Police: Body of Suzanne Eaton was found in Nazi bunker

July 12 (UPI) -- The body of a U.S. scientist was found in a Nazi bunker on the Greek island of Crete, police said.

Crete's Chief of Police Konstantinos Lagoudakis revealed Thursday that the body of Suzanne Eaton, who went missing July 2, was found around 200 feet deep within a cave that was converted into a bunker by Nazi soldiers during the Second World War, CNN reported.

The body was found Monday by two locals, he said.

On Wednesday, police opened a homicide investigation after announcing that Eaton had been suffocated though it was unclear if that was the cause of her death.

Two corners had inspected the body and determined that the airways of her mouth and nose had been blocked.

Eaton was on the island for a science conference when it is believed that she went missing while out for a run.

On Thursday, relatives and colleagues released statements concerning Eaton's death.

"I have lost a sister," he brother, Rob, wrote. "The world has lost more than it will ever know. Suzanne brought a new perspective to everything. As a scientist, she would pull together the threads of common knowledge from other disciplines to create profound new understandings [of] her own. As a chef, she could make the most exotic dish seem simple and homey."

The board of directors of her company, Max Planck Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, said their greatest fears over the last week have become a reality.

"The entire MPI-CBG community mourns the passing of Suzanne Eaton ...," they said in a statement. "As one of only four tenured senior research group leaders, and as present from the very start of the MPI-CBG as well as being a powerhouse combination of scientists together with her husband Tony, Suzanne has been a close intimate colleague and friend woven into the leadership team and adored by all the directors of MPI-CBG. We have lost a talent, a colleague, a friend."