What happened to two-year-old Danka Ilić from Bor? There have been no answers for over a year.
The case that shook Serbia and the region in March 2024 has not yet reached an epilogue, although it seemed to have been solved after a ten-day search.
The highest officials of Serbia, including Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, they said that "the girl was murdered".
Two workers from the Bor Waterworks have been charged with the murder of a girl whose body has not yet been found.
The indictment was preceded by the death of one of the suspects' brother in custody, the withdrawal of his confession, and ultimately the reinstatement of the indictment.
The Higher Court in Zaječar twice confirmed the indictment against Dejan Dragijević and Srđan Janković, but the Court of Appeal in Niš annulled the confirmation decision both times.
The last decision, published at the end of March, the Court of Appeals also requested a supplement to the investigation and indictment.
The latest ruling by the Court of Appeal in Niš "shows that there is not enough evidence for reasonable suspicion" that the defendants killed the girl, Radovan Lazić, a member of the Presidency of the Serbian Prosecutors' Association, told BBC Serbian.
According to the indictment, which the BBC has had access to, waterworks worker Srđan Janković hit Danka Ilić with his official vehicle in the Bor settlement of Banjsko Polje.
His colleague Dejan Dragijević, who was the passenger, got out of the car, picked the child up from the ground and threw her into the trunk, where he drowned her.
They then left the body in a landfill, the indictment states.
- Two men charged with murder of girl Danka Ilić from Bor
- Disappearance of children: What happens in Serbia when a parent reports the case
- The first sentence of life imprisonment in Serbia was pronounced - for the kidnapping and abuse of a girl
Danka Ilić disappeared in the Banjsko Polje settlement from the family estate where her mother brought her, along with her three-year-old brother.
According to the mother, the children were playing, and Danka disappeared the moment she turned to give her son water.
A few hours after the disappearance was reported, the emergency public notification system was activated for the first time in Serbia. Find me, modeled after Amber alert.
On the website nestalisrbija.rs/pronadji-me, in the section 'MISSING PERSONS' there is no name or photo of Danka Ilić.
Is it possible to be charged with murder without a body?
To file an indictment for murder, reasonable suspicion is required, or "a set of facts and circumstances that directly indicate that a certain person committed a criminal offense," says Radovan Lazić.
The Court of Appeals wrote in its ruling that "there are no eyewitnesses to the event, nor any material evidence" that the murder took place and how it was committed.
"There is no evidence of vehicle contact with the child's body, no biological traces... inside the trunk."
"The child's body has not been found, or at this time there is no evidence" that she is dead, the decision of the Court of Appeal in Niš states.
Lawyer Milosavljević says that even when someone confesses to murder, that statement must be verified, or "must be proven."
"There's none of that this time."
"All I saw were directions in which the investigation should have gone, but those directions did not yield the expected result," he says.
The indictment also claims that one of the defendants, Dejan Dragijević, moved the body from the landfill with his brother Dalibor, who was sentenced to 48 hours of detention for helping to cover up the murder, during which he died.
Dejan Dragijević's father, Radoslav, was also in custody, charged with failing to report the crime and aiding the perpetrator after the crime was committed.
After his sons were arrested, Radoslav Dragijević moved the girl's body to an "unknown location," the indictment states.
What does the indictment say?
The indictment states that it has been "undoubtedly" proven that the official vehicle in which the defendants were travelling was the only one "at the critical time" at the place where Danka Ilić was last seen.
It is "undisputed" that they came and stayed near the landfill on Starobanjski put, the indictment claims.
The indictment cites statements from several witnesses who confirm that they saw a girl who looked like Danka Ilić on the street, although they could not say with certainty at what time.
Evidence was also obtained based on footage from cameras installed on surrounding houses and GPS (electronic tracking device) analysis of vehicle movements.
According to these recordings, a person of "typical" height for a "child's age" was walking along Vojvode Radomir Putnika Street in Banjsko Polje, where, according to the indictment, Danka Ilić was hit by a car.
A vehicle carrying Waterworks workers was moving along the same street, according to camera footage.
The indictment states that the car hit the girl, after which it stopped for a period of 90 seconds, between 13:52 and 13:53 p.m.
