The telltale coffee wrapper: How a fragment of packaging led to the arrest of the man behind a Romanian businessman’s murder

A fragment of coffee packaging found at the scene where the house of murdered Sibiu businessman Adrian Kreiner was surveilled led to the identification of one of the three criminals who robbed and killed him. The method by which this identification occurred is outlined in the ruling from the Alba County Court.

Specifically, law enforcement found a piece of packaging, analyzed the DNA from it, and compared it with data from European databases, according to a report by Alba24.

This led them to a name that appeared in a database originating from Slovenia: Costi Cosmin Zuleam. Investigators later determined that he was the leader of the group.

Prior to the attack, the three suspects had watched Kreiner’s house for two days. They conducted the surveillance from an abandoned building directly across the street.

It was in this building that forensic experts found a fragment of coffee packaging, a “green-colored piece of wrapping.”

The object was analyzed by investigators, who concluded, “(…) during the examination, a green-colored fragment of wrapping, most likely from an instant coffee packet, was identified and collected.”

Following the analysis of this fragment at the National Forensic Institute of the Romanian police (I.G.P.R)., it was determined that the piece contained a mixture of genetic profiles. From this, a partial, unique profile was extracted and then matched against European databases, resulting in two matches: one in Slovenia and another in another country, both belonging to the same individual—Costi Cosmin Zuleam, born on May 6, 1992, in Valea Stanciului, Dolj County, according to the court’s ruling.

 

In short, Zuleam had been convicted of multiple thefts across different European countries, and his genetic profile had been included in a European database in Slovenia.

Once Zuleam was identified, investigators followed the trail and discovered his accomplices. Ghiță and Minae were arrested in Scotland and Ireland, respectively, and are currently in preventive detention at Aiud Penitentiary.

Zuleam, however, remains at large. He is wanted internationally and appears in the „Most Wanted” section on the Romanian Police website.

The Sibiu Murder Case

The three men accused of murder came to Romania in October 2023 with the intent to steal from several properties in Dolj, Argeș, and Sibiu counties, according to a statement from prosecutors.

Their first burglary occurred in Dolj County, followed by the attack in Sibiu at the residence of businessman Adrian Kreiner, whom they killed.

“On October 29 and 30, 2023, the three defendants arrived in Romania with the intention of committing several burglaries in Dolj, Argeș, and Sibiu counties.

They stayed at the home of an individual in Dumbrăvița, Timiș County, where they finalized the criminal plan they carried out in the following days.

First, they decided to steal goods from Sadova, Dolj County, from the home and store of a local businessman.

The defendants borrowed the car of the person hosting them and traveled to Dolj County. Upon arriving in Craiova, to make identification more difficult, they stole the license plates of a car parked in a suburban neighborhood of the city and mounted them on the vehicle they were using.

On the night of November 1 to 2, 2023, they arrived in Sadova. While one of the defendants kept watch over the area, the other two, masked and acting as co-perpetrators, broke into the victims’ properties using a set of genuine keys and deactivated part of the security system. They stole a total of 3,000 lei and four Danish-made women’s watches of the Skagen brand, worth a total of 3,600 lei,” the Sibiu prosecutors explained.

In November 2023, the three defendants abandoned plans to carry out two additional burglaries in Pitești, one at a doctor’s house and the other at a businessman’s home, according to the same source.

Adrian Kreiner was beaten so severely that he died in the hospital as a result of his injuries.

“On November 6, 2024, the defendants, wearing balaclavas, entered the yard and home of the Kreiner family at 2:36 AM. They found the victim in the downstairs room and physically assaulted him, inflicting multiple acts of violence to his head, torso, and limbs.

Working together in a coordinated manner, the three proceeded to restrain Adrian Kreiner by tying his hands behind his back and immobilizing his legs with the same rope.

The victim was then placed face down in a position similar to that of a boat, which caused extreme suffering.

Hearing noises, the businessman’s daughter, who was upstairs in a bedroom, came down to the living room, where she saw one of the assailants, who noticed her as well. The victim returned to her bedroom, where she called emergency services at 112.

Two of the defendants followed her and broke into the room by kicking down the locked door,” the Sibiu Prosecutor’s Office stated.

The three men stole 16 watches worth over 200,000 euros and threatened to kill the businessman’s daughter, who survived because she managed to call 112 and alert the police.

“Through the use of threats and physical violence, they stole from the businessman’s daughter approximately 40 euros and 100 lei that she had in her wallet, as well as 16 watches of various brands from a piece of furniture, with a total value exceeding 200,000 euros.

The victim was asked to indicate where the money was hidden, and when she said she didn’t know, the assailants realized that the police had been alerted and decided to leave.

One of the defendants warned her not to leave the room or he would kill her, stating that he would go to kill her father at that moment.

At the end of their criminal activity, this defendant returned to Adrian Kreiner and performed a mechanical asphyxiation maneuver that interrupted blood flow to the brain, leading to a coma,” the Sibiu prosecutors said.

The stolen watches were found hidden in the car of one of the three men accused of murder.

“On the morning of November 6, 2023, the three defendants left separately for Deva, where they met up, and with the car left there, they traveled to Dumbrăvița, later leaving the country to evade criminal responsibility.

In the car of one of the defendants, which is in the custody of Scottish authorities, the 16 stolen watches were found hidden in the engine block compartment, inside a pouch,” according to the statement from the Sibiu Prosecutor’s Office.

“On the morning of November 2, 2023, the three defendants continued their criminal activities and traveled to Pitești, where they surveilled the home of a doctor and that of a businessman in the area, individuals they believed to have significant amounts of money in their homes.

The defendants abandoned the burglaries after determining that the conditions were not optimal for carrying out their plan,” the Sibiu Prosecutor’s Office added.

Before robbing the Sibiu businessman, the three defendants had monitored his home and noticed that the motion sensors on his fence were not activated.

“The three returned to Dumbrăvița, and on November 4, 2023, one of the defendants asked their host to drive him and his partner to Sibiu, implying to their host that the woman would be engaging in prostitution in the area.

All three of them traveled to Deva, where they picked up the other two defendants, who had driven to that location with one of their own cars.

They continued their journey in the host’s car to Sibiu, where they rented an apartment for three days.

The three stayed in Sibiu, while the woman and the host returned to Dumbrăvița.

On the evening of November 4, 2024, the defendants went to the street where Adrian Kreiner’s home was located. One of the defendants had learned from an acquaintance that Kreiner was a wealthy businessman with valuable assets in his home.

They conducted surveillance of the residence from an abandoned building across the street, and the following night, after realizing that the motion sensors on the fence were not activated, they decided to carry out their criminal plan,” according to the press release.