Every Town - KILLER Reporter: The Shocking Tale Of A Journalist Turned Murderer

Episode Date: December 6, 2024

Vlado Taneski was a diligent reporter who had gained notoriety for his investigative talents in the world of true crime. Because for the past few years, the police in the area had been tracking a serial killer, an illusive predator who had taken the lives of several women in violent fashion. And Vlado seemed to have an uncanny knack for covering these cases….bringing to light information that almost no one had any information about. 👀 Watch This Episode On Youtube: https://youtu.be/QMT5lEy-XoU 👁 Our Movie ‘AN ANGRY BOY’ is Available NOW Free & On Demand: ALL Links and more info https://www.anangryboy.com 🎧 Our Other Podcast Scary Mysteries: https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZooEZMoZ421WdsOVJhVkT 💀 Exclusive Videos, Podcasts & Perks: https://www.patreon.com/scarymysteries  👁 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/andrew.fitzg 👁 TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@andrewfitzgerald 👁 Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scarymysteriesofficial 🗣 Business Inquiries, questions and comments hit us up at [e-mail] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you love true crime, grab your favorite mug and pour yourself a dose of creepy true crime every single morning with a morning cup of murder. This short daily show is the perfect podcast to incorporate into your morning routine because in less than 15 minutes, you'll hear about a true crime that took place on a day's date in history. Each day's dark history lesson will kickstart your morning with intriguing tales of murder, abduction, serial killers, cults, and everything in between.

With over 20 million downloads, Morning Cup of Murder has something for every true crime lover. One listener describes the show as a small package with a powerful punch of crime. Another writes that the show is an absolute delight in the morning. Support yourself a piping hot cup of murder every single morning with Morning Cup of Murder. Find it on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. Every town has a dark side. In mid-2008, Vladot Teneschi, a 56-year-old divorced journalist and father of two, was one of the most prominent and well-known figures in Kisobo, a small town in North Macedonia. Taneski was a diligent reporter who had gained some notoriety for his investigative talent in the world of true crime.

Because, for the past few years, the police in the area had been tracking a serial killer, an elusive predator who had taken the lives of several women in violent fashion. And Vlado seemed to have an uncanny knack for covering these cases, bringing the light of information that almost nobody knew about. And so, how could that be? Hey, guys, it's Andrew. Thanks for tuning into this episode of Everytown We're today. We're going to check out the story of a man who turned into a monster. This one is a crazy tale. The question is, did he do this out of a compulsion that he just couldn't understand?

Or did he actually do it all for clout? Let's head on over to Macedonia now and check out the serial killer, known as the Kissavo Monster. After beginning his career at a radio station, by the 1980s, Vladot Taneski had been hired as a freelance reporter and columnist for several of the country's most circulated newspapers. And there, he did pretty decent for himself. And not only did he have a job that he was passionate about, but he was also happily married and a father of two children. Those who knew him, saw him as a good man who always put his family first, and so much so that nobody could have guessed that he himself had come from a terribly broken home. Taneski was the second of three children, born in 1952 to Tragie and Gorica,

a deeply conservative and strict couple. His father, Tragay, a former World War II vet, was an extremely tough, serious, and bad-tempered man, who didn't hesitate to use his bell to enforce his own. discipline at home. But interestingly, the real problem in the household was actually Vladow's mother. It's a generalization, but most can agree that moms tend to be more lenient and forgiving with their children than fathers. But Gorica was a special exception to the rule. The woman who worked as a hospital cleaner was just as strict and harsh as her husband, and sometimes even more so. She was especially cruel to her son, whom she in

assaulted, shouted at, and smacked around. The violence Gorka inflicted on him was so intense that Vlado ended up having nightmares and panic attacks at night. As he grew up, he began to describe his mom as an evil woman. Now, if you know anything about true crime, then you're aware that the children who grow up to be killers well often they have tumultuous upbringings. And when the mom is the prime tormentor,

well, he usually leads to some very dark thoughts and behaviors from their kids. Despite the constant psychological and physical mistreatment he endured, Vladto tried his best to move forward. He stuffed those bad feelings as deep down as he could and looked to break that cycle. Starting a new life is how he looked at it. One that with any luck would be better than the one that had defined his early years. As a young adult, he saw education as his way out. He left his parents' house and moved to Croatia, where he'd be began studying journalism, and in 1973 at the age of 21, he met the woman who would become his wife. She was a law student named Vesna, who he had met at a poetry recital.

