Three suspects in the murder of a 14-year-old girl from Skopje and a 74-year-old man from Veles have been detained, the Ministry of Internal Affairs in North Macedonia announced late last night. Today, the Minister of the Interior, Oliver Spasovski, said that two more people are being sought, one of whom is said to have gone first to Belgrade and then to Bulgaria.
The schoolgirl from Skopje was reported missing on November 27 around 8:30 a.m. on her way to school. Late yesterday, authorities announced that the girl’s body had been found shot near Skopje. A 74-year-old man, declared missing on November 24, was found dead near Veles. The police specified that suspects were arrested for both murders, and one of the suspects fled the country. The media in North Macedonia discovered behind the initials of the main organizer L.P., as indicated by the police, the leader of a small political party in the country.
At a press conference today, Interior Minister Spasovski confirmed that all the suspects are from this party, whose headquarters were searched along with other sites in Skopje and Veles. According to Spasovski, evidence has been collected for 5 persons who participated in the abduction and murder of the girl, 3 of whom have been detained, and the main organizer is outside the country. He went with his lawyer to Belgrade, then to Bulgaria.
The girl’s father was also questioned last night, because according to the testimony of the detainees, the main organizer received information from the girl’s father when she was leaving her home alone. According to Spasovski and the prosecutor Goran Bubovski, the motive for the kidnapping was blackmail, but after the quick information about the girl’s disappearance, the suspects panicked and shot her. The connection to the other case, of the 74-year-old man from Velez, is his acquaintance with one of the suspects to whom he owed money.
His car was used to kidnap the child and then set on fire. The abduction took place at the entrance to the block of flats, and police have plenty of security camera footage to track what happened. Mobile phones, computers and cars were seized, many interrogations and searches were carried out.