He was declared dead, but he has been walking around Bulgaria undisturbed for years. The strange case of the man found with a tent in the “Pirin” natural park is like something out of a thriller movie. Was he running from loan sharks or from justice, is he in a stable mental state? Are there any living relatives and what do they think of someone they once lost, then accepted and declared dead, only to be resurrected these days as a mountain hermit? NOVA reporter Natalia Yordanova followed the trail of the Pirin thriller and found the man's relatives.
In the fall of 2013, Boyan disappeared from his home in Novo Selo, where he lived with his mother. They bought the house years ago.
„Grandma Todorka has been living in Novo Selo for 20 years. She only came with him. His two sisters live in Ruse”, commented Mariela Yordanova, former mayor of Novo Selo.
She also says that Boyan and his mother had average financial means. He published a book of crossword puzzles, and he also got a job in the village.
„He worked at the grain depot to help himself, because apparently the crossword puzzles he did were not enough for him to make ends meet”, said Mariela.
In an attempt to understand the reasons that led to Boyan's disappearance without a trace, we are looking for his acquaintances and neighbors both in Novo Selo and in Ruse - in the Energetik block, where many years ago he lived as a family with his wife and son. Most refused to appear on camera, but their impressions of him are that he is smart and hardworking. He broke up with his child's mother a long time ago. She left for Britain, the apartment was sold, and the last they knew about his son was that he was living in Varna. He did not maintain contact with his sisters. And his disappearance was preceded by unpleasant incidents.
“I know from his mother that some people to whom he owed money were chasing him. They smashed his car to scare him. Shortly after that he disappeared”, explained Yordanova.
The former mayor's words are also confirmed by his acquaintances, according to whom Boyan was quite in debt and was being pursued by collection companies, and a bailiff went to the house to take inventory.
The assumptions were that Boyan suffered from addiction and that is why he fell into a debt spiral. Neighbors also noticed unknown cars in the village, which circled around the family's house. According to Teodor Kotsev, who owns a property nearby, the man did not want to be a burden to his mother and child, so he preferred to disappear.
“This was most likely his goal - to stop the harassment of them by disappearing,” Yordanova explained.
And his mother Todorka experienced the disappearance very hard. She went to the police, went around neighboring villages in search of some trace.
“I helped her, prepared documentation and was in the know the whole time she was looking for him. He had a wife, a son, they also made some attempts to find him, but they did not succeed. For every mother, this is the hardest thing. The woman was crying constantly”, Yordanova also said.
At that moment, not only Teodor Kotsev and Mariela Yordanova were next to Boyan's mother, but also lawyer Rumyana Kostova. She also did not want to stand in front of the camera, but said that Boyan had also been beaten. Therefore, after years of unsuccessful attempts to find him, despite the national and international search, the mother resigned herself to the thought that Boyan was not among the living.
In 2020, they filed documents with the District Court in Ruse. From the court act that NOVA has, it is clear that the Ministry of Interior had initiated a search, but there was no data on his whereabouts after 2013. Witnesses testified that Boyan was being pursued by loan sharks and bailiffs. The Ruse District Prosecutor's Office was also heard, which confirmed that more than the required five years had passed without any data on this person, which suggests that the person is not alive. As a result of the clarified factual situation, the District Court accepted that Boyan Ivanov died on December 31, 2013. The Ruse Municipality issued a death certificate.
A week ago, Boyan's mother learned from television that her son was alive, but had not contacted her. Together with Mariela Yordanova, our team went to Todorka's home, but the house turned out to be locked. According to the caregiver, the elderly woman was in serious health, refused to be photographed or talk to journalists. Her only desire was to see her son. After he was accidentally found in Pirin and detained by the police in Bansko until his identity was clarified, the 62-year-old Ruse resident is again missing. However, a legal procedure is underway to cancel the death certificate and restore his identity, explained former judge Eleonora Nikolova.
“In the same order in which he is declared dead, there is a rule in Art. 552 of the Civil Procedure Code, where evidence is collected to establish that the person is alive”, she explained.
The evidence that must be applied is Boyan's confession of his identity at the police station in Bansko, through recognition by relatives or through a DNA test that can easily be compared with some of his relatives.
As for whether Boyan committed a crime with his disappearance, Nikolova is categorical:
“Not at all. He is a normal person and cannot be accused of a criminal offense. Apparently the motive was to hide from creditors who were pursuing him. By the way, many young people leave the country and stay abroad for many years precisely for this reason”.
Boyan's return to life will begin through legal means, after the Ruse prosecutor's office receives all the collected documents from its colleagues in Blagoevgrad.