On August 14th, 1988, twenty-year-old Elena Dimitri was dropped off at her Hoxton, London flat by her boyfriend, who told her he’d be back in a couple of hours to take her out on a date that evening.
However, when he returned and let himself into the residence, he saw a man he didn’t recognize standing in the hallway, holding a knife. The man reportedly said something unintelligible and swung the knife at the boyfriend before fleeing the scene, carrying the knife and a small bag.
The boyfriend then ran frantically through the flat and found Elena, who was slumped in a chair, clad only in her underclothes and a dressing gown. She had been stabbed twice in the neck. Her boyfriend immediately called an ambulance, but Elena was pronounced dead at the scene.
The perpetrator was described as a black male in his mid-twenties, standing about six-foot-two, with a small beard. He was also wearing sunglasses.
Elena had not been sexually assaulted, and there was no sign of forced entry or a struggle. Further, nothing seemed to have been stolen from the flat. Authorities therefore assumed that Elena had likely known her killer and let him into the residence willingly.
Because Elena and many of her associates were drug users, police found it difficult to obtain any cooperation in the investigation. It was revealed that Elena’s ex-boyfriend and the father of her two-year-old daughter was in prison at the time she was killed.
Only a few months later, a man fitting the description of the assailant was arrested. At the time he was taken into custody, he was living with the sister of Elena’s ex-boyfriend, and a knife was also found on his person. The knife was examined, and though it couldn’t be conclusively proven that it was the murder weapon, it also couldn’t be ruled out.
The man told police that he knew Elena, but denied killing her, claiming he was playing tennis with his brother at the time of the slaying. The suspect was tried but acquitted due to lack of evidence.
The murder of Elena Dimitri, therefore, remains unsolved.
Crime Immemorial 