The Murder of Anca Broscățeanu and the Samoilescu Wrongful Conviction

The case known in Romania as “Cazul Anca” became one of the country's best-known miscarriages of justice. Anca Maria Rodica Broscățeanu, a 19-year-old from Sibiu who had travelled to Bucharest for university admission, disappeared in July 1977 and was murdered. Investigators eventually built their case against taxi driver Gheorghe Samoilescu, who was convicted despite later-documented coercion and evidentiary problems. The real break came only after another homicide investigation led police to Romca Cozmici in 1980.

Anca Broscățeanu

Anca was in Bucharest in the summer of 1977 while preparing to seek admission to the Academy of Economic Studies. A later internal review reproduced in Romanian reporting identifies her as Anca-Rodica Broscățeanu, age 19. Some retrospective articles have given her age as 18; this page follows the age stated in the contemporaneous institutional record quoted by multiple later sources.

She disappeared on July 6, 1977. Her death generated intense pressure for a quick solution. This file avoids the graphic details that dominated some later retellings and centers instead on the victim, the investigation and the legal consequences.

The investigation turns toward Gheorghe Samoilescu

Gheorghe Samoilescu, a Bucharest taxi driver who had known Anca, became the principal suspect. An internal security review later concluded that police and prosecutors committed serious legal violations while trying to establish his guilt. The document described prolonged questioning, physical and psychological coercion, suggestive questioning and pressure placed on witnesses and family members.

Samoilescu initially denied involvement. Statements later used against him were obtained under conditions that the internal review itself found unreliable. The importance of that record is that the wrongful-conviction finding does not rest merely on a later claim by Samoilescu: Romanian institutions ultimately recognized that the original investigation had violated the law and misinterpreted evidence.

The 25-year sentence

On September 30, 1978, the Bucharest Municipal Tribunal imposed sentences for aggravated murder and other offenses which, after the applicable aggregation rules, resulted in a total term of 25 years. The Supreme Tribunal rejected Samoilescu's appeal on February 7, 1979, making the conviction final at that time.

Those judgments are part of the historical record, but they are not the final legal status of the case. A later discovery would undermine the entire prosecution theory.

Romca Cozmici is discovered

In November 1980, investigators examining another killing searched the Bucharest residence of Romca Cozmici. Evidence found there linked him to another murdered woman, and Cozmici also admitted killing Anca. Romanian reports say investigators recovered property belonging to Anca and other physical evidence supporting his admission.

Cozmici was subsequently convicted of murder and received a death sentence. Romanian historical reporting states that the sentence was carried out in 1981. This page does not rely on colorful stories about his final words or family background because they are not necessary to establish the correction of Anca's case.

Samoilescu is released

Samoilescu was released in January 1981 after the new evidence came to light. The case was then formally revisited. The discovery of Cozmici did not simply create an alternative theory; it prompted institutional findings that the earlier case against Samoilescu had been a grave judicial error.

Supreme Tribunal quashes the conviction

On June 10, 1981, Decision No. 75 of the Supreme Tribunal quashed the prior judgments against Samoilescu and sent the matter back for further investigation. In 1982, prosecutors removed him from criminal investigation for the murder, rape and corpse-related charges. A remaining trust-related allegation involving property was terminated under the procedural and amnesty rules described in later legal reporting.

The archive therefore classifies Samoilescu as wrongfully convicted, not as a murderer later pardoned or released on a technicality. His murder conviction was judicially set aside after the real perpetrator was identified.

Documented investigative abuses

A later-released internal note from the former Securitate's criminal-investigation directorate described specific abuses by police and prosecutors: periods of unlawful detention, coercive questioning, physical mistreatment, pressure on witnesses and the use of suggestive questions to obtain details investigators wanted to hear.

Modern Romanian coverage sometimes goes further and alleges that officials intentionally framed Samoilescu to protect people connected to the regime. Those broader motives remain contested in retrospective accounts. This page does not present them as adjudicated fact. What is documented strongly enough is that the original investigation contained serious unlawful practices and produced a wrongful conviction.

Aftermath and compensation

Samoilescu spent several years imprisoned for a murder he did not commit. Romanian courts later awarded compensation connected with the wrongful imprisonment. Decades afterward, members of his family also pursued damages. Those civil proceedings form part of the longer institutional aftermath, but they do not change the central criminal result: his conviction for Anca's murder was quashed.

Timeline

1. July 6, 1977
   Anca disappears in Bucharest

   Anca Broscățeanu, a young woman from Sibiu seeking university admission, disappears in the capital.

2. 1977–1978
   Samoilescu becomes the accused

   Investigators focus on taxi driver Gheorghe Samoilescu. A later institutional review finds coercion and other legal violations in the inquiry.

3. September 30, 1978
   25-year sentence

   The Bucharest Municipal Tribunal convicts Samoilescu; the combined effective term is 25 years.

4. February 7, 1979
   Appeal rejected

   The Supreme Tribunal rejects Samoilescu's appeal, leaving the conviction final at that stage.

5. November 1980
   Evidence points to Romca Cozmici

   A separate homicide investigation leads authorities to Cozmici, who admits killing Anca and is linked to her by additional evidence.

6. January 1981
   Samoilescu released

   He is freed as the wrongful conviction begins to unravel.

7. June 10, 1981
   Conviction quashed

   Supreme Tribunal Decision No. 75 sets aside the prior judgments and orders further investigation.

8. 1982
   Murder case against Samoilescu ends

   Prosecutors remove him from investigation for the murder and related major charges.

Current status

Solved / Adjudicated. Romca Cozmici was identified and convicted as Anca Broscățeanu's killer. Gheorghe Samoilescu's conviction for the murder was quashed in 1981, and the major criminal accusations against him were terminated in 1982. The case remains a documented Romanian example of wrongful conviction and investigative abuse.