What is the Tekačevo murder case?
The Tekačevo case concerns the killings of Frančiška Poharc, Štefan Poharc, Helena Krošlin and Viktorija Krošlin on 4 March 1997. Slovenia's prosecutor later described the locations as the house at Tekačevo 9 and a nearby outbuilding in the Rogaška Slatina area. The case is unresolved because no person has a standing conviction for the four deaths.
Kristijan Kamenik was the only person brought through a full murder trial. Earlier guilty judgments were annulled, later acquittals were themselves reviewed, and a new trial eventually ended in another acquittal. The Celje Higher Court rejected the prosecution's appeal in April 2024, making that acquittal final. This archive therefore does not describe him as the perpetrator.
Four lives, not a courtroom shorthand
Frančiška and Štefan Poharc lived at the Tekačevo property. Helena and Viktorija Krošlin were their tenants. The official prosecution communication names all four and records four murder allegations arising from the same date and locations.
Later accounts often focus on procedural disputes, forensic evidence and the duration of the litigation. Those issues matter, but they do not replace the human record: four people died and, nearly three decades later, no final judgment identifies who was criminally responsible.
Convictions that did not remain in force
The European Court of Human Rights' procedural history records that Kamenik was arrested on 27 April 1997 and indicted that July. The Celje District Court delivered a mixed judgment in December 1999, convicting him of two murders and acquitting him on the other charges. In May 2000, the Celje Higher Court found him guilty of all four murders.
Those results were not final endpoints. On 1 March 2001, Slovenia's Supreme Court annulled both judgments and sent the case back for re-examination. Describing the case only as a conviction would therefore be inaccurate: the convictions ceased to stand when they were annulled.
A case repeatedly returned to court
A retrial produced an acquittal in June 2003, but the Higher Court annulled that judgment in April 2004. Proceedings then continued over many years, including expert disputes concerning traces from the scene and long interruptions while Kamenik was abroad or imprisoned in unrelated drug cases.
When the case was tried again, the remaining evidence did not persuade the trial court. Reporting on the 2023 acquittal quoted the court's explanation that no material evidence placed Kamenik at the scene and that no biological trace found there belonged to him. The prosecution appealed, but the Higher Court rejected that appeal on 17 April 2024. The acquittal is final.
The 2022 DNA-led inquiry
In December 2022, the Celje District Public Prosecutor announced a request for judicial investigation concerning a 56-year-old Croatian man. Prosecutors said improved analysis of biological material on a makeshift mask or cap found near the property produced a DNA-profile match after information was exchanged with Croatia.
The announcement also said investigators had used European investigation orders for searches, questioning and other steps in Croatia. It did not announce a conviction. The prosecutor framed the man as a newly identified alleged participant and expressly described the matter as an investigation request. This page therefore does not name him as an adjudicated offender or treat the DNA association as proof of murder.
By April 2024, established Slovenian reporting said the judicial request had not moved forward. In December 2025, Celje police continued to describe Tekačevo among unresolved murders and said investigations into such cases remain active even when they are less intensive than at the beginning.
Why the murders remain unsolved
No standing judgment identifies or convicts a perpetrator. Kamenik's early convictions were annulled; his later acquittal is final. The separate DNA-led inquiry did not yield a publicly verified conviction in the sources reviewed through 31 October 2026.
“Unsolved” here does not mean that nothing was investigated. It reflects the difference between extensive investigative activity and an adjudicated answer. It also avoids two opposite errors: preserving an annulled conviction as if it were valid, or converting a later investigative lead into proven guilt.
Case timeline
Frančiška and Štefan Poharc and Helena and Viktorija Krošlin are killed at Tekačevo 9 and a nearby outbuilding.
Kamenik is arrested, a judicial investigation begins and prosecutors file a murder indictment.
The Celje District Court convicts him of two murders and acquits him on the remaining charges.
The Celje Higher Court finds him guilty of all four murders.
Slovenia's Supreme Court annuls both guilty judgments and orders re-examination.
A retrial ends in acquittal; the Higher Court later annuls that acquittal and returns the case again.
Prosecutors request an investigation of another man after reporting a DNA-profile match from material on a discarded cap.
The renewed trial ends in another acquittal because the remaining evidence does not connect Kamenik to the scene.
The Celje Higher Court rejects the prosecution appeal, making the acquittal final.
Celje police continue to describe the murders as unresolved and the investigation as continuing.
Tekačevo case answers
What happened in Tekačevo in 1997?
Frančiška and Štefan Poharc and their tenants Helena and Viktorija Krošlin were killed at Tekačevo 9 and a nearby outbuilding on 4 March 1997.
Was Kristijan Kamenik convicted of the Tekačevo murders?
He was convicted in earlier proceedings, but Slovenia's Supreme Court annulled those judgments in 2001. A later acquittal became final in April 2024, so no murder conviction against him stands.
What did the later DNA analysis establish?
Prosecutors said a DNA profile from a cap found near the property matched a Croatian man and requested a judicial investigation in December 2022. The match was an investigative development, not a conviction or final finding of responsibility.
Why is the case classified as unsolved?
No person has a standing conviction for the four killings. The tried defendant was finally acquitted, and the later investigation has not produced a publicly verified adjudication identifying a perpetrator.
Is the Tekačevo case still being investigated?
Celje police told local reporting in December 2025 that the murders remained unresolved and that investigations into unsolved murder cases continue, even when activity is less intensive than at the beginning.
Sources and evidence boundary
Slovenian Supreme State Prosecutor's Office, 20 December 2022 — victim names, date, locations, DNA-profile match and request for judicial investigation.
European Court of Human Rights, Kamenik v. Slovenia, 13 September 2007 — official chronology of arrest, indictment, first trials, annulment and renewed proceedings.
Dnevnik / Večer, 17 April 2024 — final acquittal, evidentiary basis and status of the separate inquiry.
24UR, 17 April 2024 — independent confirmation of the final acquittal and unresolved classification.
Novi Tednik, 22 December 2025 — current police description of the case as unresolved and the continuing cold-case investigation.
Editorial status note: Sources were reviewed through 2026-10-31. The latest case-specific source located is dated 22 December 2025. No later verified conviction or adjudication was found. Historical allegations, annulled judgments, acquittals and the separate DNA inquiry are kept distinct. The artwork is symbolic.