A former pro wrestler known as the "Croatian Giant" found slain in his rural Manitoba home last weekend had recently expressed concerns about his safety and was in the middle of a court battle stemming from a three-week marriage.
Ivan Radocaj, 43, had filed documents last month claiming he was tricked into a fraudulent wedding in July by a woman who was only after his money -- including a $49,000 Manitoba Public Insurance settlement relating to a car crash that left him with a broken neck.
Ivan Radocaj was found dead inside his Inwood home on Friday.
Radocaj also claimed his wife had vowed to send Winnipeg street gang members after him following their bitter break-up. His father, Josip, filed an affidavit Monday as part of an emergency court hearing seeking to have his son's assets frozen so that the woman couldn't attempt to sell them off.
"He was afraid of her connections with gangs and traffickers and he felt (the woman) would have him killed," the father wrote in documents obtained by the Free Press.
"She sucked him into the marriage and tried to take him for all of his money."
Josip testified his son called last Wednesday, claiming the woman wanted to meet him to "settle matters" between them.
"I told him not to go because I was afraid for him. My son replied 'I will try' and that he would call me the following day. That's the last time I ever heard from him," he said.
Radocaj was found dead inside his Inwood home on Friday. An autopsy revealed he suffered "blunt force trauma." RCMP are continuing to investigate but no arrests have been made.
Radocaj -- who tipped the scales at close to 700 pounds before gastro-bypass surgery brought him down to 189 pounds -- married the woman on June 23 but claims the union ended three weeks later when she abruptly left.
The relationship was never consummated at the woman's request, according to Radocaj's evidence.
"She told me she could take care of me as we age," Radocaj said in an Aug. 28 affidavit reviewed by the Free Press.
Radocaj also claimed the woman had tried to break into his home in late July and had stolen some of his property on another occasion while he was away.
She had convinced him to buy the $108,000 house after they met in Winnipeg while she was living next door, he said.
Radocaj said he was lonely, had few female friends and agreed with her suggestion last spring to sell his Winnipeg home and move out to the country together.
He also purchased a 2002 Grand Am for her and bought other expensive items including crystal, court documents claim. All of those assets are now legally hers because Radocaj's attempts to nullify the marriage hadn't yet been resolved.
A Queen's Bench family court justice refused the family's attempts to freeze the assets on Monday, saying proper steps hadn't been taken to notify Radocaj's wife of the emergency court hearing.
The family's lawyer, Ellen Fleishman, told court that attempts to serve the woman on Monday were unsuccessful and it's believed she could be staying at a boyfriend's residence.
"There is a strong history of fraudulent events that led to this marriage of three weeks. There's a legitimate fear that all assets will be dissipated by her in a short period of time," said Fleishman in her submission to the court.
"We don't want her turning around and selling his property so that she can purchase drugs."
Fleishman noted the woman and her former boyfriend currently face charges of running a marijuana grow operation out of their North End home in July 2004. No trial dates have been set.
Another major concern of Radocaj's family is that the medical examiner won't give his body to his father and siblings because of the woman's legal stake in his life, said Fleishman.
Family members declined to comment following the court hearing.
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