When Neos Kosmos first reported on this story in January, Greece was mourning with the mother of three children whom everyone had assumed was struck by tragedy, but her arrest has questioned the validity of her claims.

Roula Pispirigou from Patras, whose three children died over the last three years under suspicious medical circumstances, had taken to social media several times to express her pain and often her frustration with the country’s health system while grieving the loss of her children.

She would also often target parents committing criminal acts or mothers resorting to abortion, circling back on her own predicament and how she wished she had all her children with her. In several instances, she had lied in private social media groups about details concerning her children’s deaths on Facebook; she had also lied about having a boy when all her children were female. Suspicious civilians started looking into her past as the news of her losing a third child aired. Pispirigou appeared to often want to draw her husband’s attention as well as increase the number of engagements on her social media accounts posting about hers and her children’s poor health.

The unexplained loss of her last (at the time) living child 9-year-old Georgina, who died at the Aglaia Kyriakou Children’s Hospital in Athens at the end of January 2022, made doctors and authorities suspicious, ordering extensive histological and toxicological analyses to be conducted on Georgina.

The mother had asked other mothers in a Facebook group if their husbands treat them differently or buy them gifts when they are pregnant.

The mother mourning Irida's loss on social media.

The mother responding to a kid's model search describing her children's features.

The mother lying on a Facebook group about having a baby son.

The mother asking if she can claim tax benefits for three children even if one has passed.

The mother being inaccurate about the time of death of her child on Facebook.

Georgina’s passing was preceded by the death of her 3.5-year-old sister Malena in the summer of 2019 and the death of of 6-month-old Iris, in 2021.

The histological and toxicological analyses have been completed by medical examiner Sotiris Bouzianis, who determined the cause of death. The tests revealed ketamine – reportedly not prescribed by any doctor (all medical personnel and hospital records have also been investigated) in the body of the girl in large amounts.

In a report submitted to the prosecutor handling the case, the Attica Security Directorate said its investigation revealed that “the only person who was in Georgina’s room for the last 20 minutes of her life, before the side effects of the drug kicked in, was her mother”.

Following the results, a prosecutor in Athens charged the 33-year-old woman with homicide on Wednesday (local time) over the death of Georgina. The mother, who appeared before an investigating magistrate on Thursday has been given until Monday to prepare her defense whilst she is held at the Attica General Police Directorate’s homicide division.

Should the full medical report on the cause of death of all three children (to be released) prove that the same substance was also present in their bodies, Pispirigou may face further charges.