Man, 45, Found Tied To Pole, Heinously Burned In Greece Died Of Shotgun Wounds

A 45-year-old man whose body was found gravely burned and tied to a pole outside a cemetery in Kallithea, Katerini, on Tuesday, reportedly died of a fatal head injury from a shotgun, local authorities confirmed.

The unidentified victim was reportedly already dead before being brutally tied to a pole and set on fire. A forensic examination showed the shotgun wounds sustained by the man turned out to be his cause, police said.

The Security Sub-Directorate of Katerini is conducting investigations to examine the violent crime further and determine the identity of the victim and his assailants, Athina 984 reported.

An alarmed passer-by discovered the body of the 45-year-old on Tuesday afternoon and immediately alerted the authorities.

Police said that an investigation is underway and suspects have already been apprehended for questioning, however, no official arrests have been made as of writing.

Authorities suspect that the victim was a middle-aged hairdresser, reported missing by relatives distressed about his sudden disappearance on Monday. The gruesome charred remains have yet to be identified and confirmed by the family.

This is not the first time that the quiet city of Katerini in Greece has been rocked by a heinous death. In late 2019, a woman and her daughter were found dead in a deep gorge, Neoskosmos reported.

The then-45-year-old and her daughter, who was 17, had been reported missing for a week. They were found in Pieria, a remote region in central Macedonia. The gorge, which is located near the area of Fotina, was 120 meters deep.

In a similar but unrelated story, 23-year-old Justin Smith reportedly gruesomely shot and killed his pregnant girlfriend, Dianna Brice, 21, before burning her body with the assistance of an associate, Tylydiah Garnett, NBC Philadelphia reported in March.

Brice was reported missing on March 30. The victim's mother last saw her daughter getting into a car with her boyfriend at the K Laundry on the 500 block of Church Lane in Lansdowne.

Police last spotted Smith's vehicle driving toward the West Philadelphia area on traffic surveillance footage. Investigators later found Brice’s charred body abandoned at 5800 Eastwick Avenue and discovered Smith’s car set on fire near Florence Avenue and 59^th Street, the distance between the two areas was less than a mile.

Brice was found to have suffered multiple gunshot wounds to her head. The coroner ruled this as her cause of death.

CCTV footage showed Smith’s companion, Garnett, was last seen buying gasoline from a stop before taking it to a garage that Smith reportedly owned or rented.