Posted on 01/28/2022 7:10:14 AM PST by Red Badger
The story revolves around discovering a woman’s body remains in a suitcase and is more than just a love relationship gone bad. Gergana Prodanava was a 38-year-old woman who worked at the Great Western Hotel in Exeter, England. Reported missing in August 2016, Gergana had no idea what was in store for her. She could never have imagined that the one she loved would one day take her life.
A Cursed Love Story
During her early 20s, Gergana met Kostadin Kostov in Bulgaria. Kostadin was 26 years old at that time. They started dating in 2000 and shortly fell in love with each other. As love stories often go, both married and had three children. However, unlike the usual head-over-heels love story, this one would cost Gergana her life. Kostadin was an abusive husband, and his anger would turn lethal every time he got drunk. The 15-year long relationship soon started to suffocate Gergana. How could the man she loved hurt her so violently? Prosecutor Simon Laws QC commented on the physical and verbal abuse. He said: “It was a complex and very troubling relationship. He was a jealous and controlling man. He would lose his temper, especially when he had had a drink, and he would hit her. She stuck with him for many years. She seems to have found it very hard to break free from him.” Gergana knew she had to escape the marriage no matter what it cost. But, unfortunately, that cost ended up having to leave the young children behind. So in December 2015, she packed her bags and left her husband and children to move to Exeter. She even started working as a housekeeper at the Great Western Hotel to make ends meet. Gergana’s Finally Free, But At What Cost?
While working in Exeter, Gergana met Tihomir Todorov, who had moved to the UK from Bulgaria. Tihomir was a kind, sensitive man and a relief after the abusive years spent with Kostadin. They both started dating, with Gergana happier than she’d ever imagined being. However, none knew that the romance had a time limit. Kostadin soon came to know of Tihomir and was enraged. He couldn’t swallow Gergana dating another man. Ready to stop the relationship by any means necessary, he contacted Gergana, convincing her to Skype with him. The Skype call was nothing short of a disaster. Gergana tried her best to explain the relationship to Kostadin, but no avail. His obsessive rage was immune to reason. He even dramatically pretended to swallow pills and commit suicide if Gergana didn’t end the relationship. However, she knew better. So she called out his bluff and ended the call before things took a turn for the worse. Simon explained the dynamics of the Skype call, elaborating on Kostadin’s attempts to manipulate Gergana: “He says he wants to hear her voice when he dies. He had, you may feel, an unhealthy and obsessive interest in her, and he wanted her back. That, as the next few weeks were going to show him, was not going to happen.”
Wrecking a Party In Revenge
Kostadin knew his tricks hadn’t worked. So, he hopped up on a plane from Bulgaria to Exeter, ready to physically intervene in the relationship. After arriving there in April 2016, he contacted Gergana, urging her to meet. She agreed to meet him at Tihomir’s flat since she didn’t want to enrage him. In this way, Tihomir could protect her if things went south. However, Kostadin found it challenging to bear their relationship no matter what. He was envious of the beautiful life she had created for herself at Exeter with her new romantic partner. Regardless of this, she lived with Kostadin, who had moved into her Exeter house on Mount Pleasant Road. But, after May 6, 2016, she shuddered at the prospect of living with Kostadin for even a minute more. She had to go to a party on that day. She had planned to have a good time there, but little did she know that Kostadin would ruin it all. It started with an argument over Tihomir that blew up into a loud fight after the party had finished. He was jealous and enraged, tearing her clothes apart with scissors, damaging her phones, and wounding her finger. Scared for her life, she ran to Tihomir’s apartment and did not involve the police yet, fearing what Kostadin would do as a result. She started spending most of her nights at that apartment to avoid Kostov. After that, she merely went back to her flat to cook and change clothes.
Is it the End of ill-fated Gergana?
Kostadin knew that there was no way Gergana would ever get back together with him after that party. Not being able to digest that, he became angrier and bitter day by day. Then, one day, Kostadin decided to put an end to it. He set up camp outside her flat. Unaware that a killer was waiting at her doorstep, she returned home to fetch her necessary belongings. On August 4, 2016, she was last spotted on CCTV heading back home along Sidwell Street and Blackboy Road after leaving work at the Great Western Hotel. She vanished from the face of the Earth after that tragic day, as if she had never existed.
What happened on August 4?
