After six years, ‘vicious’ murder remains unsolved
It has been more than six years since 25-year-old chemical engineer Dino Dizdarevic was found beaten and strangled in a Chester alley, but his death remains unsolved and police are still trying to piece together exactly what happened to him.
“We interviewed people, we developed some suspects, but there’s nothing that can bring us to charges at this point,” said Delaware County Criminal Investigation Division Chief James E. Nolan IV this week. “(Detectives) have run down every lead they have and they’re hoping to get something new.”
Dizdarevic was discovered at about 7 a.m. May 1, 2014, in an alley behind homes in the 900 block of Parker Street, less than a month before his 26th birthday. Investigators at the time described his killing as “vicious,” noting he had been beaten so badly that it was difficult to identify the remains. There was no wallet on the body.
The Delaware County Medical Examiner’s office ruled the death a homicide, caused by multiple bluntforce injuries to his head and asphyxiation.
Dizdarevic fled war-torn Bosnia with his parents and sister in 1993, landing in Richmond, Ky., where they
“We were in shock. I can’t recall too many memories, because we just couldn’t believe this was happening to us. Dino was a really great, great young man. That his life was taken that way – still to this day, we don’t believe this is reality now.”
—Dino’s mother, Jadranka Dizdarevic
were sponsored by a local church. He graduated from the University of Louisville with a bachelor’s degree in chemical engineering and moved to Philadelphia with his boyfriend, Nick McBee, to take a job as an operational excellence manager at Stepan Co. in New Jersey in September 2013.
Dizdarevic was planning to fly home to visit his family May 1, but never returned from a meet-up the night before.
“We were in shock,” said his mother, Jadranka Dizdarevic, about learning of her son’s demise. “I can’t recall too many memories, because we just couldn’t believe this was happening to us. Dino was a really great, great young man. That his life was taken that way – still to this day, we don’t believe this is reality now.”
Jadranka Dizdarevic, for whom English is a second language, said her son was coming home to celebrate his grandmother’s birthday, as well as his own 26th birthday early, and to see his friends at university.
“He had so many plans and we were so happy, we were so excited to see him because we didn’t see him from Thanksgiving 2013,” she said. “So can you imagine all that happiness – that we want to see him, and he wants to see us, and suddenly … I don’t have words for that. Everything just goes down. You can’t think, you are in shock and trying to think this is not happening to you.”
McBee previously told investigators that the couple had an open relationship and that Dizdarevic was going to meet someone up with someone he’d met on a gay meet-up site the night of April 30. McBee became concerned when his boyfriend did not return home and filed a missing person report with the Philadelphia police on May 1.
Chester Detective Joseph McFate, the lead investigator in the case with county Detective William Gordon, previously said McBee did not know who Dizdarevic was going to meet and neither of them knew anything about Chester.
Delaware County Common Pleas Court Judge Jack Whelan, who was district attorney at the time, said the bludgeoning death was not typical of the violence that plagues Delaware County’s only city.
Investigators hoped to crack the case by unlocking the victim’s phone. Search warrants were obtained for his phone and computer, but Nolan said this week that nothing useful had been gleaned from a forensic examination.
“We expected a treasure trove and got no more than we already had,” he said.
There are still many unknowns about the case, including who Dizdarevic was meeting and how he got to Chester, as his car remained parked in Philadelphia. Nolan said McFate and Gordon are still hoping to find some new clues that will point them toward Dizdarevic’s killer.
“I believe they are doing the best they can, especially now in this (pandemic) situation,” said Jadranka Dizdarevic. “Of course we are frustrated because the case is not solved, but we can’t do anything about that. We trust completely the detectives and they’re working best. Everything is in their
hands.”
Dino’s sister, Una Dizdarevic, described her brother as a genius, with interests in science and art. She said he would often use whatever ingredients he could find laying around the house to conduct science experiments (often to their parents’ chagrin, as these could be quite messy).
“I just remember that whenever he made something, he would immediately show me any kind of reaction that we could do at the house, or he would show me whatever he learned,” she said. “He had a huge passion for science and math.”
“He was a very gifted child from early childhood,” said Jadranka. “He was very smart in so many ways. He was a science guy, number one, and second, he was funny among his family and friends. In any situation he would turn to humor and make everybody laugh. The room just brightened with his smile and laughter.”
Una, now 28 years old and living in New Mexico, said it was hard to have surpassed her brother in age, who would be 31 today. She started to tear up, thinking on certain milestones in his life that he will never reach.
“He wanted to be married and he wanted children and he really desperately wanted to be an uncle, and I definitely wanted to be an aunt,” she said. “I always told him that I wouldn’t get married until gay marriage was legalized. And then when it became legalized, it was in 2015 and he wasn’t there. It just became this kind of thing where I knew that if it comes, it would be really, really difficult.”
“Unfortunately, we saved our children from war and then in the most horrible way they took our child,” said Jadranka Dizdarevic. “We tried to save the kids from trauma and I think we did a pretty good job to let them prosper here and forget what was in the warzone. And they picked up life here and they were so happy, and we were happy too, until tragedy came to our door, and everything was just shattered.”
Una Dizdarevic maintains a Facebook page dedicated to her brother called, “Celebrating Dino Dizdaveric.” Though there is little new to report on his case, she said she believes police are doing all they can while she keeps his memory alive online.
“It’s just a waiting game at this point,” she said. “He was my confidant and I just want justice for him. How could anyone take his life from him? The last time we spoke, he was really happy about where he was in life and he had so many plans for the future. I just want justice for him.”
“(There is) no minute, second in time that we don’t think about him, and how and why this happened,” said Jadranka Dizdarevic. “We were hoping it was just a nightmare; that this is not happening to us. But in time you realize that he is not coming home.”
She pleaded with the citizens of Chester to help solve her son’s murder – if not for her family, then for the next.
“We don’t want that they destroy another family, whoever did it,” she said. “We don’t want that for others.”
Anyone who may have information about the case is urged to contact Chester Detective Joseph McFate at 610-447-8428 or Delaware County Detective William Gordon at 610-891-4700. Tipsters can also call Pennsylvania Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-4PA-TIPS and may be eligible for a cash reward.