Štefan Mlynarovič, life-sentenced murderer of women, died 23 December 2025 in Trenčín
Aktuality.sk has established that notorious recidivist and murderer of two women Štefan Mlynarovič died the day before Christmas 2025 in the Hospital for the Accused and Convicted in Trenčín.
Life-sentenced murderer Mlynarovič died in prison after more than 60 years behind bars
Štefan Mlynarovič, one of the longest-imprisoned convicted persons in Slovakia's history, died on 23 December 2025 in the Hospital for the Accused and Convicted in Trenčín. He was 84 years old. According to Aktuality.sk, news of his death reached the public with a significant delay — the penal institution does not provide such information to the media without the consent of those concerned.
"In general, within records, we can state that the most recent death of a convicted person who was sentenced to life imprisonment by the court occurred on 23 December 2025 in the Hospital for the Accused and Convicted in Trenčín. It was an 84-year-old convicted person," said Anna Bečková Ragasová, spokeswoman of the Prison and Justice Guard Service.
As recently as autumn 2024, Mlynarovič appeared in television news — an emaciated old man with a walking stick in prison uniform, seeking conditional release. The prison did not recommend his release, and in the end he himself had second thoughts about his dreams of freedom. He was considering marriage with one of two women with whom he regularly corresponded. In his cell, after decades, he turned to faith, modelling nativity scenes from bread, an angel, and even a pirate ship.
From petty thief to brutal murderer
Mlynarovič was born during the wartime Slovak State and grew up in Bratislava's Vydrici neighbourhood, a district then infamous for prostitution. He began his criminal career at eighteen years old by robbing a bar at the Bratislava PKO. As Jaroslav Ivor, a former head of Slovak investigators, described during a lecture at the Faculty of Law of UMB in Banská Bystrica, Mlynarovič's friend gave himself away during questioning and admitted to further robberies. For the first offence, Mlynarovič received 18 months in prison.
A series of further criminal acts followed:
- robbing a restaurant on Kalvária,
- desertion from basic military service,
- robbing the bar Perlička, where his identity documents and marriage papers fell out while opening the safe,
- stealing money from his parents and breaking a display window with gold chains,
- breaking into a general store in Tomášov together with three accomplices.
"When they took him into custody, fellow prisoners in the Justičák would shout at him: Džony, you haven't been here for a long time," Ivor quoted, citing Mlynarovič's prison nickname. He completed primary school only in prison in Leopoldov — he was 34 years old at the time.
Murder of his partner Božena in 1975
The long-time recidivist, without steady employment and with occasional income, escalated his aggression towards his partner Božena. The fateful day came on 1 July 1975. In the morning, he saw Božena in the company of another man — that day she did not go to work. Later, when they met in a pub, he became convinced that she had deceived him. The argument moved to the flat of his parents in Bratislava, where the quarrel culminated in a brutal act.
After mutual insults, Mlynarovič knocked Božena to the ground and smashed her skull with a heavy ashtray. He then strangled the defenceless but still breathing woman with a cloth belt. He tied the body with string, carried it to the cellar, and hid it behind planks. Before leaving, he cleaned up the blood stains and left a note: "I killed Božena..."
He confessed himself — to his mother, friends, and police
After the murder, Mlynarovič attempted suicide several times — by hanging and by cutting his wrists. For almost two weeks he wandered around Bratislava, sleeping on benches and at friends' places. He did confess to friends, but they did not believe him and thought it was a joke.
The turning point came on the night of 11 July. He came to his parents, banging his head against the wall and confessing tearfully to his mother: "God. What have I done?! I killed Božena. I killed what I loved most. She is in the cellar covered with planks," as quoted by writer Dávid Kičin in the book Story of a Murderer with a Life Sentence.
The next day his mother found a confession note in his room. Together with his sister and brother-in-law, they checked the cellar — from which a strong stench was already emanating — and went to the police. The body was found the same day. Mlynarovič was detained on 16 July 1975 directly on the street and confessed to the murder at his first interrogation.
Although the prosecutor demanded the death penalty, the court sentenced him to the then maximum penalty of 25 years in prison. After serving two-thirds of his sentence, slightly reduced by amnesty, he left prison on 30 July 1991 — after 16 years. At that time, he had spent nearly three decades behind bars.
The case of the minor Soni and the second life sentence
The dark story of Mlynarovič became entangled in the case of the missing minor Soni, which ended in her death. The girl disappeared in the middle — the source provides no further details in the available part of the article.
Despite the extent of his criminal past, Mlynarovič spent the last decades of his life in prison, where death finally caught up with him. In Slovakia, he left behind only a horrifying story of a criminal career that culminated in tremendous violence against women — women to whom he had been very close at other times in his life.
Source: Aktuality