TONY DODERO -- From the Newsroom

It was one month ago today that 48-year-old Newport Beach resident

Miroslav Maric vanished from the Earth.

Who is Miroslav Maric, you ask?

Well that’s a good question and one month later I don’t have an good

answer to that.

I can tell you how he died.

It was in a hail of bullets. Shot dead, police allege, by a man named

Ramadan Dokovic of Downey.

Shot dead as he sat in his black convertible Mercedes Benz in the

parking lot of the Jack in the Box restaurant on busy 17th Street in

Costa Mesa -- in front of several witnesses.

Witnesses who said they saw Maric put his hands in the air and shout

“help me, help me” as Dokovic reportedly pumped him with four, maybe five

bullets in his upper body.

It was a shocking, grisly, gruesome crime that has resulted in a

bizarre turn of events where no one seems to know why, or at least won’t

tell us why, Maric was killed.

Not the police. Not the district attorney. Not Dokovic.

Not even Maric’s family members, one of whom lives in New York and

gave our reporter his number, then neglected to return any of her calls.

The best I could get was this comment from District Attorney

spokeswoman Tori Richards:

“There was an argument between the defendant and the victim about a

stolen Rolex watch,” she said.

But that’s it.Costa Mesa police say the cloudiness surrounding the

investigation is routine. Nothing out of the ordinary about taking a

month before anyone knows why this guy Maric was killed, they say.

Was it a random act? Did they know each other? Was Maric a longtime

Newport Beach resident? Did he own a business here? What was he doing at

Jack in the Box? Is the public in danger of any other shootouts?

One month later, no answers to any of those questions.

“I haven’t had any of my questions answered about it either,” said

Connie, a hairstylist at Hair by Paula on 17th Street who, along with her

customer, watched the whole shooting take place. “That’s something that’s

been bothering me too.”

And there’s a few other oddities that occurred in this case that also

bother me.

First it starts with the suspect, Dokovic. Immediately after the

shooting he walks over to the Mercedes Benz and drops the gun and a pack

of cigarettes on the hood.

Kind of odd behavior, but who knows what he was thinking.

We have no answers to that.

Then, after being taken into custody calmly by police, he appears to

have a heart attack and is taken to a hospital.

Later, it’s determined he didn’t have a heart attack, and he is

arrested on suspicion of attempted murder.

What kind of medical attention did Dokovic need and why did he think

he was having a heart attack?

We have no answer to that either.

Then, two days later, Costa Mesa police issue a statement that Maric

had been taken off of life support and had passed away.

Then the next day they tell us that, in fact, they made an error and

Maric was still alive.

Then the next day, again the announcement was made that he was taken

off life support.

Why did police tell us he was dead, and then tell us he was alive, and

then tell us he was dead again?

Again, no real answer to that.

Although, some probably would just chalk it up to my morbid sense of

curiosity, I just have lots of questions about this shooting and why it

occurred.

I have to believe that a person’s life means more than this.

I have to believe that Miroslav Maric, whoever he was, would want us

to ask these questions, to get to the truth behind his untimely death.

That way, he won’t just vanish from the planet with nary a peep.

I’m sure for the many witnesses like Connie who saw it all unfold,

they want answers to what is still a haunting image.

“I can remember exactly what happened,” she said. “I was working on a

client who also saw it. I personally never had witnessed a violent crime

before. It was, in a way, surreal. My brain saw what was happening, but

it didn’t hit me until later that it was reality.”

The slaying startled and shocked the normally docile 17th Street

business district, Connie said. And to her, it hit way too close to home.

One month later, the questions still come up among the customers at

the beauty salon.

“Every day, somebody asks, ‘What was that all about,” Connie said.

One month later, they can ask all they want, but there are still no

answers.

* TONY DODERO is the editor. His column appears on Mondays. If you

have story ideas or concerns about news coverage please send messages

either via e-mail to o7 [email protected] or by phone at

949-574-4258.