Mum's heartbreaking tribute to daughter murdered by husband in Midlands home

A mum has issued a heart-wrenching tribute to her beloved daughter after she was stabbed to death by her husband. Milica Zilic was just 28 when she was tragically murdered inside her Stafford home.

Her partner Dale Crook, 34, admitted her murder and was jailed for 11 years and nine months imprisonment at Stafford Crown Court today, Friday, November 29. After he was sentenced, Staffordshire Police issued his mugshot alongside an emotive statement from her grieving mother.

Her family last saw Mlilica a year ago as she moved from Serbia to the UK. In a tribute to Milica, her mother Elijana said: “My soul aches and everything inside me is falling apart. Pain and sadness are destroying me from the inside. I still wonder why. I hug the cold stone with her name, I water the dry earth with tears and I repeat why? Why did he take her from me?

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“I look at her picture in the silence of the apartment and it seems to me that she will speak, move her lips, smile at me, but only my breathing and sobs are heard.

“Everything hurts – remembering how she rushed to be born, her laughter when I kissed her little hands and feet, her first steps and first words, her squealing, crying and jumping in the yard, her first day at school. Her life that should have continued.

“The words that I didn’t tell her hurt. It hurts that I won’t be able to hug her anymore, to smell her scent. It hurts that she could still love, work, laugh, cry, rejoice, suffer. The emptiness hurts.

“Everything stopped for me. I lost a part of myself, I wake up in pain, I work out of habit, mechanically. I lie down in pain, but there is no sleep in my eyes. Everything suddenly became a straight line. It’s hard to live like this, but I go through life with my head held high. I smile and tell myself ‘I’m fine’, but I’m lying.”

On November 25, 2023, a family member had contacted police with concerns about Crook’s welfare. He was found by officers in Buckinghamshire and was taken to hospital.

Two days later, on November 27, police were called to their flat in Wolverhampton Road - where Milica's body was found. Sadly, she was pronounced dead by paramedics a short time later.

A knife was recovered from the flat and Crook was arrested on suspicion of her murder. A post mortem examination established that the medical cause of Milica’s death was a stab wound to the chest, the court heard.

Detective Inspector Ian Fitzgerald said: “My thoughts and condolences are still very much with Milica’s family. I’d like to thank all the officers and staff, and criminal justice partners who helped with this investigation and have helped us to secure justice for Milica.”

Have you been affected by this? You can contact us by emailing stephanie.balloo@reachplc.com