Another woman killed in her own home, another man on the run, another police force begging citizens not to approach him. This time the setting is Slovenian, but the story is painfully familiar to the whole region.

Slovenian police are searching for a 39-year-old citizen of Bosnia and Herzegovina, suspected of stabbing his 36-year-old partner to death overnight in Vuhred, a settlement near the Austrian border. According to the police administration in Celje, the man attacked the woman with a knife, and she died at the scene from severe injuries. The report came in just before one o'clock after midnight.

After the attack, the suspect fled on foot. Police describe him as roughly two metres tall; when he left the scene he was wearing jeans, a short-sleeved black shirt, and black shoes.

The search involves multiple police units, criminal investigators, and dog handlers. The terrain is being combed with drones, and a mounted officer on horseback and a helicopter unit have also been announced. Police warn that the suspect is „dangerous and unpredictable” and appeal to citizens not to approach him - anyone who spots him should move to safety and call 113 immediately.

The number nobody wants to say out loud is the one for women who die at the hands of their partners - from Ljubljana to Skopje, the same pattern repeats with terrifying regularity. The question hanging over every case like this isn't only where the fugitive is, but how many signals went unnoticed before someone reached for the knife. Who was listening, and who stayed silent?