Miroslav Miksic (88) is accused of killing his wife in North Port, after police said he staged her death to look like a suicide.
North Port Police reported that on Sunday, January 26, at around 3 a.m., officers were called to the 2700 block of Haladay Street in North Port.
The 911 call was made by a friend of Miroslav Maksic, who said that Miroslav called her and said that his wife had shot herself and died.
The police report states that through the window they saw the body of Miljka Maksic (76) lying on her back in a pool of blood. Officers found a 357 Magnum revolver in her left hand. They stated that Miroslav was not at home at the time.
When detectives arrived, the report states that they found a towel over Miljka’s head, as if someone had tried to wipe away blood. Investigators spoke with Miroslav and the report states that he seemed confused and changed his statement several times.
The person who called the police told detectives that she and her husband had been close friends with the Maksics since the 1980s. She told police that Miljka had never had any suicidal thoughts and that they had had dinner together on the night of the murder.
Miroslav spoke with detectives with the help of a Serbian translator, but the police redacted that part of the report, citing that the investigation is still ongoing.
The day after Miljka’s body was found, the medical examiner performed an autopsy. It was determined that she had two gunshot wounds: one on her cheek and the other on the back of her head, which was fatal.
The investigator noted that the fatal bullet was found in Miljka’s hand – the same hand in which the gun was found. The medical examiner concluded that this was “inconsistent with the trajectory of the fatal projectile.”
It was determined that she could not have killed herself and the death was ruled a homicide.
“Several things didn’t make sense,” said Josh Taylor, chief of staff and public information officer for the North Port Police Department. “As the investigation progressed, it ultimately led to the arrest of the husband in this case.”
After further questioning, North Port Police arrested Miroslav for murder. He was transferred to the Sarasota County Jail without bond on Monday evening.
Mike Haig, Miroslav’s next-door neighbor, told Fox 4 that he was known as a kind man.
“He was very talkative, everything seemed fine, he was a really nice man,” Haig said.
He added that he would never have expected Miroslav to be charged with murder.
“We were in shock because we would never have thought that an elderly man, 88 years old, would throw it all away and kill his wife,” Haig said.
According to the North Port Police Department, this is the first homicide the department has investigated since September 2023.
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Source: Fox4, Photo: North Port Police Department