No Charges Against Son In Dad’s Death Younger Filipov Arrested After Parent’s Heart Attack

A Coeur d’Alene man arrested for allegedly killing his father by causing the elderly man’s heart attack has been released from jail.

The Kootenai County Prosecutor decided Monday not to file charges against Ziva Filipov, 34, in regard to the Friday night death of 70-year-old Milorad Filipov.

Coeur d’Alene police arrested Ziva Filipov for investigation of second-degree murder after his father died during an argument Friday.

Officers believed Filipov had possibly caused his father’s heart attack by shaking him severely.

But “This case is fraught with reasonable doubt,” Kootenai County Prosecutor Bill Douglas said Monday after Filipov had been released from jail. “We spoke with the family at length and they feel very strongly that this man did not intend to cause the death of his father.”

Coeur d’Alene police were called to the Filipov home on Day Road for a domestic dispute at 7:45 p.m. Friday.

The widow, Aida Filipov, came out of the home, crying hysterically, according to a police report.

“My husband, he is dead, he is dead,” she told officers.

When officers went in the house, they found Ziva Filipov crying and repeatedly saying, “My father is dead.”

Officers were told that the older Filipov had been arguing with his son about his son’s drinking problem. Milorad Filipov was upset because the younger man had been drinking alcohol that night, even though he is currently on probation for drunken driving, Lt. Walt Roeske said.

The mother and father forced the younger Filipov to leave the house, Roeske said. They locked the doors to keep him out, but he then kicked in the door to get back inside, Roeske said.

The widow told police that Ziva Filipov grabbed his father by the shoulders and violently shook the older man, according to the police report.

Aida Filipov used a walking stick to poke and pry her son off her husband, Roeske said. The younger man’s sister then took the walking stick and hit her brother in the head in an attempt to get him to stop arguing with their father, Roeske said.

When the two men stopped grappling with each other, the older man sat down and then had a heart attack, Roeske said.

Ziva Filipov was first arrested on suspicion of battery and then on suspicion of second-degree murder.

“Because of the circumstance involved and the probable cause we had at the time, we felt that was the correct charge at the time,” Roeske said.

He said officers felt at the time that Filipov may have had the “malice aforethought” necessary for second-degree murder because Ziva Filipov had kicked in the door and gone back into the home after he was ordered to leave.

But Douglas said that after talking to the family he determined that the case did not warrant such a severe charge.

“It would have been a real stretch to charge him with any homicide charge,” Douglas said.

Milorad Filipov previously had a stroke and suffered from diabetes, Douglas said.

Coeur d’Alene police declined to comment on the county prosecutor’s decision not to file charges.

The city prosecutor’s office - which handles lesser charges - will still have the option of filing a battery charge against Ziva Filipov, Douglas said.

“I think this family needs to be allowed to grieve,” Douglas said.

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