Karaburma: Body Found With Hands Bound, Safe Empty
Radivoje G., 73, was found dead in an attic in Belgrade's Karaburma district, hands bound with shoelaces, the room's safe open and empty. Police are looking for a younger woman seen with him.
An ambulance crew confirmed the death of a 73 year old man on Monday morning, around 7:40 AM, in an attic apartment on Salvador Allende Street in Belgrade’s Karaburma neighborhood, not far from the bus turnaround. Early reports mentioned only a body found at the scene. By the afternoon the case had taken on a different weight: hands bound with shoelaces, a safe found open and empty, and a search underway for a woman who had been seen with the deceased.
In brief:
- the body was found in an attic above a bakery and a fruit shop
- his hands were bound behind his back with shoelaces
- the room’s safe was found open and empty
- the body was taken for autopsy on the duty prosecutor’s order
What Was Found at the Scene
The victim is Radivoje G., 73, born in 1953. For years he ran a fruit shop on the same street and lived in the attic of the same building. Neighbors say he lived alone.
According to unofficial information from the investigation, the body was found on a mattress, completely naked, hands tightly bound behind his back with shoelaces. Police found a safe in the same room. It was open and empty.
The crime scene investigation was carried out by criminal police and the duty prosecutor from the Belgrade Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office. Plainclothes inspectors gathered evidence inside the building itself. Part of the street was blocked off for hours, with traffic restored only once the investigation was finished. The body was taken to the Institute of Forensic Medicine on the duty prosecutor’s order.
The Interior Ministry (MUP) had not issued a statement on the case by the time this article was published. Everything known about Radivoje G.’s death comes from unofficial sources close to the investigation, so no detail has yet been confirmed officially.
The Safe, a Sold Apartment and 180,000 Euros
According to unofficial investigative information, Radivoje G. had recently sold an apartment for 180,000 euros. There is no money in the safe. Together, those two facts are steering the preliminary proceedings toward financial gain as a possible motive.
Financial gain here is not just a description of motive, it is a legal category that changes the entire case. If it is proven that the man was killed for money, the act is classified as aggravated murder under Article 114 of the Criminal Code, which carries a minimum sentence of ten years in prison or life imprisonment. For theft and robbery, the sentencing range is far lower. That is why the autopsy findings in this case will settle not only the cause of death, but also the legal classification.
Who Is Police Looking For?
Belgrade investigators are looking for a younger woman who had recently been seen with Radivoje G. According to initial information from the investigation, she is suspected of having been in the apartment shortly before or at the time of his death. Camera footage, according to unofficial reports, recorded a woman heading up to the attic.
Criminal police are also checking the possibility that she let someone else into the attic and gave them access to the safe. There is no official information on her status in the proceedings, and no name has been released. Unless the Prosecutor’s Office decides otherwise, she is a person police are seeking for questioning, not a suspect.
The Scenario the Autopsy Must Rule Out
Investigators are also working with the possibility that the death was not violent. According to unofficial information, there are no visible signs of violence on the body, so investigators are also examining whether Radivoje G. died of a heart attack. If the autopsy shows no fatal injuries, the classification could shift from aggravated murder to theft, robbery and failure to render aid.
Forensic findings in cases like this take days to come back, and toxicology results take even longer. Until then, every claim about the cause of death, including murder, remains an assumption.
How the Neighborhood Remembers Him
In the neighborhood, they called him Rasa. A neighbor from the street said he was “an extremely hard working man, he had two shops.” The same neighbor also said, simply: “We all loved him.”
Neighbors describe him as a man who worked without a break and who practically never went on vacation. None of them could say who the woman was that the cameras recorded entering the attic.
The next step in the case is the findings from the Institute of Forensic Medicine. Those findings will determine the legal classification of the act and the direction in which the Belgrade Higher Public Prosecutor’s Office takes the investigation from here.
