Brit found in a suitcase in Athens may have lied about meeting up with US friends before she was found dead, say Greek cops as mystery deepens

By ANDREW JEHRING, CHIEF FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT and VIVEK CHAUDHARY, SENIOR REPORTER Published: 11:12, 31 July 2026 | Updated: 11:12, 31 July 2026 Greek police investigating the murder of a British woman in Athens believe she may have lied about mystery 'American friends' she claimed to be staying with. Elisabeth-Jane Ross, 38, had said she was leaving to meet people from the States three days before her body was found in a suitcase. Athens detectives desperately piecing together her last movements have made extensive enquiries to try and trace them. But now they fear they are not real - raising suspicions Elisabeth lied to her friends before departing. A well placed source told the Mail: 'They have not been identified, or found and so we haven't spoken to them. The Scottish national stayed with Greek friends in the Keratsini district, the country's main seaport close to the city, until July 15. She told them she was going to see some friends from the US in Kypseli, in central Athens, but her body was found in a derelict building on July 18. Other friends she had met up with in Athens had been interviewed by police and were not suspect, a source said. 'The victim may well have warned to be alone and said she was off to see American friends,' they said. Elisabeth Jane Ross was found dead with her body stuffed inside a suitcase in Athens, Greece Pictured: The abandoned building where Ms Ross was found  Athens detectives desperately piecing together her last movements have made extensive enquiries to try and trace them. But now they fear they are not real - raising suspicions Elisabeth lied to her friends before departing Your browser does not support iframes. Elisabeth's phone was used to send text messages until she was publicly named on July 29. Her father, a lawyer from Edinburgh, told officers he had been receiving messages from his daughter's phone until the day she was formally identified - and detectives believe the killer was using the device to cover their tracks. One text, sent on July 15 to a Greek friend, read: 'I need some time – I'm going to a Greek island.' Other messages family members claimed that she 'needed some time to herself' and that she 'wanted to be alone for a while'. Investigators say the phone, which has not been found, was active in Athens until just Wednesday when it was switched off. And police confirmed they have no idea who Ross had seen while she was in Kypseli. 'We do not yet know who the people she visited are, or whether they are Americans,' a source said. 'We are still trying to find out where she went next (after Keratsini) and who she stayed with.' The Greek couple in Keratsini are not suspects in the murder and have provided useful information to police during questioning, sources confirmed. The Mail has also learned that toxicological tests will be fast forwarded to help get to the bottom of what the 38-year-old had died from. A police spokesman said: 'We do not yet know who the people she visited (in Kypseli) are, nor whether they are Americans or if they even exist. 'We are trying to find out where she went and who she stayed with.'