On March 28, 2010—just fifteen days before the disappearance of five-year-old Mirsada Heldović—four-and-a-half-year-old Dane Memedi vanished from the Sredorek Roma settlement in Kumanovo, North Macedonia. Dane was last seen playing outside with a wheelchair near his family’s home. His disappearance occurred in the late afternoon, and early accounts indicate that the child was outside briefly and then was suddenly no longer visible to family members or neighbors. There were no verified witnesses who saw him leave the area, no reports of him walking away, and no confirmed sightings afterward.

During the initial search, Dane’s family and neighbors focused on the Kumanovka River, which runs near the settlement and had recently risen due to seasonal weather. At first, drowning was considered a possible explanation. Residents and volunteers searched the riverbank and surrounding terrain. However, no body, clothing, or personal belongings were ever recovered from the water or nearby areas. This lack of physical evidence gradually weakened the drowning theory, especially after Mirsada went missing under similarly abrupt circumstances two weeks later.

Residents of Sredorek reported the presence of a suspicious black jeep with Bulgarian license plates in the area in the days surrounding Dane’s disappearance. Witnesses described the jeep as an unfamiliar vehicle that appeared to be “circling” or repeatedly passing through the settlement. At the time, this detail did not seem definitive enough to draw firm conclusions, but when a nearly identical vehicle was seen near Bavči during Mirsada’s disappearance, the pattern became harder to ignore. The repetition of the same detail in two unconnected Roma communities strongly suggested the possibility of targeted activity.

During the search for Dane, families accuse authorities of providing minimal involvement, leaving most early efforts to residents themselves. There are no public reports indicating that investigators conducted a structured forensic search, systematic canvassing, or door-to-door questioning beyond initial contacts. There is also no indication that police treated his disappearance as a likely abduction, despite the absence of evidence supporting accidental drowning or voluntary wandering. The limited initial response created gaps that may have hindered later investigative possibilities.

Today, the disappearance of Dane Memedi remains unresolved.