At today’s press conference, the police presented the findings of their investigation and the circumstances surrounding the murder of a 76-year-old man in Laško, which took place in July this year. Two Croatian nationals are suspected of the murder; they were arrested at the border between Germany and the Netherlands on the basis of a European arrest warrant.
The investigation was described by Damjan Miklič, Head of the Homicide and Sexual Offences Section at the Criminal Police Directorate of the General Police Directorate, and Aleš Slapnik, Head of the Criminal Police Division at the Celje Police Directorate.
On Saturday, 25 July 2026, a woman reported to the police that her 76-year-old husband was not answering the phone. Police officers subsequently found him dead in his home, and the circumstances suggested a violent death. The post-mortem examination revealed that he had died a few days before he was reported missing.
Following an investigation of the crime scene, a review of CCTV footage and the gathering of information, it was established that a 31-year-old Croatian man and a 29-year-old Croatian woman had been watching the house on 19 July and had entered it, but had been driven away by the victim. The following evening, they returned, broke into the house, beat the man, tied him up and demanded money or valuables from him.
According to the police, they then murdered him in a particularly brutal manner and fled Slovenia.
On 17 August 2026, the police filed a criminal complaint against both of them on suspicion of murder. On 8 September, the Celje District Court issued an international arrest warrant and a European arrest warrant. The suspects were subsequently arrested in Germany near the border with the Netherlands, and proceedings are currently underway for them to be handed over to Slovenia. The police said that the 31-year-old suspect had previously been charged with and convicted of various criminal offences, including violent burglaries, whilst the female suspect had previously been investigated for property offences.
Around 20 criminal police officers from various units took part in the investigation, with assistance also provided by forensic experts from the National Forensic Laboratory and other institutions and companies. The investigators reviewed dozens of hours of CCTV footage, conducted numerous interviews and gathered sufficient evidence to focus their attention on the suspects. When presenting the case, the police also emphasised that, in terms of the number of murders, Slovenia is among the safer countries in Europe and that the majority of such crimes are solved.