Missing American Scientist Update: Body Found In Greece After Week-Long Search

The body of an American scientist, who had been missing in Greece for nearly a week, was found Monday in a cave and about six miles from where she was last seen.

Suzanne Eaton, 59, was in Greece representing the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology at Dresden University in Germany, where she served as a research lead, for a conference being held on the island of Crete when she disappeared on July 2. Her colleagues filed a missing person’s report after she had reportedly gone out for a jog but never returned. Local police then began posting public notices of her disappearance, though no one was able to provide any information.

The Planck Institute said in a written statement that local authorities "have not yet completed their investigation regarding the events that may have transpired."

Local police in the port city of Chania, along with Greece’s Hellenic Police, began searching for Eaton at and around Crete. The search did receive aid from the U.S. State Department after word reached back that an American citizen had gone missing. Eaton’s husband and two sons had even flown to Crete to aid local authorities in the search.

The body of a woman matching Eaton’s description was discovered Monday evening and later confirmed to be Eaton. Eaton's cousin told the Associated Press that Eaton's husband and two sons had traveled to Crete to assist in the search.

The Max Planck Institute posted a statement and the TU Dresden Biotechnology Center, where Eaton had also worked, both issued statements. She was described as "an outstanding and inspiring scientist."

According to her profile on the Max Planck Institute's website, Eaton was born in Oakland, Oklahoma, and received her Ph.D. in microbiology from UCLA in 1988.