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A string of text messages<\/a> was sent from the phone of a Scottish<\/a> woman in an apparent attempt to cover up her death before her body was found in a suitcase in Athens, police say.<\/p>\n The body of Elisabeth-Jane Ross<\/a>, 38, was discovered by a homeless man in a derelict building in the Kypseli area of the Greek capital on 18 July<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ms Ross, understood to be from the Edinburgh area, is believed to have died between five and seven days before she was found. However, investigators said that her phone remained highly active following her death, The Times reports. <\/p>\n The content of messages sent during that period has not been revealed by Greek police, the newspaper said, but the authorities believe they were sent in an attempt to cover up Ms Ross\u2019s death and stopped once her body was discovered. No suspect has yet been identified. <\/p>\n Greek police are now trying to establish whether Ms Ross\u2019s death was the result of a \u201ccriminal act\u201d, with a police spokesperson confirming toxicology tests are being carried out.<\/p>\n According to local media in Greece, texts sent from Ms Ross\u2019s phone to her family on 15 July said that she \u201cneeded some time to herself\u201d and that she \u201cwanted to be alone for a while\u201d.<\/p>\n The Daily Mail reports that another message was sent from her phone, after police believe she had died, to a Greek friend she had been staying with days before she was found. It read: \u201cI need some time \u2013 I\u2019m going to a Greek island.\u201d<\/p>\n The newspaper reports that investigators say the phone remains missing but was active in the area of Athens until approximately 24 hours ago. <\/p>\n According to local media, Ms Ross travelled to Greece from Edinburgh on 29 June, and initially stayed with friends in the town of Keratsini, in the suburbs of Athens, before meeting American friends in Kypseli on 15 July.<\/p>\n Speaking on the BBC\u2019s Reporting Scotland on Thursday, The Guardian\u2019\u2019s Athens<\/a> correspondent Helena Smith said Ms Ross had been in Greece for about two weeks before she died.<\/p>\n The journalist said messages were then sent from Ms Ross\u2019s phone in an apparent attempt to put those looking for her off the scent.<\/p>\n \u201cIt would seem that someone had control, and I use that word very deliberately, over her mobile phone after she died, and was sending messages clearly to distract from the scent, to distract the authorities and her close friends from trying to track her down,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Greek and Cypriot authorities are reportedly working together to exchange information as they try to track down the person who abandoned the suitcase containing her body.<\/p>\n However, the spokesperson added there was no evidence on either the body or the suitcase that would enable them to identify a third party.<\/p>\n According to local reports, police are also trying to trace where her phone had been in the days following her death.<\/p>\n![\"Elisabeth-Jane](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/6953a8dbebb1ebe7b877cb192127c2f7-1785339771-415fac7a.jpeg\")
Elisabeth-Jane Ross had been staying with a Greek friend (Supplied)<\/p>\n