As of: February 28, 2024, 8:05 p.m
By: Julia Hanigk
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Press
Split
A real estate fraud leads investigators to the trail of a suspected murder.
The victim: businessman Tony Gerard, who has been missing for two years.
Dubrovnik/Zagreb – The wealthy businessman Tony Gerard, who was known in Dubrovnik as “Tonko Zec”, has disappeared without a trace for almost two years.
The 58-year-old Croatian ran a bar and owned several properties.
Now the evidence is mounting: He appears to have been the victim not only of a real estate fraud, but also of murder.
His father disappeared in 2022 – “told me that he was wounded”
His son had to wait two years for news of his father's fate.
On February 22, 2022, he informed the Croatian police about his father's disappearance.
The last contact with him suggested evil, but the son hoped until the end to find his father alive again.
He told the Croatian newspaper
Jutarnji List
: “A few days before the disappearance at the end of February 2022, my father called me on the phone.
He spoke very slowly.
He told me he was wounded and had been in a serious accident, but no details or what type of accident it was.”
Police missing person report from Tony Gerard.
© Nestali.hr
He added: “At the same time he also sent me a photo, black and white, showing a cut finger, supposedly his.
Since the index finger on it is as deformed as the hand, I couldn't confirm with certainty from the photo that it came from him.
After that he stopped contacting me." In search of his father, he called all the hospitals in Zagreb and even had his father's apartment opened.
But Tony Gerard was nowhere to be found.
First real estate fraud, then murder?
Investigators were led to a crucial lead through a close examination of Gerard's real estate transactions.
They came across forged documents.
The two suspects, Werner T. and Marina S., who were known to the police, used these forged documents to sell Gerard's business premises in Dubrovnik for 400,000 euros.
Symbolic photo: In Croatia, a murder suspect was caught digging - a short time later the police discovered body parts there.
© Oleg Kopyov/IMAGO
Police spot suspect digging with a shovel - and then find body parts
The police then targeted the two and monitored their activities in strict secrecy.
However, Werner T. made a crucial mistake.
According to Jutarnji List, investigators observed him digging with a shovel on a grassy area near the popular Hoto villas in Sveta Nedelja (Zagreb County), near the lakes.
The police then discovered a skull and a femur bone 60 centimeters below the surface, which are now being further examined.
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Werner T. and Marina S. were arrested on suspicion of serious murder and criminal investigations were initiated.
Investigations into the origins of the money and the background to the body are ongoing.
(jh)
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