Police in Aruba are investigating what they are calling the murder-suicide of a beloved Chicago area couple who owned a gym and cafe.
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 “jumped” from his balcony and had no signs of life. He was found dead outside the hotel.
Officers and hotel staff then checked his room and found a deceased woman, whom they later identified as his wife, Cristina ‘Gatia’ Jovic, 52.
Police did not say how Cristina died.
The couple owned Morton Grove’s Steel Fitness and Steel Fitness Cafe at 5814 Dempster St.
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’s door.
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.
Megan Mason, a bodybuilder who joined the gym recently, was leaving after a workout Wednesday afternoon.
“They were a super nice, super supportive couple,” Mason said.
The Jovics were very involved in the bodybuilding community and were known for attending every bodybuilding event and fundraiser, Mason said.
Gym staffer Konstantinos Grigoriou, of Skokie, who also was leaving the gym, said he has been working as a trainer there for about five years.
“I’ve known Boris for a long time, that duration. Cristina, too, very nice individuals, very nice couple,” Grigoriou said.
“Very respectful to others, not only their staff. But respectful of, you know, the rest of the guys, the trainers and the café crew. They treat people with respect,” Grigoriou, 39, said.
“When you walk in the gym, they just made everything more lively, more enjoyable,” Grigoriou said. “They will definitely be missed.”
Boris was a “great trainer,” and a “great coach,” Grigoriou said, adding that a few of his clients won bodybuilding events.
“He’s a great business owner. He is a great father,” Grigoriou said of Boris.
A GoFundMe launched by Cristina’s relatives to raise funds for her funeral arrangements and other related expenses has raised more than $34,000 since the fundraiser began Monday.
“Our hearts are broken beyond words,” the organizer wrote. “She poured her heart into her family and was deeply passionate about health and fitness, always encouraging others to become the best version of themselves.”
The page remembered Cristina as “a proud mother of five, a loving grandmother, a devoted daughter, loving sister, cherished aunt, and a dear friend to so many.”
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