They eventually married after completing their respective studies, and although everything was going well and Vlato had everything they needed to start over, he got pulled back in when he and his wife decided to return to Kisivow to care for his aging parents. Vestna knew that her husband had never had a good relationship with them. The fate had made Vlato the only one with the means and willingness to help them. His wife even said that Vlado was a good husband, son, and father, and that he would have sacrificed himself for his family. However, this didn't mean that the man didn't have many unresolved issues with his folks.

But Vlato thought that work could keep those demons at bay. But if he just stayed focused, he could just put them off into the back. background of his mind. It was during this new chapter that Taneski began working for those newspapers, and he wanted to be the best writer the country had ever known. In his world where competition among writers was fierce, and he was willing to do anything to get ahead, as in his mind, Yenz justified the means. Because of that, on more than one occasion, young Vlado resorted to plagiarizing articles, even presenting his colleagues' work as his own. And it wasn't a good look, and set his career back a few steps, and so for some time, he just sort of coasted through life,

actually like a lot of people do. His career was flatlined, but he was working, so it wasn't all that bad. He struggled with being around his parents and the pressures of fatherhood and being the breadwinner. By the time he was 50 years old in 2002, he was looking at a life unfulfilled, potential that he saw in himself that had been wasted for variety. variety of reasons. Though that year something happened that was tragic. In a weird way, it might have been freeing for Vlado in a way only certain people can understand. His dad had had enough of this life and decided to unalive himself, and so that's what he did. Vlado's mother, after all the years of torment, she put her son through, and after he spent a good chunk of his life still

caring for her, blamed her son for what had happened to her husband. And he arguments between mother and son became more frequent after that, to the point where his wife, who at once described him, as a kind, affectionate, and very tender lover, so that the only time you could hear Vlato raise his voice was when he was arguing with his mom. And their relationship became so strained that it affected his marriage. And then, just a few months after his father passed, Gorica died in 2003 due to an accidental overdose of prescription meds. Now, of course, looking best, back, there's a lot of speculation surrounding her death. Was it actually accidental?

Did she do it on purpose, or was her own son possibly involved, looking to end the arguments once and for all? The answers to those questions, we'll never know for sure. But the good times didn't end there, because within the year, Vladow would go on to lose his job as a reporter due to downsizing and began to experience serious financial difficulties. The challenges kept piling up. By early 2004, less than a year after his mother's death,

Vladow's once happy marriage had come to an end. His wife moved to the country's capital with their children after she received a promotion for work, but not Vladow, who although he knew his work as a freelance crime journalist, wouldn't bring him much money, decided to stay in his hometown to try and start over once again. And this time, he was going to make sure he got exactly what he wanted. In the early 2000s, the men were not.

Municipality of Kisevo was one of the safest, and to some extent, most boring places you could find in Europe at the time. In this place full of vast meadows, red roofs, and an industry that some media described as frozen in time, but nothing strange really ever happened. Vlato spent his days and nights secluded in a small hut on the rural outskirts of town. He didn't socialize much, and his main companions were his telephone, a typewriter, and occasionally occasionally occasionally. computer. Isolated and working as a crime journalist in a small town where no real crime ever happens is tough. Vlato decided to spice things up a bit and that's exactly when the kiss of a monster, as the media dubbed it, showed up. On November 16th of 2004, a 64-year-old woman

named Mitra Simjanowski, suddenly disappeared. She last been seen at her home and so when investigators arrived there for a welfare check, the only trace they found of her was a conspicuous trail of blood. Mitra's disappearance caught the attention of the small community, but it wasn't until January 12th of 2005, two months after her disappearance, that the case really went viral. A cleaner happened upon her naked body disposed of in a plastic bag at a Kissabo garbage dump. There were clear signs that she had been tied up, tortured, assaulted, and finally strangled. But even more horrifying was the fact that

Mitra had only been dead for two weeks, proving that her killer, whoever it was, had held her captive for at least 40 days. The news spread and soon scores of journalists from all around arrived at the scene to cover the breaking story. Among them was Taneski. A murder of this nature was something new for the town, and Vlado, who seemed particularly interested in the case, stood to jumpstart his writing career off it. He set out to interview some of the victim's family and friends. Talk to them about what had happened. A big part of his motivation here wasn't just to get the inside scoop, but it was to understand the progress of the investigation as a whole for his own personal reasons.

