Suspect in Valentina Tănăsie case denies murder: "He found her dead and threw her in the Olt"
Gheorghe Vlăduț Băltățeanu claims he did not kill Valentina Ioana Tănăsie, but found her already dead. A friend who met him in Switzerland reports that he nevertheless admitted to hitting her.
Suspect in the suitcase-with-corpse case: "I did not kill her"
Gheorghe Vlăduț Băltățeanu, the suspect accused of killing his girlfriend and throwing her body into the Olt river, denied to investigators that he had committed the crime. According to Gândul, he stated during questioning that he found Valentina Ioana Tănăsie already dead, that he panicked, and that this was the reason he placed her body in a suitcase and threw it in the water.
His version, however, contradicts the account given by a friend who met him in Switzerland, where Băltățeanu had fled following the young woman's disappearance. That friend stated that the suspect had provided him with details about the night Valentina died: before her death there had been a quarrel, after which he had slapped her, then struck her with a broom handle.
"That's when he got very angry […] and then he grabbed the broom handle and hit her", the friend recounted on Antena 3 CNN.
The same witness added that Băltățeanu had said he did not understand how he could have caused the young woman's death through those blows and that when he woke up in the morning she was dead beside him in bed.
Two police officers called after a two-hour discussion
The friend recounted, during Dan Capatos's programme, that he had learned about the case from TikTok and initially tried unsuccessfully to contact Băltățeanu. Subsequently, the suspect contacted him himself and invited him to talk. The friend claims he presented himself accompanied by another person, with the stated aim of convincing the fugitive to surrender to the authorities.
"I went there to get him to stop running, to turn himself in, because there was nothing he could do. I brought another person with me from here, so that if the police stopped us or something happened, I would have a witness", he stated.
The discussion lasted approximately two hours. In the end, Băltățeanu is said to have agreed to call the police, although he was afraid. The friend called number 117, and two police officers arrived at the location.
Body discovered by a fisherman in the Olt
The body of 28-year-old Valentina Ioana Tănăsie was found on 22 September in a suitcase floating in the Olt, in the area of the Ionești dam. A fisherman alerted the authorities after observing the luggage in the water.
According to prosecutors, death occurred on 21 September, as a result of traumatic and haemorrhagic shock. Forensic examination revealed injuries to the head, five broken ribs and other traumatic injuries. During a search of the residence used by the two individuals, investigators collected samples from a mattress that bore stains that appeared to be blood.
Source: Gândul