logo
UC Berkeley professor killed in Athens: Suspect claims he ‘did it all for' victim's ex-wife, leaked police confession reveals

UC Berkeley professor killed in Athens: Suspect claims he ‘did it all for' victim's ex-wife, leaked police confession reveals

CNN2 days ago
On the morning of July 4, an American marketing professor was walking towards his ex-wife's house in Athens to pick up their two young children. It should have been an unremarkable, if strained visit – the couple had apparently been disputing the terms of custody arrangements.
But Przemyslaw Jeziorski never made it to the front door.
In broad daylight, in this typically quiet, suburban neighborhood of Greece's capital, he was shot multiple times at close range, according to police. Jeziorski died where he fell, police said, his body riddled with gunshot wounds seen in grim photographs taken in the immediate aftermath.
As eyewitnesses rushed to his aid, the masked gunman fled.
The alleged perpetrator, arrested 12 days later for premeditated murder: His ex-wife's new partner. The motive, he told police – to prevent Jeziorski from taking away her children.
'I did it all for (her) and our children so that we could have a normal life without problems,' he said, according to a transcript of a statement he made to police in the aftermath of his arrest.
One of the most remarkable aspects of the case is that the statements made to police by the alleged perpetrators have been widely leaked to Greek media, including a CNN affiliate, CNN Greece. The statements, verified as authentic by a senior police source speaking to CNN, offer an insight into how the alleged murder plot was put together, why it was undertaken, and provide clues as to who may have known what, and when. But there are key questions unresolved, too – not least the role, if any, of Jeziorski's ex-wife.
According to Greek police, she is facing moral accomplice charges, which she denies, according to her lawyer, who spoke to CNN. Like all the suspects in this case, her identity is known to CNN but cannot be published due to Greek legal restrictions.
The alleged perpetrator's confession, and other conflicting accounts from three alleged accomplices that were also leaked to the press, sets up what is likely to be a lengthy and high-profile trial.
Meanwhile, the killing and the aftermath have shocked the friends and family of the victim, who say Jeziorski was a kind and introverted academic who loved his children.
Jeziorski, 43, who went by the nickname Przemek or 'PJ,' was an economist and tenured professor of marketing at the University of California Berkeley's Haas School of Business. He was born in Poland and moved to the United States in 2004 to study economics and math at the University of Arizona, and he went on to obtain his PhD from Stanford.
'He was one of the sharpest people I've ever met,' said Robert Kowalski, the victim's friend from Stanford. 'He was a great guy, a genius in many regards.'
UC Berkeley said in a statement that Jeziorski 'had a passion for teaching' and during his 13 years at the California university, he taught data analytics skills to more than 1,500 graduate and PhD students. His research work centered on emerging markets, which took him around the world for field research, and Berkeley described him as 'a leading expert in quantitative marketing, industrial organization, and the economics of digital markets.'
The dean of UC Berkeley's business school, Jenny Chatman, said she was 'heartbroken' by the death of Jeziorski, who she described as a 'beloved member of our marketing faculty.'
Jeziorski met his ex-wife – a Greek national – in San Francisco in 2013, and they got married the following year, according to Kowalski. The couple's twins were born shortly after.
In 2015, the couple co-founded a start-up called Keybee, a short-term rental property management platform.
It's unclear what led to their relationship falling apart, but Kowalski told CNN the couple broke up around 2020 after moving to Greece during the Covid pandemic.
Their children are dual US and Polish citizens, according to a statement from the victim's brother. The children had applied for Greek citizenship and were awaiting a decision on that, according to the ex-wife's lawyer.
Jeziorski filed for divorce in June 2021, according to California court records.
It appears to be one element in a years-long custody battle for the children, who ultimately lived with their mother in Greece, with a provision that their father, Jeziorski, could take the children for one month every summer.
According to Kowalski, Jeziorski asked during the custody battle that his children attend an American school in Greece, so that they could be able to attend high school or college in the US one day.
But his ex-wife was afraid of losing the kids much sooner, according to the statement to police from the principal suspect, her boyfriend.
'We were afraid that he (Jeziorski) would end up taking the kids completely. That would completely finish off (my girlfriend), who was overly fond of them. This summer Przemek wanted to take the children and take them to America. But (my girlfriend) did not agree and so she went back to court with Przemek,' the suspect said, according to the testimony transcript.
On July 3, a custody judgement ruled that Jeziorski was indeed allowed to take the children for a month.
