Woman Arrested after Body of Sister Missing for 18 Years is Found in Freezer

A Croatian court on Wednesday ordered one month’s detention for a woman suspected of killing her younger sister, whose body was found in a freezer more than 18 years after she went missing.

The news came as hundreds of people attended the funeral Wednesday for the missing woman, Jasmina Dominic, in her village of Palovec, northeast of Zagreb, the capital.

The court in the northern town of Varazdin said the sister, Smiljana Srnec, must remain in detention because she could influence witnesses or flee during the investigation.

Jasmina Dominic was reported missing in 2005 but was last seen in 2000 when she was 23 years old. Local reports said a family member found her body Saturday in a freezer in the Dominic family home in Palovec.

Police said when they investigated the missing person case back in 2005, her family misled them by claiming that Dominic was living abroad.

Croatian media reported an autopsy showed that Dominic had suffered at least two blows in the head with a blunt instrument.

The case has shocked Croatia, with many wondering how it was possible that the family had lived for so long with a body hidden in the house.