Young mother murdered in front of baby in Greece

Caroline Crouch and Charalambos Anagnostopoulos.
Caroline Crouch and Charalambos Anagnostopoulos. Photo credit: Instagram via 7News

The brutal murder of a young mother who was killed in front of her 11-month-old baby has shocked Greece.

Three masked men broke into 20-year-old Caroline Crouch's Athens home on Tuesday.

The Guardian reported they tied her 33-year-old husband Babis Anagnostopoulos to a chair before torturing Crouch for up to an hour in an attempt to get her to tell them location of thousands of dollars worth of cash and jewellery.

Crouch was reportedly strangled to death in front of her baby before the thieves killed the family's dog, which was left hanging on the fence of the house.

Anagnostopoulos, who survived the attack, told news outlet Newsit the thieves kept pointing their guns at him and the baby.

"They kept saying 'where’s the money?' Immediately I told them where I had hidden it.

"We had bought a plot of land and had money in the house for initial works. I heard my wife, who was tied up in the bed, constantly shouting for help. We begged them not to do us any harm."

Greece's citizens' protection minister Michalis Chrisochoidis said the country was reeling from the murder. 

"We are all shaken up and personally I am shaken up," he said. "We rarely encounter such brutality in Greece, both in Greek society and in crime."

The Greek government has offered a €300,000 (NZ$590,000) reward to try and find the killers.