'A month and a half ago I made the decision to end this torment we were experiencing once and for all,' the suspect told police, adding that it was a 'good opportunity' given that Jeziorski was in Athens to attend the custody hearing.
The statement details how the suspect says he bought a pistol more than a month ago and asked a friend, who is from Bulgaria, to help him 'find Przemek and scare him so that he wouldn't take our children away from us.'
He said it all began in Nafplio, a coastal city about two hours from Athens, 'so that it would appear that I was there' and his cell phone would 'leave traces.'
The suspect said that that he, his friend and two others – a man and a teenager from Albania – he paid drove to Athens and waited on the same street as the ex-wife's house, where the suspect said he knew Jeziorski was coming that afternoon to pick up the kids. 'I approached him and shot him a few times, but I don't remember how many times,' he said.
According to the statement, the men had rented a gray Porsche Cayenne as a getaway car, but the murder suspect told police that his accomplices left him at the scene after they saw him shoot the victim.
Police said Jeziorski died at the scene, where seven bullet casings were found after a masked gunman shot him in the neck and chest.
The three unnamed men who allegedly helped, two Albanian nationals and a Bulgarian national, are facing accomplice charges, police announced Thursday. The suspected accomplices – one of whom is a minor – have confessed to their peripheral involvement in the killing, a Greek police source told CNN on Thursday. CNN has been unable to reach attorneys for those men.
'My client has confessed his actions but as you can see from the simplicity of some of the things that took place this was not an organized plan. His accomplices only knew about a plan to scare him (the victim) so he would stay away from the children,' the main suspect's lawyer, Ermis Papoutsis, told CNN. '(The ex-wife), his partner, knew nothing about any of this.'
'My client had come to me in the past to seek advice. He had said his partner's ex-husband had serious alcoholism issues and that he and the mother were worried about allowing access to the kids. He wanted to see if there was something he could legally do about limiting access,' the lawyer added. 'Now he is completely devastated after what happened. We will ask for a psychiatric examination because he has had some issues in the past.'
Jeziorski's friends have denied the allegations that he abused alcohol.
On Friday, CNN Greece obtained the police testimony of the alleged accomplice from Bulgaria, which contradicts the account of the alleged gunman. In this account, the alleged accomplice claims the victim's ex-wife had 'organized the whole thing.'
He described his friend, the perpetrator, obtaining a gun and then asking 'me to find some people to take him to Athens the next day to scare and threaten the Pole so that he would 'back down' on custody of the children.'
'In fact, from what he told me, (the ex-wife) made him do it because she didn't want to give the children to the Pole,' the accomplice said in the testimony,' adding that the perpetrator offered him thousands of euros after he 'did something we hadn't agreed on.'
As for the ex-wife – beyond the statement of her lawyer, denying all knowledge, there is no further information about her testimony. For reasons that unclear, nothing from her statements to police have made their way to the Greek media.
These inconsistencies – and other unanswered questions – will all be dealt with at the trial.
Meanwhile, the victim's family are dealing with the aftermath of an unimaginable tragedy. The victim's brother said in a statement that 'our family is heartbroken,' but grateful to Greek police and security professionals who made the arrests.
'Przemek's ten-year-old children, who are US and Polish citizens, are now under care in accordance with Greek child custody procedures,' the victim's brother Łukasz Jeziorski said in a statement. 'Our primary concern is their safety and wellbeing, and helping them reconnect with their family to minimize the trauma they have already endured.'
Jeziorski's family started an online fundraiser to repatriate his remains to his native Poland and pay for legal representation in Greece.
A US State Department spokesperson told CNN the agency is providing consular assistance to the family.
On Monday, the five people charged will appear in person in court for their plea, according to Michalis Dimitrakopoulos, the lawyer representing the victim's family. The court will determine whether the suspects will be remanded in custody pending the trial. A trial date will be set at a later stage, Dimitrakopoulos told CNN.
'The victim's mother and brother will take sole custody of the children,' Dimitrakopoulos told Greek media on Friday. The lawyer said that 'we've talked to the prosecutor for minors so that the victim's mom and brother can get full custody of the kids and live with them in Poland, where they are now.'
'They have the opportunity to raise them in a loving environment, in a completely protective environment,' Dimitrakopoulos said, adding that 'if the mother is acquitted, because we respect the presumption of innocence, then she has the right to request sole custody of her children.'
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Bryan Kohberger to Be Sentenced in Killing of 4 Idaho Students
Bryan Kohberger to Be Sentenced in Killing of 4 Idaho Students

