In the early 1960s, a chilling chapter in Greek criminal history was written in the remote region of Mani. Known to the press of the time as the “Dragoness of Mani,” Aikaterini Dimitrea holds the grim distinction of being Greece’s first recorded female serial killer—and the last woman in the country sentenced to death.
While the 1996 case of Theofilos Sehidis—the man who shocked the nation by murdering and dismembering five members of his family—still haunts the collective memory of modern Greece, few remember that a similar, equally horrifying story unfolded decades earlier in the village of Neochori, Messinian Mani.
A Disturbing Parallel to a Later Mass Murder
Like Sehidis, Dimitrea’s crimes involved the systematic killing of close relatives, raising questions that remain unanswered to this day. Were her actions a desperate response to alleged ongoing abuse, as she claimed? Or were they the calculated acts of a deeply disturbed individual?
A Struggling Mother in a Harsh Society
Aikaterini Dimitrea was a divorced woman in her early forties, paralyzed on one side of her body, and raising her young daughter alone. She lived in extreme poverty, relying on a small welfare allowance in a conservative and judgmental rural society.
In May 1962, at age 42, she crossed a deadly line that would ultimately lead to the deaths of four family members and the attempted murder of several more over the span of just a few months.
In her chilling confession to authorities, she stated:
“My mother constantly tortured me. My brother cursed and beat me. I was poor, abandoned by my husband, and had to raise my daughter alone—yet everyone treated me with hostility. They told me to leave the house. So I took my revenge. They all hated me… they wanted me dead.”
The Poisonings Begin
Dimitrea’s first victim was her 80-year-old mother, Stefoula Dimitrea. On May 27, 1962, she laced her mother's pasta with parathion, a lethal pesticide. The elderly woman collapsed in agony from intense abdominal pain and seizures. A doctor attributed her death to a heart condition—nothing seemed out of the ordinary given her medical history.
“I added parathion to my mother’s pasta to make it more… flavorful,” Dimitrea said in a statement to the Akropolis newspaper on September 13, 1962.
The Second Murder: A Cousin’s Coffee
By mid-July, Dimitrea struck again. This time, the victim was her 40-year-old cousin, whom she poisoned by slipping parathion into her coffee. The woman died soon after. Although the true cause was the poison, her death was mistakenly attributed to a head injury suffered during convulsions that caused her to fall and hit the floor.
Two Attempts on Her Brother’s Life
Her next target was her brother, Konstantinos Loukareas. In the first attempt, she poisoned his coffee, but villagers found him unconscious in the street and rushed him to a hospital. Doctors diagnosed him with gallbladder issues, not poisoning.
Undeterred, ten days later Dimitrea tried again—this time poisoning a plate of eggs. Her brother died within minutes.
“I added poison to my brother’s eggs so he could see what a good cook I am,” she reportedly said to Akropolis.
The Most Shocking Murder: A 5-Year-Old Boy
Perhaps the most horrifying act came a month later when Dimitrea gave her 5-year-old nephew, Elias Pitsoulas, a poisoned Turkish delight. The boy collapsed almost immediately and died en route to the hospital.
This time, the authorities could no longer ignore the suspicious pattern of deaths. An autopsy confirmed parathion poisoning, and all attention turned to the one common figure in every case—Aikaterini Dimitrea.
A Cold Confession and Plans for More
On September 10, 1962, Dimitrea confessed to the murders, telling gendarmes, “They had to die because they abused me.” She added, “I didn’t want to harm anyone—except my brother.”
She revealed where she had hidden the remaining parathion, along with a second bottle containing mercury, which she originally intended to use.
Even more disturbingly, during questioning she confessed she had also tried to poison her other brother’s wife with tainted chicken and had offered a poisoned pomegranate to a 4-year-old girl—both attempts failed when the intended victims refused to eat.
In her own words:
“They all tried to throw me out of the house. The cousin was poisoning their minds, telling them to let me and my daughter starve. Why didn’t the doctor find anything?” she protested.
She also admitted to plotting to poison the entire village during her brother’s funeral by spiking the traditional kollyva (memorial wheat dish) with enough parathion to kill everyone.
Trial, Conviction, and Execution
Despite her claims of abuse, the most likely motive—according to prosecutors—was inheritance. They believed she intended to eliminate her family to claim the property left behind.
The trial took place on May 7–8, 1963, at the Nafplio Criminal Court. Dimitrea was found to be mentally competent and fully responsible for her actions. She was convicted on multiple counts of murder and sentenced to death four times, plus 15 years in prison.
At 5:30 a.m. on April 10, 1965, Aikaterini Dimitrea was executed by firing squad at Goudi, becoming the last person in Greece to be executed following a death sentence, and earning her place in history as the infamous “Poisoner of Mani.”