Then "the defendants agreed to remove the child's body, to kill her if she was alive, and to hide the body."
There are videos showing two workers washing the outside of the vehicle three days after the girl's disappearance, the indictment also states.
Danka Ilić's mother, Ivana, said in September 2024 that "the prosecution and the police did their job properly" and that "they did not file an indictment without evidence." reported by the Belgrade daily Blic.
Why did the Court of Appeal return the indictment for a new decision?
The Court of Appeals requested that a changed panel of the Higher Court in Zaječar rule on the indictment.
The new panel is required to conduct an investigation by reconstructing the event "under identical meteorological conditions, time of day and with identical mutual positions of objects and vehicles" and to re-examine Danke Ilić's mother as a witness.
The new panel should "set out clear, sufficient and proper reasons for the existence of reasonable doubt," it says.
"When confirming the indictment, the first instance court also engaged in an assessment of the evidence, which it should not have done, but rather should have cited evidence that supports reasonable suspicion," prosecutor Lazić explains the decision of the Court of Appeal.
The Higher Court in Zaječar did not respond to the BBC's questions in Serbian.
- 'Our children didn't disappear, they were taken from us and given up for adoption'
- Balkans in shock: More than 30 children kept in house in Brčko, investigation into human trafficking
- Kosovo: Stories of parents who lost children during the conflict
Many twists and turns in a year
- From confession to withdrawal of guilt
That Danka Ilić was murdered, learned from Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić at a government session he attended on April 4th last year.
He then said that the police had arrested two people who killed Danka Ilić.
The two arrested Waterworks workers confessed to the crime and described in detail how they committed it, Bratislav Gasic said, the then Minister of Internal Affairs.
The indictment, which the Court of Appeals returned for amendment, quoted the defendants' words given during their first interrogations before the police and the prosecutor's office, in which they admitted to the crime.
The defendants retracted their confession a few weeks later, saying that they were indeed in Vojvode Radomir Putnika Street that day, but that they did not see Danka.
They also confirmed that they stopped at the landfill, but not to dump the body, but rather so that one of them could make a phone call.
They confessed to the murder because they had been beaten beforehand, they claimed before the prosecutor, the indictment states.
"The defendants have injuries, we have evidence about them, there is medical documentation," lawyer Milinko Jovanović tells BBC Serbian.
He represents Radoslav Dragijević.
- Death in the police
Dalibor Dragijević, brother of the accused Dejan, died at the Bor Police Department after being detained on suspicion of assisting in the murder.
He "fell ill in the early morning hours and despite the timely response of police officers and doctors from the Bor Health Center who attempted resuscitation, he died at 3:10 a.m., and the coroner's office determined that he died of natural causes," the Ministry of Interior announced.
The Radar weekly, however, he announced details of the autopsy report, citing "numerous injuries to Dragijević's body."
"Death was violent and occurred due to respiratory and circulatory disorders due to multiple soft tissue contusions and bone fractures," the autopsy report states.
This case is being handled by the Higher Public Prosecutor's Office in Niš, which did not respond to the BBC's questions in Serbian.
Uncertain continuation of the proceedings
"We currently have no evidence of Danka Ilić's death."
"That evidence doesn't have to be her body, but there must be material evidence, biological traces that confirm that the child is not alive," says lawyer Milinko Jovanović.
He adds that the decision of the Court of Appeal in Niš "also implies that the criminal proceedings" against his client should be suspended.
"The law exempts close blood relatives if they do not report or if they assist after the crime has been committed."
"Even if he did it, he can't be held accountable for it," he says.
After such a decision by the Court of Appeal in Niš, it would be expected that the investigation would be supplemented, explains Radovan Lazić.
"This process has been contaminated from the beginning, when top state officials began to provide details about it."
"The public didn't hear the prosecutor," says Lazić.
- Missing babies and their parents: "Our children are priceless"
- "I saw a child once in three months": Why are children taken from Ukrainians in Western Europe
- "The FBI Claimed I Was a Kidnapped Baby - But I Discovered the Real Truth"
BBC is in Serbian from now on and on YouTube, follow us HERE.
Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube i Viber. If you have a topic suggestion for us, please contact bbcnasrpskom@bbc.co.uk
Bonus video:
