Residents of Tumare village, inhabited mostly by the Serb returnees, live in fear ever since one of their neighbours, an old woman, disappeared late July under still unresolved circumstances. They were again shocked this week, when another woman was found in her house tied to a chair, half-naked. Police are investigating both cases, according to their brief response to comment on the incidents.

Despite efforts of the civil protection teams, mountain rescue service teams, and police, Jovanka Djuric, the woman who went missing late July, has not been found. Daughter Gordana told N1 that she has no information about her mother.

Although police suggested she might have gone willingly somewhere, as there were no signs of violence in her house, Gordana has doubts about that.

“What kind of resistance could show a 89-year-old woman, who weighs some 50 kilos, is wearing glasses, which I found on the coffee table and showed to the police, the cane, the clothes that were folded on the chair a day before, a rug in front of the couch was wet, there is no phone, it was ringing somewhere,…all that did not indicate a murder to them, a kidnaping,… a thin mattress, a coverlet, a sheet, and a small blanket are also missing from the bed,” she said, speaking to N1 reporter.

She assumes someone tried to rob her mother, maybe even hit her, and then took the body to conceal the evidence.

Andjelko Petrovic, a local, helped the teams search the area. He is losing hope.

“People gave 300 percent, the ones to be praised are mountain rescue services of Lukavac, Tuzla, Zivinice, Banovic, Zepce, they gave their best. No one else, even police,” said Petrovic, adding that police were constantly suggesting them to go to the prosecutors, who were returning them to the “starting point.”

“It has been 18 days,” he stressed, adding that they are still waiting for the call record from a mobile operator, Mtel, or to locate Jovana's device.

The village was then again shocked on Wednesday after another neihgbour was found tied to a chair and half-naked.

Majority of around a hundred of locals who live in the village has already left their homes and found a shelter with their relatives.

Milka Djuric is one of the rare people who stayed. She lives alone and is scared to go out, to take care of her animals, do daily errands.

Locals also claim that one of their neighbours was attacked in the middle of the day. The identity of the perpetrator has not been found out to this day.

Edin Delic, Lukavac Mayor, called on the police agencies to “give support to the families so that they can feel safe.”

Nerin Dizdar, the Minister for Displaced Persons and Refugees of Bosnia's Federation entity, a majority Bosniak-Croat region in the country where this returnee village is located, has visited Tumare on Thursday.

He also called on the police to provide the protection to the returnees.

Police have not issued any official information on this case. Unofficially, the investigation is ongoing on several aspects of these cases, and specific results are expected in the near future when it comes to the latest incident. As for the case of the missing woman, the police say they are doing everything in their power.