The Death Taxi

Greece is one of the most popular travel destinations in the world thanks to its picturesque landscape, beautiful beaches, ancient culture, and fabulous cuisine. But this vacation paradise also has a dark side, where shocking crimes take place and even serial killers wreak havoc. One of them was Greek taxi driver Dimitris Vakrinos. Between 1987 and 1995, he not only killed five people, but was also responsible for several attempted murders and armed robberies. Dimitris, who was born in 1962 in the Greek village of Pirrís, grew up in difficult and poor circumstances as the second son of a family of five. From an early age, he was abused by his alcoholic father, which left Dimitris with extremely low self-esteem. At the age of 13, he found refuge with a family of friends in Athens, where he worked in a tavern. Dimitris, who had trained as a welder at a technical college, initially worked as a welder at the Elefsis shipyard until he decided to earn his living as a taxi driver in 1992. He committed his first murder on August 6, 1987, killing 43-year-old Panayiotis Gaglias with an iron bar because Gaglias wanted to report Dimitris to the police for stealing his shotgun. He disposed of Panayiotis’ body on the Agros-Tripolis highway. Three years later, Dimitris got married. But just 14 months later, they divorced. Since Dimitris had been thrown out of the house by his ex-wife, he took revenge by setting fire to his in-laws’ house on the island of Salamis. His second victim was 28-year-old Anastasia Simitzi on November 19, 1993. She had ordered a taxi after visiting a nightclub. When she got into Dimitris’ taxi, she had no idea that this ride would end fatally for her. Dimitris made advances toward Anastasia, but she rejected him. Instead, she began to insult Dimitris, whereupon he drove to a deserted area not far from Mantra, where he doused her with gasoline and set her on fire. Anastasia burned alive. Just under three months later, Dimitris murdered his 35-year-old taxi driver colleague Theodoros Andreadis. The trivial reason was that months earlier, Theodoros had argued with Dimitris about who had priority at the taxi rank in Elefsis. Dimitris pretended to be a customer who wanted to be driven to Corinth. During the ride, he asked to stop, where he shot Theodoros four times in cold blood. Dimitris then drove the taxi to Elefsina, where he set fire to the taxi and Theodoros’s body. In August 1996, Dimitris remarried and moved to Moschato. A year later, he committed his last two murders. The victims were the brothers Kostas and Antonis Spyropoulos. The 21-year-old Kostas had bought a car from Dimitris, which Dimitris tried to get back by stealing it. But the brothers caught him in the act, so Dimitris shot them on the spot. On April 11, 1997, Dimitris was finally arrested. During interrogation at the police station in Athens, he confessed to five murders, seven attempted murders, and numerous robberies. However, he could not be brought to trial because he took his own life in Korydallos Prison on May 12, 1997. Dimitris hanged himself with his shoelaces, which he had tied to the shower head. Thus ended the tragic life of Dimitris Vakrinos.