{"id":500134,"date":"2026-01-08T00:39:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T00:39:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/500134\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T00:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T00:39:16","slug":"chicago-area-man-jumped-from-aruba-hotel-after-killing-wife-in-apparent-murder-suicide-police-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/500134\/","title":{"rendered":"Chicago area man jumped from Aruba hotel after killing wife in apparent murder-suicide, police say"},"content":{"rendered":"

Police in Aruba are investigating what they are calling the murder-suicide of a beloved Chicago area couple who owned a gym and cafe. <\/p>\n

Aruba police citing initial reports said officers responded to a call at 8:45 a.m. Sunday at the St. Regis Hotel and found that Boris Jovic, 45, had \u201cjumped\u201d from his floor balcony and had no signs of life. He was found dead outside the hotel.<\/p>\n

Officers and hotel staff then checked his room and found a deceased woman, who they later identified as his wife, Cristina \u2018Gatia\u2019 Jovic, 52. <\/p>\n

Police did not say how Cristina died. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Gatia.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Cristina \u2018Gatia\u2019 Jovic, 52, died Sunday, Jan. 4, 2025 in Aruba with her husband Boris Jovic in what police were calling an apparent murder-suicide.<\/p>\n

The couple owned Morton Grove\u2019s Steel Fitness and Steel Fitness Cafe, 5814 Dempster St. <\/p>\n

Wednesday afternoon outside the cafe, a memorial to Cristina, who ran the cafe, was growing. Bunches of colorful flowers, candles and condolence cards with photos of gym patrons rested on a bench at the cafe\u2019s door. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"flowers-cristina.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Flowers surround photos of Cristina Jozic in a memorial outside the gym she co-owned, Steel Fitness Gym in Morton Grove, after Jozic and her husband died earlier this week at a resort in Aruba, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2025. <\/p>\n

A separate memorial for Boris Jovic, erected inside the gym, included two framed pictures of him set up on a small, cloth-covered table, one in a heart-shaped frame and another black and white photograph. Several flower arrangements, candles and a rosary were placed next to the pictures. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"BorisMemorial.jpg\"<\/p>\n

Flowers surround photos of Boris Jozic in a memorial outside the gym he co-owned, Steel Fitness Gym in Morton Grove, after Jozic and his wife died earlier this week at a resort in Aruba, Wednesday, Jan. 7, 2025<\/p>\n

Megan Mason, a bodybuilder who joined the gym recently, was leaving after a workout Wednesday afternoon. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey were a super nice, super supportive couple,\u201d Mason said. <\/p>\n

The Jovics were very involved in the bodybuilding community and were known for attending every bodybuilding event and fundraiser, Mason said. <\/p>\n

Gym staffer Konstantinos Grigoriou, 39 and of Skokie, also was leaving the gym, said he has been working as a trainer there for about five years. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve known Boris for a long time, that duration. Cristina, too, very nice individuals, very nice couple,\u201d Grigoriou said.<\/p>\n

\u201cVery respectful to others, not only their staff. But respectful of, you know, the rest of the guys, the trainers and the caf\u00e9 crew. They treat people with respect,\u201d Grigoriou said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you walk in the gym, they just made everything more lively, more enjoyable,\u201d Grigoriou said. \u201c<\/b>They will definitely be missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Boris was a \u201cgreat trainer,\u2019’ and a \u201cgreat coach,\u201d Grigoriou said, adding a few of his clients won bodybuilding events. <\/p>\n

\u201c<\/b>He\u2019s a great business owner. He is a great father,\u201d Grigoriou said of Boris.<\/p>\n

A GoFundMe<\/a> launched by Cristina\u2019s relatives to raise funds for her funeral arrangements and other related expenses has raised more than $34,000 since the fundraiser began on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur hearts are broken beyond words,\u201d the organizer wrote. \u201cShe poured her heart into her family and was deeply passionate about health and fitness, always encouraging others to become the best version of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The page remembered Cristina as \u201ca proud mother of five, a loving grandmother, a devoted daughter, loving sister, cherished aunt, and a dear friend to so many.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Police in Aruba are investigating what they are calling the murder-suicide of a beloved Chicago area couple who…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":500135,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5124],"tags":[960,5386,1818],"class_list":{"0":"post-500134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago","8":"tag-chicago","9":"tag-il","10":"tag-illinois"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115856694786663462","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=500134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/500134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/500135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=500134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=500134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=500134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}