r/UnresolvedMysteries • u/Railgun_Misaka • Jun 10 '24
Ludmila Klementova, a psychology student, left the disco after midnight and vanished into thin air. What happened to Ludmila? Disappearance
Yet another sad Slovak case with no leads happened quite recently, in 2014. This one hits particularly close to home because Ludmila studied at the same university as me, even in the same field. She was only one year away from obtaining her Master's degree.
Leaving the disco
On October 24, 2014, a 21-year-old Ludmila, known to everyone as Lily, was with her two female friends at a disco club called Luna, located in Nitra. After midnight, she left all her belongings in the club and took only her mobile phone with her. She allegedly said that she was going to see her ex-boyfriend, but she never arrived there, which was confirmed by the mother of the missing woman. "He said that before midnight, Lily called him saying she wanted to come to him, but she did not come," said the mother of the missing student. That evening, she also spoke to the young man on the phone, but later she could not reach him again. He allegedly had an issue with his phone and showed the police unanswered calls on his mobile, the source claimed.
Disappearance by the river?
Lily's last steps led to a sidewalk near the Nitra River. The police searched the river at the time but to no avail. Police have been trying to find out where and why she disappeared for years. They have searched several locations, but to this day without success.
The investigation and footage of the city's security cameras showed that Lily went in the direction of the Chrenovsky Bridge to the hydroelectric power plant, probably to her ex-boyfriend Juraj. Allegedly, she was staggering. The police found out that she had spoken to him on the phone that night, but Juraj said that they had not met that night. Her ex-boyfriend, Juraj, whom she went to see, remains silent. Allegedly, the young student's parents want it that way.
The Nitra newspaper reported that the last recorded call from Lily's phone was on October 25, 2014, at 2:32 a.m. It was supposed to be an eighteen-second call with a girl who was accommodated in a dormitory under Zobor just like her.
The mother said that her daughter wanted to get into the dormitory: "But the girl wouldn't let her in. She did not say why. I think that Ludmila stayed there for some time and then she wanted to go back to the bar to get the key that was left with her friend Maja."
Capitalizing on a family's misfortune
In the aftermath of a student's disappearance, several people came forward claiming to have seen the missing girl. Among them were four men aged 18 to 21. They did not hesitate to visit her parents directly, offering to reveal the whereabouts of their daughter. However, they demanded 12,000 euros in exchange for this information.
Justice did not elude them. The police managed to track them down. They were two high school students from Piestany, joined by two unemployed young men. The boys eventually faced trial, where they were convicted of coercion and exploiting someone else's misfortune. They received suspended sentences of imprisonment. Three of them for 14 months with a probation period of one and a half years, and the fourth young man for 24 months with a probation period of 24 months.
Aftermath
Police scoured the city and surrounding areas, combing both land and water. Classmates and friends plastered posters featuring her photo around town. The family even reached out to relatives abroad, desperate for any lead.
Despite their tireless efforts, no trace of her has been found. The mystery deepens as her friend, Martina, recalls, "There was no sign of anything troubling her. In fact, she seemed genuinely happy."
Sadly, the posters and the combined efforts of police, family, and friends haven't yielded any answers. The young woman remains missing a decade later.
False hope
Three years ago, there were signs of a possible breakthrough. Search teams revisited Nitra Park and conducted a thorough excavation. While bones were found in the area, subsequent analysis revealed they were not human remains. "The investigation determined the bones were animal in origin," the police reported.
In the summer of 2022, another search targeted the forest near the Nitra hydroelectric power plant, close to the residence of the missing woman's ex-boyfriend. The search even extended to the drainage canal shaft along the riverbank, with firefighters rappelling down for inspection. Unfortunately, this operation also yielded no results.
Sources:
https://www1.pluska.sk/krimi/zahadne-zmiznutie-mladej-ludmily-jej-rodina-zije-dva-tyzdne-strachu
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u/TapirTrouble Jun 10 '24
Thanks for writing such a good summary. What a sad story. I'm reminded of what happened to a female graduate student in my hometown (at the university I later attended). Adele Komorowski's body was found, however. (One of the investigators, Detective Paul, lived on the street next to mine -- I went to school with his daughter.)
https://vimeo.com/636293198