Vita Luxury's Thanos Papalexis Arrested For Murder

According to British authorities, Thanos Papalexis, a representative for the recently closed destination club Vita Luxury, has been linked to a vicious murder in 2000.
According to documents unsealed in Federal Court in West Palm Beach late Monday, Papalexis and two accomplices murdered a small-time gambler named Charalambos Christodoulides in 2000.

U.S. law enforcement authorities were notified in April and arrested Papalexis outside a local restaurant in downtown West Palm Beach on Friday. Wayne Pickering, the supervisory Deputy at the West Palm Beach Marshall's Office, confirmed that his men had been discreetly tailing Papalexis. "The warrant was issued Friday, and we picked him up right away," said Pickering. "The request came from the United Kingdom, and he is a suspect in a homicide. He is at the county jail until a decision is made about his extradition."

A British citizen, Papalexis is being held without bail at the Palm Beach County Jail. Monday, Papalexis had an initial court appearance in front of U.S. Magistrate Judge James Hopkins. In a hearing next week, Papalexis will indicate if he will fight the extradition. In 2000, Papalexis allegedly was working in real estate development centered on a run-down warehouse district in a rough London neighborhood of Kilburn. According to the unsealed documents, 55-year-old Charalambos Christodoulides was living in a small flat above a shuttered wine warehouse for years prior and refused to leave, costing Papalexis $120,000 per week in interest to a loan shark who loaned him money to buy the property. According to U.S. Federal Court records, Papalexis and two accomplices "took care" of the problem. "Papalexis' connection to the murder is documented with phone records, legal documents and forensic evidence. Some forensic evidence removed from the crime scene includes materials containing both Papalexis' fingerprings and the victim's blood," according to court documents.

According to an article in London's Evening Standard, police found blood in the warehouse courtyard, suggesting that Christodoulides was first attacked there. It appears next he was tied to a chair in his second floor flat and beaten "as if his killers were trying to get information out of him."

Eventually, Christodoulides was straggled. His body was then dragged down the stairs and drenched in paint-thinner to throw off police dogs and subsequently dumped into a mechanic's pit. Police later found Christodoulides wrapped in a blanket, two wool hats pulled over his head. According to police, there had been so much blood that the murderers spent a long time cleaning the walls and floors.

Back in 2000, Detective Inspector Adrian Blackledge told the paper, "A great deal of effort was taken to cover up this crime so whoever did it knew exactly what they were doing."

Vita Luxury, a destination club that offered luxury watercraft, vehicles, and jet services in addition to luxury real estate failed to launch earlier this year. Papalexis started several other similar firms prior to Vita Luxury promising much of the same. All failed to gain any momentum in the destination club industry. Brian Eisenberg served as Marketing Director of Vita Luxury and stated that he grew suspicious of Papalexis when he informed him that he couldn't return back to Europe.

"There was a rumor someone turned up dead on the construction site of one of his developments in London," said Eisenberg. "Everybody thought it was just a rumor."

Vita Luxury's Thanos Papalexis Arrested For Murder

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