Four of five suspects pleaded guilty in the murder of UC Berkeley professor Przemyslaw Jeziorski, who was shot and killed by a masked gunman in broad daylight in Athens, Greece, on July 4.
Jeziorski, a 43-year-old associate marketing professor at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, was walking toward his ex-wife’s house to pick up his two 10-year-old twins when he was approached by a masked assailant at approximately 4:15 p.m. The gunman opened fire from close range, striking Jeziorski in the neck and chest. Seven bullet casings from a 9mm caliber firearm were found at the scene.
The shooting occurred near the home of Jeziorski’s ex-wife, Konstantina Michelidaki, in the suburb of Agia Paraskevi, one day after the father attended a custody court hearing. The professor had traveled to Athens to see his children and attend the family custody hearing, winning the right to take his children out of Greece on July 3.
Five people were arrested in connection with the killing, including Jeziorski’s ex-wife, her boyfriend Christos Dounias, and three other men. Dounias, who has been charged with premeditated murder, allegedly confessed to carrying out the shooting. According to leaked police statements, he told authorities that he committed the crime to prevent Jeziorski from taking away the children, stating, “I did it all for her and our children so that we could have a normal life without problems.”
Michelidaki faces moral accomplice charges, which she denies through her attorney. Her lawyer, Alexandros Pasiatas, said that his client “has nothing to do with the murder.” Three other male suspects, including two Albanian nationals and one Bulgarian national, are facing accomplice charges.
The murder came after a prolonged custody battle between Jeziorski and his ex-wife. The couple had divorced in 2024 after separating in March 2021, and their children had been living with their mother in Greece since 2020. Jeziorski was entitled to take the children for one month every summer under their custody arrangement.
Prior to his death, Jeziorski had filed for a domestic violence restraining order against Michelidaki in May, expressing fear for his life. In the court documents, he detailed alleged incidents of financial abuse, blackmail, and physical assault by Michelidaki’s boyfriend. Jeziorski claimed that Dounias had attacked him twice in May 2024 during a visit to see his children, with one incident occurring near the German embassy where a security guard intervened.
The restraining order request was denied by the California court, which determined that the facts presented did not show reasonable proof of past acts of abuse and lacked sufficient detail about recent incidents. Jeziorski had also accused his ex-wife of threatening to damage his academic reputation and attempting to transfer money from their shared business accounts related to their Airbnb rental properties.
Police described the murder as bearing signs of a contract killing and said they were able to identify the vehicle used by the accomplices and perpetrator before the murder. Officials indicated that two accomplices left the scene without the perpetrator, and that the gunman handed over his mobile phone and vehicle keys to a third accomplice to avoid identification.
Jeziorski, a native of Poland who encouraged others to call him Przemek or PJ, had been a tenured professor at UC Berkeley for 13 years. He taught data analytics skills to more than 1,500 MBA and PhD students and was described by colleagues as exceptionally gifted and hardworking. The professor held the Egon and Joan von Kaschnitz Distinguished Professorship in Business Administration and was a leading expert in quantitative marketing and industrial organization.
Jenny Chatman, dean of UC Berkeley’s business school, expressed her heartbreak over Jeziorski’s death, describing him as a beloved member of the marketing faculty. The professor had also co-founded a startup called Keybee, a short-term rental property management platform, with his ex-wife in 2015.
Jeziorski’s two children, who are US and Polish citizens, are currently under care in accordance with Greek child custody procedures. A judge in Greece ruled that all five suspects, including Michelidaki, will remain in custody ahead of their trial. The case has set up what is expected to be a lengthy and high-profile trial in Greece.