Man told Las Vegas police he fatally beat wife with baseball bat

The 37-year-old’s arrest report, released to the Review-Journal on Wednesday, did not indicate if the father of two showed any remorse after beating his wife, 31-year-old Zvjezdana Bencun, over the head with an orange aluminum baseball bat. Miljus said he “knew what he was going to do” when he drove to a Walmart on Friday morning and purchased the baseball bat, a knife set and duct tape.

That afternoon, Miljus’ teenage son called police from a gas station near Sahara Avenue and Fort Apache Road to report that his father had bludgeoned his mother, possibly to death, Metropolitan Police Department homicide Lt. Ray Spencer said Friday.

A GoFundMe page has identified the boy as a 13-year-old, though the report said he is 14.

The boy later told police he had returned home at 4 p.m. and found his father with blood on his face. He walked into his mother’s bedroom, despite Miljus telling him not to, and saw his mother bleeding from her head. Miljus gave the boy $20 and told him to leave, so the boy ran to a gas station and called police, the report said.

When police went to find the woman at the Summerhill Pointe Apartments, no one answered the door, so officers broke a screen off of a window to climb inside, the report said. Opening the door to the bedroom, they saw a woman lying on the bed with a head injury.

Miljus was sitting next to her, a kitchen knife in his lap and blood covering his clothing and hands. The orange aluminum baseball bat was on the carpet by the apartment’s front door, the report said.

Bencun had a faint pulse when officers found her, Spencer said. She was taken to University Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead about 5:30 p.m., the report said.

When Miljus was interviewed at Metro headquarters, he said if he could have a cigarette he “would tell his story,” the report said. After he smoked two cigarettes, officers emphasized that smoking was not in exchange for his statement — but Miljus still wanted to talk.

Miljus said he believed his wife had been cheating on him for the past eight years. He called his brother Thursday to say “he couldn’t take it anymore.”

Over the phone, Miljus’ brother tried to “‘talk him out of it,’ meaning killing his wife,” the report said. But the next day, after his two sons left for school, Miljus drove to the store.

He also bought vodka and Red Bull, and drank a combination of the two while driving home. Bencun was asleep when he arrived, so he had two more drinks.

He then hit his wife three times in the head with the bat, the report said.

“Slobodan said his wife never said anything, and that he told her she brought this on as he hit her,” the report said.

Miljus told detectives he intended to kill himself with the knife, but officers found him uninjured. He covered Bencun with a blanket “because he didn’t want to look at her.” He also called Bencun’s brother to tell him what happened, the report said.

During the interview, Miljus had “blood caked on both of his hands,” along with “apparent blood” on his shirt.

Police said Friday that officers have responded to a domestic disturbance involving the couple in February at a different apartment complex.

Miljus has been charged with murder with a deadly weapon, court records show. He remained in the Clark County Detention Center on Wednesday without bail. He is set to appear in court Thursday, and a preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 4.

A GoFundMe account created by Bencun’s cousin, Dragana Trifkovic, states that the “loving mother” worked two jobs to provide for her sons, identified by the fundraiser as 13-year-old Zoran and 6-year-old Goran. The boys were being cared for by their grandfather, according to the fundraiser.

More than $40,000 was raised as of Wednesday night.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.