Dimitrios was captured by the Turks during the sortie. His parents thought him dead but eventually learned that he was in Ioannina. Kitsos wanted to exchange him with a Turk, so during a battle in 1828 he challenged an Ottoman officer to a duel. The Turk promised to shoe Tzavellas like a horse should he win, while Kitsos vowed to mark the Turk with a hot iron on his forehead and then exchange him for his son. Kitsos prevailed and did as he promised. He handed the Turk to Ioannis Kapodistrias, the governor of Greece, and asked him to arrange for the exchange. When Kapodistrias reprimanded him for his cruel behavior, Kitsos argued that he had to brand the Turk because as an officer he had promised to do so. Dimitrios was finally released and his descendants lived in this mansion.