Young woman killed in downtown Rijeka; police detain possible suspect

A young woman was murdered in downtown Rijeka on Thursday morning, and police say a man has been taken into custody in connection with the case.

The victim was discovered gravely injured but still alive around 8 a.m. in the stairwell of a building on Korzo, the city’s main pedestrian boulevard. She was found by a Nepalese worker, who then alerted others nearby. Despite emergency intervention, the woman died later in hospital.

“The police asked for my security footage and whether we heard anything. We didn’t,” said café owner Ludvig Curi. “On the footage we saw two people going inside. Later we heard a man had stabbed a woman. My employee was sitting across the street when a Nepalese worker ran to her for help. They came inside and saw the young woman on the floor, bleeding.”

Another local worker, Karlo Polić, said he arrived at his job to find emergency crews already on the scene. “Then I saw the mother, screaming. That’s all I know,” he said. “It’s terrible seeing something like this happen to young people… frightful.”

Police later located the man they say is of interest to the investigation. He was found injured in an apartment, and authorities say his wounds appear to be self-inflicted.

“A murder occurred today. The victim was a younger woman. There was also an attempted suicide,” said Darko Karlović, the deputy county state attorney. “The initial investigation is complete. Now, the chronology of the events is being pieced together. An autopsy has been ordered, and investigators are searching for a motive.”

Several media outlets report that both the victim and the detained man were in their twenties.