Before she was murdered by her brother-in-law, Arlinda Zekaj had faced threats and pressure from her ex-husband, Jeton Sylaj, regarding the custody of their minor son. In a conversation between them, which testifies to the tensions over the custody issue, Arlinda insisted that the boy should live with his mother, while Jeton threatened to never let her take the child. During the conversation, Arlinda asked him several times if he was sure of what he was saying, while he insisted on his position.
The conversation between them, in harsh tones:
Arlinda Zekaj: A boy needs to stay with his mother, she is the most important. And he stays with his mother.
Jeton Sylaj: It's not in Albanian tradition that the mother takes her son, except when the father doesn't want to. You never have to take him.
Arlinda Zekaj: Find me a mother who doesn't have a child, who doesn't have one, neither in America, nor in Kosovo, nor in the entire world.
Jeton Sylaj: Here I find it, it's you. It's you who didn't have it.
Arlinda Zekaj: Me? No, take it slow.
Jeton Sylaj: You won't have it, I swear to God, if you stick your fingers in your eyes, you won't have it.
Arlinda Zekaj: Are you sure? Are you sure?
Jeton Sylaj: Yes.
Arlinda Zekaj: Okay, keep going.
Jeton Sylaj: From this minute on, you lose the privilege of speaking with him, I swear.
The conflict over custody of the child had also become the subject of a police report. On July 10, 2026, Arlinda Zekaj reported that her ex-husband and his family were not returning her son, after she had allowed him to visit his grandmother and uncles. In her statement to the police, Arlinda said that she had never prevented her son from maintaining contact with his father's family, but that the situation had changed since June 20, 2026. She says that her son had blocked her on the phone and no longer wanted to return to live with her, suspecting that her ex-husband was influencing her and forcing her to stay with his family in Deçan.
"Even though I went to his family, I did not stop my son from going to his grandmother and his relatives. He went several times and stayed there and I never stopped him. But since June 20, 2026, the son has been going to his grandmother and his relatives. The son has blocked me on the phone and does not want him to come and live with me anymore. And for this reason, I am sure that Jetoni is forcing him to stay with his grandmother in Decani and not come and live with me. I ask the Police to return my son to me to live with me," Arlinda Zekaj declared to the police on July 10, 2026.
How did the incident happen?
Arlinda Zekaj was murdered on October 25, 2026, at around 9:00 PM in Vitomirica, Peja. The incident occurred a few minutes after she returned to her shared home, accompanied by Kosovo Police. According to the Prosecution, she is suspected of being killed with a sharp weapon by her brother-in-law, Albert Sylaj. The latter was arrested on the evening of October 27 in Deçan. The murder occurred nine days after the court decision that had enabled Arlinda to return home, three days after her complaint about institutional failures and two days after a police officer warned about the need for additional security measures.
