The 87-year-old man who killed his terminally ill wife in Rethymno, Crete appears to have left behind a note explaining the reasoning behind his actions. “I apologize to my family,” he wrote, among other things.

The handwritten note was left on the nightstand in their hospital room in Rethymno. In it, the man wrote: “I did not want her to suffer,” attempting to explain and justify why he killed his wife, who had cancer, and why he then took his own life.

Reports say that they note read: “I apologize to my family. I only wanted to help Maria—not to feel pain, not to suffer. I thank all the hospital staff for the care they gave her. I’m sorry for the distress I’ve caused,” the note read.

Maria, aged 85, was in the final stages of cancer. Her pain was described as unbearable. Her 87-year-old husband made the most harrowing of decisions.

A relative of the man told media, “He couldn’t stand to see her like that any longer. She was in the final stage of cancer, and he was the only one taking care of her…It was a deeply tragic situation, and Mr. Michalis simply couldn’t take it anymore—watching her scream, cry, and beg for help.”

A Tragic Scene in the Hospital Room

Everything happened in their hospital room. The 87-year-old asked their son to step out onto the balcony, claiming he needed to speak to her privately. He locked the door behind him so the son wouldn’t be accused of involvement. Then he pulled the trigger—twice.

The now deceased couple’s son said, “I heard two gunshots. Suddenly, I saw through the glass my father collapsed over my mother, blood everywhere. I started shouting for help, and finally, a nurse came and opened the door.”

“I Was the One Who Drove Him to the Hospital”

The couple had been married for 67 years. The only time they were separated was 11 days ago, when Maria was admitted to the hospital—she never left. That, according to a close relative, is when the 87-year-old made his decision.

“They were a deeply loving couple. They couldn’t stand to be apart. They were always together. He had it all planned out,” the relative told Live News. “One man from the village gave him a ride to the hospital at 8:45 a.m., and by the time he got back to Skouloufia, he got a call: ‘Did you hear what Michalios did? He killed Maria and then took his own life.’ The man was in shock—it hadn’t even been 25 minutes since he dropped him off.”

The man added, “I drove him to the hospital every day. He always carried a small bag with him—that’s where he had the gun. He had brought the same bag the previous day too.”

A Carefully Planned Goodbye

He had thought of every detail. In the four-page note he left, he gave specific instructions on how their funeral should be carried out. “It’s okay if the priest refuses to read a prayer for me, but please—I want Maria to receive one,” he wrote.

Elsewhere in the letter, he stated that the decision to take this action had been made jointly with his wife. “He left the note on the nightstand in the hospital. Always cheerful, warm-hearted. I never saw them argue—never raised voices, no anger. Not just me—no one in the village ever did,” said a relative.

People close to the couple say there were no warning signs of what was to come. “A wonderful man. One day we’re drinking tsikoudia, and the next day you hear something like this. They were a loving couple. He couldn’t bear to see his wife like that.”

In Greece, mercy killings, including euthanasia, are almost always treated as a criminal act.