New York Times

time7 minutes ago

  • New York Times

Bryan Kohberger to Be Sentenced in Killing of 4 Idaho Students

Bryan Kohberger, a former Ph.D. student in criminology who pleaded guilty in the fatal stabbing of four University of Idaho students, will hear from the victims' families in court for the first time on Wednesday as a judge considers his sentence for the crimes. Mr. Kohberger, 30, has already agreed to accept four consecutive life sentences as part of a plea deal that allows him to avoid the death penalty. But many questions remain unanswered, including one that has vexed investigators and families for years: What was the motive? Prosecutors have said Mr. Kohberger had no known relationship to the victims, and even President Trump urged the judge in the case to press for answers before sentencing. 'I hope the Judge makes Kohberger, at a minimum, explain why he did these horrible murders,' Mr. Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social on Monday. 'There are no explanations, there is no NOTHING.' Family members of the students will have a chance to address the court, an emotional conclusion to a case that created fear across the small college town where the murders occurred and elicited sympathy nationwide for the students whose lives were cut short. Some family members have expressed outrage that prosecutors agreed to drop their bid for the death penalty in exchange for the guilty plea. Mr. Kohberger was a student at nearby Washington State University when the murders occurred sometime around 4 a.m. on Nov. 13, 2022. The victims — Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20 — had spent a typical Saturday night out near their campus before returning to the three-story house that several of the students shared. Two roommates survived the night. Text messages show that they discussed a masked person one of them had briefly seen inside the home, but neither seemed aware that something so horrific has happened. A 911 call was made more than seven hours later after several additional friends gathered at the home. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Louis Vuitton Netherlands Entangled in Money-Laundering Case
Louis Vuitton Netherlands Entangled in Money-Laundering Case

New York Times

time7 minutes ago

  • New York Times

Louis Vuitton Netherlands Entangled in Money-Laundering Case

She paid in cash and shopped often. She never spent beyond a set amount, but over about 18 months, the authorities say, this single customer bought millions of euros worth of bags and other luxury goods from Louis Vuitton shops in the Netherlands. Now, Dutch prosecutors are investigating Louis Vuitton Netherlands, a subsidiary of the French luxury brand, in connection with a case against the customer, a Chinese woman who is accused of laundering millions of euros in an international scheme. Law enforcement officials in the Netherlands say that the suspicious purchasing patterns should have alerted the Louis Vuitton shops to wrongdoing and are questioning whether the company should have raised alarms. The company is being investigated for potentially violating money-laundering regulations. The case shines a light on the role of luxury goods in financial crime, as well as the reputational risk for brands whose high-end clientele may include people trying to disguise the origins of funds. While fancy boutiques don't have the same obligations to report suspicious financial activity as banks, they do have some legal responsibilities to alert the authorities to some types of transactions. Prosecutors accuse the woman at the center of the case — who has been identified publicly only as Bei W., in accordance with Dutch law — of laundering nearly 3 million euros ($3.5 million) from September 2021 to February 2023. Two other defendants who are said to have helped her are also facing charges. At a preliminary hearing this month, prosecutors said that Bei W. received large sums of illicit money generated through criminal activity from an individual who has already been convicted in connection with the scheme. She is said to have spent the cash in several Louis Vuitton stores in the Netherlands, using various names and email accounts. The goods were then sent to Hong Kong and China, prosecutors contend. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Bryan Kohberger has another chance to explain why he killed 4 Idaho college students. But he doesn't have to speak
Bryan Kohberger has another chance to explain why he killed 4 Idaho college students. But he doesn't have to speak

