Monster Gheorghe Dinca was found responsible for murdering two teenage girls in 2019 at his home in Romania – but his last victim managed to make haunting phone calls before he ended her life
A petrified teenage girl had her chilling final words recorded before she was never heard from again.
Alexandra Macesanu had been kidnapped while hitchhiking before being chained to a bed, raped and murdered.
But before her death, the 15-year-old girl managed to make three distressing calls to the police, with the heartbreaking conversations causing mass outrage in Romania. Five years on, we look back at the disturbing case.
Haunting final words
Alexandra was raised by her parents in a small village on the outskirts of the southern city of Caracal. In July 2019, after spending time with pals in the city, she tried to hitchhike home to Dobrosloveni.
She got into the car of mechanic Gheorghe Dinca, a man in his 60s, who locked the doors and forced her to put a blindfold on after stopping minutes later. The monster took her to his home near Caracal where he tied her to a bed and raped her.
But a day after being kidnapped, Alexandra managed to get the phone of her abductor and she make three distressed phone calls to the police on the 112 emergency number.
In one part of the conversation, she is believed to have cried: “Please stay with me on the line, I’m really scared.” But an officer reportedly told her: “I can’t stay on the line with you, miss, I have other calls.”
They added: “Stay there, a police car will come without fail, in two-three minutes… what the hell, calm down, the car is en route.” Begging, she also said: “Oh no, he’s coming back, he’s come back here… Please come quickly, please.”
She called again, but was encouraged to hang up, before she desperately tried a third time. According to transcripts, she said: “Please, did you send anyone here? I am terrified. I am scared of the man. He beat me.”
Murder
The traumatising transcript was later released on Facebook by her uncle – and the handling of the case led to the Romanian national police chief, Ioan Buda, being fired, along with four other officials.
That’s partly because it emerged that cops stood outside the home of the suspect for seven hours while waiting for a warrant, despite not actually needing one. This led to thousands of people protesting against the government because of the slow response.
Some 19 hours after Alexandra begged for help, they finally entered the home of Dinca, who actually admitted to murdering the girl. He also confessed to killing another teenage girl, Luiza Melenc, 18, who had been missing since April. He said he burned the bodies –but he later changed his mind and denied being a murderer.
Cops found charred bones and body parts in a barrel and the organised crime unit later said analysis showed “the genetic profile of one person, Alexandra Macesanu”. Her jewellery was also found at the property.
Prosecutor Georgiana Hosu said: “Gheorghe Dinca has been charged with murder. He is suspected of having killed Alexandra after having kidnapped and raped her.” She added that it was believed the teenager was killed shortly after trying to call for assistance.
Former president Klaus Iohannis told the public at the time: “Those responsible will have to face harsh punishment. Sentences, however harsh, do not bring back lost lives. We must identify means to prevent such tragedies from ever being repeated.”
Trial
Dinca stood trial in August 2022 and was sentenced to 30 years in prison (the maximum sentence for someone over 65 can receive) for human trafficking, child trafficking, aggravated murder, rape and desecration of corpses in relation to the two teenage girls. He was also found to have an accomplice, Stefan Risipiteanu, who was sentenced to 12 years in jail for rape.
The court also ordered Dinca to pay a total of €700,000 (approx £584,00) in moral damages to the families of his victims Luiza Melenc and Alexandra Macesanu.