VIDEO: Wife Helps Police Arrest Killer

A day before his arrest, police surrounded Karlovic’s hideout, but it was decided that the anti-terrorist unit arrest him the next morning.

ZAGREB, CROATIA – It was not easy for the Croatian police to locate a fugitive with long-term military experience from the toughest war zones in Croatia. Taking into consideration the fact that the 38-year-old Vilim Karlovic has been training martial arts ever since he was a young boy, it is very clear what type of fugitive he was. 

Karlovic shot dead his best man Adriano Cupic in a parking lot in Zagreb on October 29. Cupic’s lifeless body was found a day later in a white Land Rover. Witnesses told reporters that they had seen the parked vehicle early in the morning as they were going to work, which backs the story that Cupic was killed the pervious day.

He did not use his mobile phone the first few weeks 

After he pulled the trigger, Karlovic fled the scene. After his arrest, the police said Karlovic had been hiding at several locations in Zagreb, Split and Rijeka. The investigators who were working on the Cupic case collected information the same day of his murder that Karlovic was in some way connected with the murder, but at the time they did not have sufficient evidence to make him a suspect. During the first two weeks of the investigation, Karlovic’s wife refused to reveal to the police where her husband was hiding, explaining that her husband was on a business trip. Karlovic’s parents told the police the same story, claiming that he would often take business trips that would last for months.

Sources close to the investigation told us that it had been difficult to track Karlovic during the first three weeks because he did not use his mobile phone, nor had he contacted his wife, family or friends.

Wife helped police locate Karlovic 

After hiding across the country for 20 days, Karlovic most probably got lonely and his being isolated and tired made him careless, which led to his being arrested.

Several days before he was arrested, Karlovic came back to Zagreb and contacted his friend Zeljko Delic, asking for his help. Karlovic knew Delic owned a house that was under construction in which he could hide. After he made the arrangements, he contacted his parents and decided to visit them three days before his apprehension. His contact with his wife was the turning point in the search for him. Police were wiretapping all telephones they thourhg Karlovic could call or use. They also wiretapped his parents’ and wife’s phones. Investigators spoke to Karlovic’s wife after collecting evidence of their conversation and she helped them locate the fugitive.

Operation aborted a day before the arrest 

Police thus found out where Karlovic was hiding out and began planning the arrest operation. On Thursday, November 27, at around 7pm, police surrounded the area where Karlovic was hiding. Our source revealed that the option of police entering the house and arresting Karlovic was considered for quite a while, but due to unfavourable conditions, that is, the fact that night had fallen, and the fact that the fugitive was qualified as extremely dangerous, the order came in for the police, who did not even have bullet-proof vests, to retreat. They were to monitor the house until the morning when members of the Lucko anti-terrorist unit would conduct the operation. The next morning, at around 10am, the special police began narrowing the circle around the house in which Karlovic was hiding. At 2pm, the neighbours reported hearing an explosion, which was a shock bomb the special police threw inside the house before they entered. Karlovic did not resist and his arrest was carried out rather smoothly.

Once at the police station and accompanies by his solicitor, Karlovic admitted to having killed Cupic and described the crime in detail.

Karlovic killed because of threats 

Karlovic told investigators that he had killed his best man because he had threatened Karlovic and his family. Allegedly Cupic had lent Karlovic 200,000 euros for the construction of an apartment in Privlaka. According to karlovic, he returned the money to Cupic, including interest. Allegedly he gave him back as much as 300,000 euros and he also signed over an apartment to his name.

From what Karlovic told investigators, he apparently killed Cupic because of threats and not the debt. Karlovic’s statement was used to draft the indictment. It is probable that Karlovic helped draw up the indictment against himself because the question is how much evidence the police managed to collect against him. The gun with which Cupic was killed has never been found, there are no witnesses to the murder and any possible fingerprints police may have found would not have been worth much because Karlovic and Cupic spent a lot of time together.

See the video: Vilim Karlovic with Investigative Judge