Macedônio was caught because of his own articles and arrested in 2008. But he was never tried.
For years, Vlado Taneski was seen as a respected journalist in the small town of Kičevo, Macedonia. He wrote about local affairs, education and municipal issues for the newspapers Nova Makedonija and Utrinski Vesnik and nothing in anyone’s sight suggested that he would be identified by the authorities as the author of a series of brutal homicides — which he covered himself.
Between 2005 and 2008, at least three women were raped, murdered and abandoned in similar circumstances in the Kičevo region. The victims were older women, all local residents. Taneski took over covering the shocking cases early on.
The first known case dates back to the disappearance of Simjanoska Partners64, at the end of 2004. The body was found in January 2005, wrapped in plastic bags. The investigation concluded that she had been tortured, raped and strangled. Taneski began following the case in the local press.
In the following years, two more women disappeared: Ljubica Licoska56 years old, last seen in November 2007 and found dead in February 2008, and Zivana Temelkoska65, disappeared in May 2008 and found about a week later. Like the first victim, both had been raped and murdered, before their bodies were wrapped in plastic and abandoned near Kičevo.
In all these cases, recalls , Taneski was one of the journalists who reported the developments of the investigation. And that’s how, in a way, he got caught.
Investigators noted that Taneski’s articles contained details that had not been made public and that only the perpetrator or an eyewitness could know. Furthermore, the journalist proposed texts about the homicides with a strange speed, to say the least, shortly after new clues emerged.
As the police deepened their investigation into these deaths and also into the disappearance of another 78-year-old woman in 2003, the articles signed by Taneski began to be seen from another perspective: the journalist was now under suspicion.
In 2008, police concluded that Taneski’s DNA matched the semen found on the victims. In a search of his home, objects belonging to murdered women and telephone wires similar to those that would have been used to strangle them were seized.
Vlado Taneski was arrested on June 22, 2008. Authorities said they had enough evidence to formally charge him with two of the murders and were preparing to pursue charges in a third case. They also intended to question him about the woman who disappeared in 2003.
But the case never came to trial. Shortly after being arrested, Taneski committed suicide in his cell: he drowned in a bucket of water, according to the investigation. He never confessed to the crimes, but the police assured that the journalist was indeed responsible for the deaths.
The journalist was described by friends and family as a calm, polite man. His ex-wife stated that they had had an “ideal marriage” and said that he was usually “quiet” and “kind”, although she recognized the deep resentment he had towards his mother.
And it was this resentment that motivated the crimes. Taneski’s mother worked as a cleaner, like the victims. According to the police, they all knew the journalist’s mother. Without a confession and with the death of the suspect, the exact motive was never clarified.
