Who is Irini Mourtzoukou? The young woman who now prefers the name Renos, indicative of the gender she identifies with, is the star of an unprecedented “monster dance” that has dominated television shows for the past three months.

She is a neglected and abused child, a girl turned sex object, and an immature mother whose two children she gave birth to are both dead. At just 24 years old she has been accused of being part of a criminal organization that defrauded mostly the elderly, allegedly extorted a large sum of money from a man she occasionally consorted with, and also alleged to have performed white marriages with foreigners on the cheap. At the same time, she accused her stepfather of raping her and that he was the father of her children, only to later recant, but in the meantime to be tried on those charges.

The recipient of  Mourtzoukou’s outrage is her mother. She accuses her of indifference, neglect, and abuse. On the other hand, her mother is the first to publicly and categorically state with certainty that Irene “did something to the children”. In the most recent aspects of this case that has kept the public’s interest unabated, Irini/Renos had allegedly attempted to sell her friend’s baby, who died last August and was the fifth in a row to die in the presence of Mourtzoukou.

So what is Mourtzoukou other than a star of a wild reality show? She is possibly all or some of the above, but what no one can answer with certainty and solid evidence is whether, in addition to all of the above, she is a murderer and, indeed, a serial killer of five infants.

Mourtzoukou’s story “sells” because it is shocking: how can a man only 24 years old already be “life and politics”? What else could he have done? Why did she photograph her children dead? Had he ever been in contact with Roula Pispirigou? And finally, is she another Pispirigou who, in addition to her children, killed her sister and the children of two women in her circle of friends?

Mourtzoukou’s case was first in the public eye immediately after the death of her second baby last year. Nothing was found then, no evidence indicating criminal activity had emerged and the case was withdrawn from the spotlight.

All this until early September when it became known that another baby had died in the presence of Mourtzoukou. It was 15-month-old Panagiotis, the son of Popi, Irini’s friend and roommate. The death of this child is perhaps the only one that can provide answers as to how it occurred. The child’s toxicology tests are clean, but the histology is pending.

Mourtzoukou in her countless television appearances has claimed that the child was taken alive to the Amaliada hospital and expired there. The hospital, however, is clear that the baby arrived dead at the hands of the doctors. Thus, the histological examinations of the child, which are being carried out at the A’ Laboratory of Pathological Anatomy of the University of Athens, are awaited with anxiety.

According to reports, it seems that there was a problem in the child’s upper digestive system, but it is not yet clear whether this was the cause of death or just a pathology the infant was suffering from.

After the death of 15-month-old Panagiotis on August 5 this year, the head of the Patras Appeals Prosecutor’s Office, Nikolaos Nikolaou, requested an urgent preliminary examination. Mr. Nikolaou forwarded the request to the heads of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Prosecutor’s Office of Achaia, Konstantoula Athanasopoulou, and the Prosecutor’s Office of Ilia, Dimitrios Lianopoulos.

At the beginning of November, by prosecutor’s order, the file of the five dead children left the Ilida Security Department, which had undertaken the preliminary examination (it had collected all the files as the last death had occurred in Amaliada) for all the deaths of the children and passed to the Department of Crimes against Life of the General Police Directorate of Attica, which undertook the preliminary investigation. The investigation is ongoing and statements are already being taken from relatives of the missing children, people who were close to Irini Mourtzoukou, and doctors who attended all the incidents.

An important development is the testimony of Panagiotis’ mother: the woman had initially denounced shortcomings and incorrect assessments by the Amaliada hospital, while doctors insist that the baby arrived there dead. “My child was dead from the house,” she reportedly told homicide detectives now, overturning her initial statements.

The findings

As forensically determined, three of the five babies were found to have infantile interstitial pneumonitis as the cause of death. They are Mourtzoukou’s sister, who died when she was 13 months old in 2014; her first daughter, who died in 2022 when she was just 19 days old; and the six-month-old baby girl of Katerina, Mourtzoukou’s best man, who died at the Karamandanio Pediatric Hospital in Patras. Mourtzoukou’s second baby girl died in 2023, when she was two months old, at the Aghia Sophia Children’s Hospital. The cause of death was described as “sudden death of pathological etiology with a history of epilepsy”. The cause of death of the last baby, Panagiotis, in Amaliada, remains unclear.

It should be noted that Irini’s second child, who passed away at the Agia Sophia Children’s Hospital, underwent expanded gene testing. A gene emerged that was ambiguous in the literature. To unravel this puzzle, the laboratory that did the gene testing requested a sample from the parents and from one of the mother’s children.