Yahoo

time19 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Bryan Kohberger has another chance to explain why he killed 4 Idaho college students. But he doesn't have to speak

Bryan Kohberger has one last chance Wednesday to give the grieving parents of four University of Idaho students he admitted to killing the answers they've desperately sought for nearly three years. Why did he do it? Kohberger will have an opportunity to reveal those details before his sentencing Wednesday, following a remarkable change-of-plea hearing on July 2 that spared him the death penalty and his highly anticipated murder trial by admitting guilt to burglary and first-degree murder in the November 2022 killings of Ethan Chapin, Xana Kernodle, Kaylee Goncalves and Madison Mogen. Kohberger will be granted an allocution — the formal opportunity defendants are given to speak directly to the court before they are sentenced by the judge. Traditionally, defendants use allocution to humanize themselves and express remorse, or offer an apology, or even an explanation for their actions — anything that could be taken into account during sentencing, according to the American Bar Association. But it's unlikely he'll say a thing, legal analyst and trial attorney Mercedes Colwin told CNN. 'What we can expect in sentencing would first be the victim impact statements by the families. We already know that there are several that are going to speak, which should be horrendous,' Colwin told CNN. 'I'm sure it's going to be gut-wrenching, and then he will be given the opportunity to address the court before the judge sentences him. That's where he can say, 'I'm sorry for what I've done,' which I don't expect any of that to take place,' Colwin said. The question of whether Kohberger will speak about his crimes even invited a comment from President Donald Trump, who said in a post on Truth Social on Monday the judge should make the 30-year-old 'explain why he did these horrible murders' before the sentencing. In every previous court appearance, Kohberger has remained expressionless, silent and unmoved as prosecutors recounted the chilling details of the late-night killings — how he entered a home through a sliding door and savagely stabbed four young students to death while two survivors, terrified, texted each other about a masked figure moving through the hallway. Despite Kohberger admitting to the crimes, the July 2 change-of-plea hearing left one giant hole in the story: why he targeted the residents of the King Road house. It's unclear whether the public will ever get an answer, as it's not required by the plea deal. Allocution may offer one final chance for him to address it in court. Here's what to expect. Allocution does not require him to divulge any details During the change-of-plea hearing, Judge Steven Hippler formally questioned Kohberger to ensure he fully understood the charges, the consequences of pleading guilty, and his rights before accepting the plea. 'Are you pleading guilty because you are guilty?' the judge asked. 'Yes,' Kohberger said. 'Did you on November 13, 2022, enter the residence at 1122 King Road in Moscow, Idaho, with the intent to commit the felony crime of murder?' Hippler asked. 'Yes,' Kohberger again responded, as one of the victims' family members silently wept while other loved ones listened intently. But that was all. The judge asked Kohberger only basic confirmation questions. There was no inquiry into why he committed the crimes or whether he felt any remorse. The plea agreement and the written factual basis offer little insight into Kohberger's motive. Several key concerns were left unaddressed, including what drove Kohberger to carry out the killings, why he targeted the students specifically and why two roommates were spared. The plea agreement doesn't necessitate that Kohberger disclose any details about the murders at his sentencing. 'I had hoped the agreement would include conditions that required the defendant to explain his actions and provide answers to the many questions that still remain, especially where evidence is missing or unclear,' Xana Kernodle's father, Jeff Kernodle, said in a statement following the guilty plea. At Wednesday's sentencing, allocution will offer Kohberger a confronting choice: stay silent or face the families of his four victims and attempt to explain the horror he inflicted. Allocution rights can be traced to 1689, when English courts recorded that, in cases in which defendants faced possible death sentences, the failure to ask defendants directly whether they had anything to say prior to sentencing constituted a basis for reversal, according to the American Bar Association. Numerous historic allocution statements have been delivered over the years, including John Brown's address to the court after his death sentence in 1859, and Susan B. Anthony's defiant speech following her arrest for voting in 1873. Several convicted murderers have also given allocution statements, including serial killer Ted Bundy; Timothy McVeigh, convicted for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing; and John Wayne Gacy, known as the 'Killer Clown.' Allocution rights appear at the state level, though they vary across jurisdictions. But according to Idaho law, the defendant has the 'right of allocution,' or the right to personally address the judge, if they choose to. 