Gasic: Sad day for Serbia, suspects in toddler's killing in custody

BELGRADE - Serbian Interior Minister Bratislav Gasic said Thursday was a sad day for Serbia following the tragic death of two-year-old Danka Ilic from Bor, eastern Serbia, who went missing last Tuesday.

At a press conference at the Palace of Serbia, Gasic said the suspects in the killing had been arrested and placed in custody after a comprehensive 10-day police operation.

Extending condolences to the child's family, Gasic said the crime had deeply shaken the entire country.

He said 50-year-old men identified with the initials S J and D D were suspected of killing the girl in a March 26 hit-and-run accident involving their employer's car and then disposing of her body at a landfill.

Gasic said the two were employees of the local waterworks company and had admitted to having committed the crime, describing it in detail.

They have been placed in 48-hour custody on suspicion of complicity in aggravated manslaughter, the minister said.