Marek Zivala

A year later, on September 26, 1997, he lured 21-year-old Božena M., a woman he had been going out with for some time, to an apartment in Žilina, Slovakia. When they settled in, he grabbed hold of her and stuffed two socks down her throat, before strangling Božena by wrapping her head in a plastic bag. Zivala then stole a video recorder and a mountain bike, both worth approximately 10,000 Slovak koruny, and fled the area. When examining the crime scene, DNA from some cigarette butts left at the apartment forensically linked him to the murder.

Zivala, who had five previous convictions for theft in both Slovakia and Germany, first contacted 34-year-old Jaroslava K. on October 26, 1996, by writing her a letter, proposing that the pair go out and have dinner in Most, Czech Republic. Instead, he brought her to an apartment in the city, where he handcuffed and gagged Jaroslava with a towel, before tying her hands and feet with a wire and a clothesline. In the process, the woman choked to death. After her death, Zivala stole furs and gold jewellery from the apartment, which he later sold for around 13,600 Czech koruny.

Marek Zivala (born 1951) is a Slovak serial killer responsible for the murders of three women in the Czech Republic and Slovakia between 1996 and 1998. A diagnosed sexual deviant, he was sentenced to life imprisonment without parole for his crimes.