Dressed in tight clothing and a baseball cap to hide his face, he pounced on Gergana as she was heading home at night. Being a frail woman, she was unable to match his brute strength. He dragged her to the Mount Pleasant flat, and that was when Gergana breathed her last. Kostadin was clever, and he knew how not to get caught. After killing her, he looked up online “how long would it take for a human corpse to decompose?” in his local Bulgarian language. Then, he decomposed her body in such a gruesome manner that no one could determine the cause of her death. After the murder, Kostov knew he had to get rid of Gergana’s body. So on August 7, he put her in a suitcase at night and dragged it on the streets, acting as if he had not just killed his wife. He left the suitcase buried in undergrowth near-empty railway tracks at Blackall Road. Then, he sent Tihomir and her close friends some fake texts saying that she had returned to Bulgaria because of her mother’s sudden death. But, her friends at her workplace started wondering about her disappearance after two days. They knew it wasn’t like Gergana to miss work for this long. So, they reported her missing to the police on August 8.
Missing Person Investigation Begins
The police began questioning Gergana’s closed ones to find out her whereabouts. As part of their investigation, they also talked with Kostadin and Tihomir. Kostadin told the police that he had last seen Gergana when she got a phone call about her mother’s death from her sister and left home. However, after reviewing flight records, they found that Gergana had not flown anywhere out of the city. They also found that Kostadin had her phone on August 6 and 7 when he sent those false messages. These were highly incriminating pieces of evidence against him. By August 10, the police heavily suspected Kostadin and had enough proof to arrest him. When questioned about the fake messages, he refused to comment on them. However, the phone company had records of him having slipped his sim card into Gergana’s phone. Whilst the police was investigating Kostadin, Gergana’s remains were found on August 16. A bystander observed a nasty smell coming from a suitcase that he assumed had been abandoned. He could not even think of the possibility of a naked, dead body of a woman inside.
Does Gergana Get Justice?
During the murder investigation, the police found additional evidence pointing out Kostadin as the culprit. They found horrifying footage of Kostov dragging and leaving Gergana’s body in a suitcase near the railway tracks at night. They also discovered a CCTV video of him returning multiple times to the crime scene before being detained to ensure that it was not disturbed. Devon and Cornwall Police Detective Inspector Gregg Dawe said: “His actions were cold and calculating, blatantly carrying the suitcase in open public view through the city centre.” The criminal trial to punish Kostadin for his heinous crime started in April 2017 at Exeter Crown Court. It was his uncontrollable rage that led him to lose his senses and murder his wife. The prosecution heavily speculated that he strangled and suffocated Gergana from the evidence gathered. Both of these methods implied an intention to end her life. Whatever the case, there was ample evidence against him to convict him.
The four-week criminal trial to punish Kostadin for his heinous crime started in April 2017 at Exeter Crown Court. Sir John Royce, the judge, sentenced him to life imprisonment and mandated a prison sentence of at least 19 years before the parole board could consider releasing him.
Carrion Luggage ping!................
Eastern European men can be just brutal about infidelity.
One guy explained to me that he caught his new bride having sex with the best man in their home. He wasn’t able to stop the best man from getting away, so he made his wife put towels on the floor around the bathtub before he slit her throat.
“I wonder where Ruth is?”
“...he strangled and suffocated Gergana from the evidence gathered. Both of these methods implied an intention to end her life”
strangled and suffocated as intention to end her life....
Gee....ya think??
Eastern European men can be just brutal about infidelity.
One guy explained to me that a prisoner he knew caught his new bride having sex with the best man in their home. He wasn’t able to stop the best man from getting away, so he made his wife put towels on the floor around the bathtub before he slit her throat.
I should have clarified that.
This is what the death penalty is for.
Fourth and Drucker?
Probably worth recalling that the KGB relied on their Bulgarian colleagues for certain jobs. Like the assassination of a certain troublesome Polish priest. That country was under Ottoman rule longer than almost any other part of Europe, followed by Russian, German, Nazi, and then Soviet domination. Rough lot.
She was majorly messed up
Firesign Theater ping!
Ira Einhorn all over again.
"Body" implies "corpse" and corpses already are dead and so cannot be "murdered."
No wonder the author signs he/she/itself "The Mystique." If I produced crap like that I wouldn't want my real name on the byline either.
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