The article Taneski published about the killing caught the attention of many, as he provided incredibly detailed and thorough information on the case. His notes gave specific details about the interior of Maitra's apartment, He even claimed that the woman's body was dragged into the kitchen after her attacker surprised her. Most of Taneski's colleagues dismissed these claims as mere speculation, but investigators weren't so sure. The police quickly noticed that all the details Vladow gave in his article matched their findings, which was odd since he didn't have access to that information. Still, though, none of these irregularities were enough to raise suspicions about his participation in the crime.

at least not for now. In the end, the investigation pointed a 28-year-old Ante Ristesky and his friend, Igor Morseski, as the prime suspects. Because weeks before Mityra's disappearance, the two men had robbed and murdered an elderly man during a burglary in a nearby town. After their arrest, the men did confess to killing the man but denied any involvement in Mitter's murder. Nevertheless, after their trial, Ristesky and Morsesky,

or sentenced to life in prison, even though semen found on the victim's body didn't match either of them. Case closed. But then three years later, in early November of 2007, a 56-year-old woman named Lubitsa Lacosca went shopping after finishing her shift as a cleaner,

although she never returned home. And just like three years ago, Lubitsa's disappearance caused a stir in town, and just like before, Lado took it upon, himself to investigate the case. Almost three months after her disappearance, on February 3rd of 2008, the woman's body was found by a garbage collector in circumstances eerily similar to the crime three years earlier. The body was discovered in a plastic bag in a wooded area near a gas station in Kisevo.

As in the case of Mitra, the autopsy revealed that the woman had been tied up, tortured, assaulted, and strangled. Moreover, all indications were that the... the victim had been held captive for several days before her attacker finally decided a killer. Vlato followed the case closely, of course, and in the days that followed, the reporter published numerous articles in which he speculated in great detail about how the woman's kidnapping might have been carried out. Taneski mentioned an open window, a lit lamp, a surprise attack in which the victim fought back and even a stab wound to the chest. This detailed account was once again

considered speculation, though. Yes, it raised a few eyebrows among law enforcement, but it sounded like someone just trying to create a story for attention. After all, why would a killer release details like this, and more importantly, how could they be proven? Most detectives thought that the meticulous details Tenesky wrote of were simply a mixture of coincidence and police leaks. The investigation indicated that the murders of Mitra and Lubitsa were related, which was a problem, considering the two suspect in Mietra's case were supposedly in jail. There were just too many similarities between the two cases to dismiss the idea that maybe they got the wrong guys. And not only were the actual killing similar, but also the women themselves,

both older and both cleaning ladies. It would only take a couple more months for a third body to appear, and this was the one that would crack the whole case wide open finally. On May 16th, the body of 65-year-old Zavana Temalcoska was found by a passerby in a plastic bag and on a pile of garbage next to the local soccer field in Kisovol. The autopsy revealed that the woman, who had disappeared nine days earlier, had not only been murdered in similar circumstances to the two previous victims, but at this time the level of violence inflicted by the monster of Kisovov had escalated. Zavana had not only been tied up and assaulted, the killer had unleashed a rage on the woman. Her body had three cranial wounds and several broken ribs. And two days later, as investigators began to connect the dots linking the victims,

Vladow called his editor and explained his hypothesis regarding this latest murder. Under the headline, serial killer haunts Kisivow. The article published on May 19th of 2008, the following words could be read. The people of Kisevo are living in fear after another murdered body was found in town. The body bears a striking resemblance to one discovered 20 kilometers from Kisovar last year, and there is a possibility that these monstrous murders are the work of a serial killer. From there he goes on to connect the dots between the three victims.

