Four detained over the killings in Hrom and Gjorche Petrov: the targets were elderly people living alone

Two killings in five days, in two neighbourhoods in western Skopje, and an almost identical method. On October 22, a 62-year-old man was found in his home in Hrom with signs of violence. On the morning of October 27, in a house on Gjurchin Kokale Street in Gjorche Petrov, a daughter found her 76-year-old mother lifeless, with visible injuries.

On October 27 police detained four people: A.S. (22), H.E. (20) and K.A. (58) from Skopje, and M.R. (26) from Strumica. They are suspected of two counts of "robbery" resulting in death, under Article 237, paragraph 5 of the Criminal Code. On the orders of the Skopje Basic Public Prosecutor's Office, short-term detention has been requested for them, and criminal charges are due once the evidence is complete.

The unofficial information from the investigation is even harder to read. The targets were elderly people who lived alone. The victims were tied up and physically abused, and money and gold jewellery were taken from their homes. According to those sources, two of the detained took part in the first killing, three in the second, and the 26-year-old from Strumica was the group's driver. DNA traces found at the crime scenes are also mentioned, and unofficially the suspects have already confessed to police.

It's worth pausing here. A confession at a police station, relayed through unofficial channels, is not a verdict. The prosecution itself says the case is at the evidence-gathering stage and that no order to open an investigation has been issued yet. Autopsy results are also pending.

But one thing is clear without any court ruling. The woman from Gjorche Petrov, according to neighbours, had lived alone for three years and was last seen shortly before she was found. Nobody noticed anything unusual the night before. How many houses like that are there in every Skopje neighbourhood, with an elderly person behind a locked door and nobody knocking every day?

The open question for investigators is whether the 62-year-old man and the 76-year-old woman are the group's only victims or whether it is also behind other crimes. Until then, residents of both neighbourhoods, shaken by the two tragedies, are waiting for an answer the institutions don't have yet.