Caracal murder case: Romania’s Special Telecommunications Service head resigns, policemen investigated

The head of Romania’s Special Telecommunications Service (STS), an agency with military status that coordinates the activities in the field of special secure communications, resigned on Monday, July 29, amid the scandal triggered by the slow intervention of law enforcement authorities in the kidnapping and murder of a young girl in the town of Caracal last week. Meanwhile, eight policemen who intervened in this case are currently under investigation.

The STS director Sorinel Vasilca announced on Monday that he decided to send his resignation to president Klaus Iohannis, as he doesn’t want “to affect the prestige of the institution.”

“I want to mention that my resignation has not been submitted due to existence of gaps, inconsistencies or the slightest shadow of guilt in the taking over and localization of 112 emergency calls by the STS, due to my negligence or because I haven’t assumed the responsibilities of my job […] The resignation was submitted to not affect the prestige of the institution,” the STS director said in a press release.

Meanwhile, the interior minister’s Control Body proposed a preliminary investigation to see how eight policemen (five officers and three agents) intervened in the case targeting the murder of the 15-year-old girl in Caracal last week.

In addition, the Caracal Court Prosecutor's Office was asked to check the police officer who took over the 112 calls made by the girl after being reported missing. Judicial sources said that the Interior Ministry’s report in this case shows that the policeman who spoke to the girl when she called the emergency number 112 to ask for help had a reluctant attitude to the situation and didn’t try to obtain more information about the place where she was being held, according to local Hotnews.ro.

Both the STS and the police have been accused of intervening too slowly in the case of the 15-year-old girl who went missing from home last Wednesday and was killed by a 65-year-old man from Caracal.

The teenage girl disappeared on Wednesday after hitchhiking. On Thursday morning, at around 11:00, she managed to make three calls to the emergency number 112 and tell the authorities that she was being held captive in a house. The police managed to identify the main suspect’s house after many hours, searching the location only on Friday morning, at about 06:00. The police accused the STS of providing inaccurate information about the girl’s location.

The entire case sparked public outrage, people being angry at the chaotic intervention in this case. Some even believe that the girl could have been saved if the tracking and intervention systems would have worked better.