Life sentence for Trajche Bojkovski, serial killer from Staro Nagorichane
Court convicts 25-year-old from Staro Nagorichane for four murders and two attempted murders of mostly elderly women.
The Basic Court in Kumanovo sentenced 25-year-old Trajche Bojkovski from Staro Nagorichane to life imprisonment for four murders and two attempted murders of women, the court announced after the first-instance procedure concluded.
Bojkovski was convicted for the killings of Stanche Karovska, Janka Antevska, Marija Marinkovska and Mira Stankovska. The court found that the offences took place between January 2025 and February 2026 and that the victims were mostly elderly and vulnerable women living alone.
Chronology and attempts
The first killing occurred in the night between 5 and 6 January 2025 in the village of Klechovce, and a second killing took place between 5 and 7 June 2025 in the village of Dragomace. The indictment also covers a killing in Staro Nagorichane in January 2026 and the death of an older woman in Chelopek in February 2026.
The case also includes two attempted murders in the village of Chelopek. The first attempt on 22 July 2025 ended when the victim managed to call for help and the attacker fled. The second attempted killing, the prosecution says, occurred on 9 February 2026, when Bojkovski abandoned his intent and left the scene.
Bojkovski was arrested on 13 February 2026 as a suspect in the killing of a 78-year-old resident of Chelopek. The Basic Public Prosecutor's Office in Kumanovo opened an investigation and said it was working with the Ministry of Interior and the Institute of Forensic Medicine to link this case to several similar incidents.
At a hearing on 28 September Bojkovski admitted to three of the four killings. Forensic psychiatrist Prof. Dr. Stojan Bajraktarov testified that no mental illness was identified in the accused, that his intellectual capacities were assessed on the border between mild mental retardation and normal capacities, and that, according to the expert opinion, he was sane while committing the acts. The prosecution had requested life imprisonment.
Photo: press material from the event
