Missing toddler in Serbia was killed, two suspects held

AFP | Belgrade

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

A two-year-old girl who disappeared in eastern Serbia last week was killed after being struck by a car and two suspects have been arrested, authorities said Thursday, following a frantic search for the missing toddler.

Danka Ilic went missing on March 26 in the eastern city of Bor, prompting Serbian authorities to use for the first time its version of an Amber alert system for child abduction emergencies.

The system sends nationwide text messages about the incident to raise the alarm.

"The police have arrested two individuals who have killed the little girl. As far as I understand, both of them have confessed to the crime," President Aleksandar Vucic told government officials in a surprise announcement during a special session.

"What kind of monsters are we dealing with?" he added.

Serbia's interior ministry later confirmed the president's account.

In a press conference on Thursday afternoon, representatives from the ministry said Ilic died after being hit by a car just minutes after walking away from the outside of the family's home, while her mother was inside.

The driver of the car and the passenger later disposed of Ilic's body in a local landfill.

"Both suspects admitted to the crime and provided a detailed description of how they committed it," Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic told reporters.

"The police continue intensive work on this case and are searching the area to find the body," Gasic added, saying it was possible that one of the suspects might have moved the child's body days after the crash to another location.

Hopes rose over the weekend after a video surfaced of a young child at a metro station in Vienna that sparked speculation Ilic might be in Austria, where a large Serbian diaspora community lives.

On Sunday, Interpol also flagged the case, issuing a Yellow Notice that alerts officials about a missing person.

The child's mother, Ivana Ilic, had told Serbian media this week that the family continued to "hold on" amid the search.

"We are waiting for all this to end, hoping for the best," she told the local Serbian news outlet Nova.

Abductions of children remain relatively rare in Serbia, despite social media users pumping out conspiracy theories about the selling and trafficking of adolescents in the Balkan nation.