Vlado Taneski

Vlado Taneski (Macedonian: Владо Танески; 1952 – June 23, 2008) was a Macedonian crime reporter and serial killer.^[1] A career journalist for over 20 years, Taneski was arrested in June 2008 in his hometown of Kičevo in western Macedonia for the murder of two women on whose death he had also written articles; when arrested he was also being investigated over the death of an additional woman. These articles on the murders had aroused the suspicion of the police, since they contained information which had not been released to the public. After DNA tests connected Taneski to the murders, he was arrested and imprisoned on 22 June 2008 and was found dead in his cell the following day, after an apparent suicide.

Personal life

Vlado Taneski's journalistic career spanned over 20 years,^[2] and at the time of the murders he worked as a reporter for Skopje-based newspapers Nova Makedonija and Utrinski Vesnik.^[3] Taneski was separated from his wife with whom he had two children, and had a tense relationship with his late mother. His father had committed suicide in 1990.^[4]

Murders and suicide

Taneski came under suspicion for murder after having written articles about the murders of three women in Kičevo, Republic of Macedonia. The victims were Mitra Simjanoska, 64, found dead in 2005; Ljubica Licoska, 56, murdered in February 2007; and Zivana Temelkoska, 65, murdered in May 2008. Police were also planning to question Taneski on the 2003 disappearance of the 78-year-old Gorica Pavleska. All these women were poor, uneducated cleaners, which was also how Taneski's mother earned a living. The victims had known Taneski's mother personally.^[4]

According to police, the articles contained information which was not released to the public. Differing from all other reports published in the Macedonian press on the murders, Taneski knew, for example, that the killer used telephone cord to bind the victim.

Taneski was arrested on June 22, 2008 after his DNA was matched to the semen found on the victims. He was charged with the murder of two of the women and the police were preparing to charge him with the murder of the third. The next day, Taneski was found dead in his prison cell in Tetovo. He had drowned in a bucket of water; police said that his death was apparently suicide.^[2][4]

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