Skull could be slain woman’s

DNA testing will confirm if skull is that of former Mansfield Township resident Julie Scully.

By:David Koch
   A skull found Sunday in the Aegean Sea has been sent to the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki for DNA testing to confirm if it is that of Julie Scully, a Mansfield woman killed by her Greek fiancé more than two years ago.
   Nick Karamolegos, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Athens, told the Register-News Wednesday that a Greek woman swimming in the sea found the skull near the Kavala Shipping Yards in the city of Kavala.
   According to an article in the English-language Athens News on Tuesday, Greek coroner Minas Giorgiades said the head may be Ms. Scully’s because it is the skull of a woman between the age of 20 and 34, and had been in the water for up to three years. Ms. Scully, a former model, had turned 31 a week before she was murdered Jan. 8, 1999.
   "This has not been corroborated yet, and it will take some time," said Mr. Karamolegos regarding the identification process.
   Mr. Karamolegos also said he did not how long a DNA test on the skull would take.
   Ms. Scully moved to Greece with her boyfriend, George Skiadopoulos, in December 1998 after divorcing her husband of seven years, Tim Nist of Mansfield. Mr. Nist and Ms. Scully’s daughter, Katie, will turn 6 years old this November.
   Ms. Scully met Mr. Skiadopoulos on a cruise in November 1997, where Mr. Skiadopoulos had been working as a steward. Mr. Skiadopoulos is now serving a life sentence without parole in Greece for the murder.
   Mr. Nist said that he learned about the skull on Sunday from a family friend.
   "This actually opens a lot of wounds for many of the people who cared for her," said Mr. Nist. "It was closed two and a half years ago."
   After strangling Ms. Scully, Mr. Skiadopoulos decapitated her head with a hacksaw so her body would fit in a suitcase. When he confessed to her murder, he told authorities he threw the suitcase in a lake near Kavala, and her head into the Aegean Sea.
   The skull retrieved on Sunday was found only two miles from where Mr. Skiadopoulos told police he had thrown the head, said the Athens Times.
   Mr. Skiadopoulos led police to the suitcase that contained Ms. Scully’s body.