'Before imposing sentence the court must give counsel an opportunity to speak on behalf of the defendant and must ask the defendant personally if the defendant wishes to make a statement and to present any information in mitigation of punishment,' Idaho's Criminal Rule 33 states. Allocutions are not made under oath and and Kohberger will not be subjected to cross-examination, according to the state law. 'Their families may never hear why he targeted this house and their children, what made him do it. He's not required to answer the 'why,' although we know he killed them because he's already taken this plea,' Colwin said. 'They may never get true closure.' He may one day speak to the media A pile of questions over the killer's method and motive have haunted the case since the four students were discovered stabbed to death in their off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, with no signs of forced entry. But even if Kohberger remains silent now and does not exercise his right to allocution, there's still a possibility he will speak out later. There is no stipulation in Kohberger's plea agreement to prevent him from doing interviews with media or writing a book. A trove of documents and discovery that could also shine more light on the case remains sealed by the court and is expected to stay that way until after his sentencing on July 23. But it's unclear how the court will handle the large volume of material. 'The families who want an explanation believe the ultimate closure is understanding why,' Colwin said. 'Even if he someday explains his motivations, I shudder to think of what he might say.' For some, the plea deal was injustice. For others, closure After the victims' families were informed of the plea deal, fathers Jeff Kernodle and Steve Goncalves harshly criticized prosecutors for not consulting the victims' families before agreeing to conditions of the deal. The Goncalves family members said in a statement earlier this month they had expected more answers from the change-of-plea hearing when Judge Hippler questioned Kohberger before accepting his guilty plea. 'Today was the day, the day for answers, the day to find out what happened, to find out really anything about what the Defendant did that night and why he took the lives of 4 beautiful people. At least that's what we hoped for but hope is really all we had today,' the Goncalves family's July 2 statement read. 'We'll never see this as justice,' Steve Goncalves told CNN's Jim Sciutto. Others voiced acceptance, saying that despite a lack of answers, they were relieved to avoid a drawn-out trial and the possibility of a yearslong appeals process. Mogen's father, Ben Mogen, told the Idaho Statesman he viewed the deal as an opportunity to avoid the pain and spectacle of a trial and focus on healing. 'We support the plea agreement 100%. While we know there are some who do not support it, we ask that they respect our belief that this is the best outcome possible for victims, their families and the state of Idaho,' said Leander James, who represents Mogen's mother and stepfather, Karen and Scott Laramie. The Chapin family's 'initial response was, 'an eye for an eye,'' Stacy Chapin, Ethan Chapin's mother, told NBC's 'Today.' 'But we've spent a ton of time talking about it with prosecutors, and for us, we always felt like this was a better deal,' she said. Had Kohberger gone to trial, a death sentence was not guaranteed. And even if he had received one, it likely would have taken years, possibly decades, to carry out, with no certainty it would ever happen. Kohberger will be sentenced this week to life in prison without parole, and he'll forfeit his right to appeal. He will no longer be allowed to appear in the civilian shirt and tie he usually wears for hearings, according to Hippler. The next time he sets foot in the courtroom, he will be dressed in prison garb. 'To the families of Kaylee, Madison, Xana and Ethan – we will never forget the beautiful light your precious children shone brightly in the world,' Colwin said. 'No evil will ever take that away.' CNN's Taylor Romine, Jean Casarez, Elizabeth Wolfe, Rebekah Riess, Dakin Andone, and Kit Maher contributed to this report. Solve the daily Crossword

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store