The women were of similar ages, worked as cleaners, and all lived alone. What he didn't include, though, was that all these women knew one another, and most importantly, were friends or acquaintances with his own mother, who, if you remember, was also a cleaner. Around this time, investigators were creating a profile on this killer. They came to the conclusion that the suspect was a mature man of strong build and above-average intelligence. It was a person who lived in the same area where the crimes took place, likely knew the victims, and had developed deep sadomas. classicistic desires in his childhood. With more and more clues and more and more suspicions, the police then decided to set a trap for the terrible monster of Kisobo.

One of the interesting similarities between the victims was that all the women have been strangled with the same weapon, a telephone cord. And this detail was clear to the investigators, and since Vlado's articles were overly meticulous about the nature of the crimes, they were especially careful to keep this piece of evidence secret. Vladow had achieved some good success as a reporter thanks to his articles. And some of them, he claimed that one of the victims had been deceived by the killer when he told her that her son was injured, taking advantage of her moment of weakness to kidnap her.

On another occasion, he described one of the women as wearing a solid gold crucifix around her neck, stating that the brightness of her blue eyes was extinguished by the shroud of death. In another report, he wrote the following. words. The motives of the Kiss of O Monster are still unclear. Both women were friends, Mitra and Zavana, and lived in the same part of town. The police have some suspects. They are interrogating. For reasons unknown, Lado decided to stir the pot a bit and attack the police from there, partially criticizing them for alleged irregularities in the investigation and for implicating the wrong men, referring to the cases of Ristesky and Mr. Susserner.

Sessky, who were arrested and convicted for the death of the first victim. Vlado just couldn't help himself as he regurgitated all his knowledge of the crimes, and the police were counting on it. Eventually, his biggest mistake amongst his articles was that he revealed the model of the telephone cord the killer used to strangle his victims. That, plus he mentioned the exact positions of the bodies, the fact that this court had been left at the crime scene, as all his information had been. deliberately kept secret, yet Vlato was aware of it. Because of a monster had taken the bait,

and at this point, the investigators were almost certain that Taneski was the killer. However, they still needed conclusive evidence. Forensics determined that some of the blood found near the last victim did not belong to her, and instead her attacker. So from there, it was just a matter of time. The investigators then sifted through a long list of suspects, and after questioning 150 men with the same blood type, most were eliminated, except for several neighbors, taxi driver, and Blado. Soon after that, DNA samples were taken to compare with other semen samples, and the results were irrefutable.

The serial killer, terrorizing Kisevo, was none other than the journalist who wrote in detail about all the cases. And so on June 20th of 2008, Taneski was charged with the crimes, and even as the investigation progressed and a growing mountain of evidence poured over his head, while he never stopped maintaining his innocence. Seven of his hairs were found next to the remains of the first victim. A robe that belonged to his mother was found in the same bag as Ivana's body. And when police searched his home,

they found shoelaces and rope that matched those used on the victims, as well as some of the women's belongings and sadomasochistic material. The discovery shocked both those who knew Vlado, or had read any of the women. his articles, his ex-wife, acquaintances, his colleagues, and editors, and nobody saw this one coming from him. Even more messed up was the fact that the three women shared characteristics such as age, social status, and even the type of work they did with his own mother. Suggesting that deep in his mind, Vado had committed these offenses as a kind of indirect revenge against his mom,

towards whom he had generated so much fear and hatred over the years. It's also very possible that he never even realized it. I will never know for sure, though, what went through his mind and his true motivations. Three days after his arrest, Taneski was found dead in his cell at Titovo prison. His head buried in a bucket of water under somewhat strange circumstances. Authorities claim that he had done this to himself, though, what they didn't know was how none of the inmates or guards noticed what was going on. Investigators had hoped that Taneski's testimony would help them discover the whereabouts of Gorka Povleska, a 78-year-old woman who disappeared in 2003. While she has never been found, she was a retired cleaner, who, they believe, was likely the killer's first victim.

Interestingly, she shared the same name as Vlado's mother. So that's it for this week's episode of Everytown. Hope you all enjoyed it, and thanks for tuning in. Remember to come back next week for another episode, but with scary, strange, and mysterious stories. Because you never know. Maybe your town will be next.