88-year-old man allegedly killed his wife and staged it as a suicide
01/29/2025 2:32 pm PST
NORTH PORT, Fla. (TCN) -- An 88-year-old man was taken into custody for reportedly killing his 76-year-old wife and claiming she died by suicide.
On Jan. 26, at approximately 3 a.m., North Port Police Department officers received a call about a deceased individual with a "self-inflicted death" on the 2700 block of Halladay Drive. The medical examiner, however, determined that Milijka Maksic’s death "was not the result of a self-inflicted injury, and elements of the scene had been staged by the suspect."
According to a probable cause affidavit, the victim’s husband, Miroslav Maksic, called a friend and said his wife fatally shot herself. The friend contacted North Port Police, who went to Maksic’s house. Responding officers entered the home and found Mijika Maksic on the ground in a pool of blood with a revolver in her left hand. Police swept the home to check for additional victims, but no one else was there. Miroslav Maksic reportedly showed up while police were already inside.
He allegedly first told police that someone killed his wife, then later said she shot herself.
A homicide detective responded to the home and noticed blood under the right side of Mijika Maksic’s body and under her head, as well as a blood-soaked towel near her head that "appeared to have been used to wipe up the blood surrounding the decedent."
The detective described Maksic as being "in a state of confusion." He allegedly said he woke up at 3 a.m. and drove to a store, but he did not notice his wife deceased on the ground. When he came home, he found her on the floor. He allegedly claimed he did not use the towel to wipe up the floor, but rather his wife did. The detective "could not get any accurate details" from Maksic, including what his wife's dominant hand was.
The detective spoke with the friend who called police, and she said Maksic contacted her at 2:29 a.m. but she missed the call. He rang her again at 2:48 a.m., and when she answered, he said his wife was dead. She said she and her husband had been close friends with Mijika and Miroslav Maksic since the 1980s, and Mijika Maksic "never had any suicidal ideations." The friend also confirmed Mijika Maksic was right-handed.
The autopsy showed Mijika Maksic was shot twice, with the first bullet going through her left cheek and exiting through her right shoulder. The second and fatal shot was found in the back of her head. The affidavit said it was "worth noting the firearm was discovered in the decedent’s left hand, which is inconsistent with the path of the fatal projectile."
Additionally, the detective noted, "Based on the location of the fatal gunshot wound (back of the decedent’s head), and the decedent’s large frame restricting her mobility, it was determined that the decedent could not have positioned herself to fire this fatal gunshot."
Maksic reportedly changed his story several times while speaking with investigators. The detective asked Maksic "if he shot her in the back of her head to end her suffering," and he admitted that he did. He claimed his wife shot herself in the side of the head, though he "did not know why his wife would want to kill herself, but he did it to end her misery."
Maksic was arrested on a charge of murder and booked into the Sarasota County Jail without bond.
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