of the charred body was completed yesterday, by the Medical Examiner Elias Bogioka, who did not detect any external injuries in the parts of the body that have not been charred.
It is noted that the unfortunate man - owner of the luxury hotel - lived alone, while he never had problems the authorities.