They saw that the mother had the mutation (and was alive), while the first child (who had died) did not. So they concluded that the death of the second child was not due to a gene problem. Currently, expanded gene testing is underway for Irene’s first child as well.

The reports of the Hellenic Police Department

Death of six-month-old girl, daughter of Mourtzoukou’s best man, at Karamandaneio:

■ On 04/02/2021, the C’ A.T. of Patras was informed by the Patras Children’s Hospital “Karamandaneio” regarding the sudden death of an infant. (…) At 05:07 on 04/02/2021 while the infant was in his home, he developed a bronchial tube and passed away. He was transported dead by ambulance to the hospital (Karamandaneio). (…) According to the forensic necropsy report of the infant, no macroscopically visible injuries were found and the cause of death was reported as “Interstitial pneumonitis of childhood”.

In addition, relevant genetic testing is ongoing, which has not been completed to date. For the above incident, the participation of Mourtzoukou Irini, born 21/07/2000, resident of Amaliada, does not appear in the preliminary investigation, however, as the mother of the infant stated to the media, on the day in question she had entrusted the care of her child to Mourtzoukou Irini.

Death of Mourtzoukou’s first daughter:

■ On 26/10/2023, from the West Achaia Police Station, preliminary investigation material concerning the death of a female infant (unbaptized), whose mother was Mourtzoukou Irini, was submitted to the Prosecutor of Patras. Specifically, at 01:10 on 19/06/2022 the above mother while sleeping with her infant in a room of their home, she noticed difficulty in breathing and because his condition was deteriorating, at 01:20 she called the ambulance and was evacuated by ambulance to the Health Center of Kato Achaia, where it was subsequently determined by the doctor on duty his death.

(…) The above competent Service ordered the forensic service of Patras to carry out autopsy-necropsy and toxicological tests on the infant, and the autopsy-necropsy report was submitted to the Prosecutor of Patras as the cause of death states that it was caused by interstitial pneumonitis of childhood.

Death of the second daughter of Mourtzoukou:

■ On 18/08/2023, Mourtzoukou Irini had a second child (female), who died on 17/10/2023 at the General Children’s Hospital of Athens “Agia Sophia” where she was hospitalized. He had been transferred to this hospital from the Patras Children’s Hospital “Karamandaneio” on 18/09/2023 and was hospitalized until his death. (…) An autopsy-necropsy was ordered at the Athens Forensic Service, which indicates a pathological history of epilepsy as the cause of sudden death.

Death of 15-month-old Panagiotis:

■ On 05/08/2024 at 13:15, the station of Elis was informed by the Amaliada Nursing Unit that a deceased child, born 04/05/2023, cath. in Amaliada, was transferred by private means by his relatives. Policemen of the Police Station of Elis and the Police Station. Ilida went to the Amalia Hospital, where the mother of the child, her friend Mourtzoukou Irini, and another woman were found. The doctor informed the competent service that the child was transferred to the hospital in the hands of Mourtzoukou Irini. Immediately all medical actions were taken to resuscitate him, but this was not possible and during the attempt to resuscitate him, the child vomited milk. (…)

During the police officers’ stay at the hospital, an affidavit was taken from the minor’s mother, who left suspicions against her friend, Mourtzoukou Irini, without mentioning specific facts and stated that around 12:30 pm she was at her home with Mourtzoukou Irini and the child. (…) After the mother had been absent from the toilet for about two minutes, when she returned, in the presence of Murdzuku Irene, she found that the child had sniffed. She immediately took it to an adjacent couch, patted it on the back, and spilled curdled milk. She then called a relative and they took the child to the hospital.

At 3:00 p.m. on the same day (05-08-2024), officers went to the child’s residence where the area was autopsied and photographs were taken, no drugs or other substances were found inside the residence.

Residue from vomit marks were noted on a living room couch. In the evening hours of 05-08-2024 at the Elidas Police Station and the A.D. A total of six -6- statements were taken, one of which was a supplementary statement by the mother, who categorically refuted what she had testified at the hospital regarding suspicions against her friend.

Death of Mourtzoukou’s sister, 2014:

■ In addition, it is stated that ten years ago, i.e. on 06/02/2014, the Argos Police Station was informed by the Argos Hospital that at 17:05 of the same day, M.Z., born 26/08/2012 (sister of Mourtzoukou Irini) was taken away from her mother without consciousness, where despite the efforts of the doctors, her resuscitation was not possible and her death was confirmed.

According to the forensic and toxicological report, the cause of death of the child was due to lower respiratory tract infection and interstitial pneumonitis of childhood.