News

The Sebastopol Office of the Russia’s Investigative Committee has finished criminal proceedings against a 35-year-old local resident charged with killing four people aggravated with robbery, rapes and sexual abuse under Part 2, items “a”, “h” and “j” of Article 131 of the RF penal Code. He is also charged with four counts of rapes aggravated with death threats under Part 2, item “b” of Article 131 and sexual abuse with a death threat under Part 2, item “b” of Article 132, four counts of robbery using violence and entailing grievous bodily harm under Part 4, item “c’ of Article 162, attempted robbery-related murder under Part 3 of Article 30, Part 2, item “h” of Article 105, robbery under Part 1 of Article 162 and attempted rape with a death threat under Part 3 of Article 30, Part 2, item “b” of Article 131 of the RF Penal Code.

The investigators have revealed that the man committed a number of major crimes from 2009 to 2016 in Nakhimovsky, Leninsky and Gagarinsky Districts of Sebastopol. On the night of 17 January 2009, he attacked a 60-year-old woman on a bus stop in Admiral Makarov Street. He beat, raped and then choked the woman to death. He stole from her a silver chain with a cross and a mobile phone. Under similar circumstances, a 26-year-old woman was raped and killed on 16 December 2010 in a residential block in Pobedy Avenue, a 20-year-old female university student on 23 December 2014 in Victory Park and a 37-year-old woman on 1 September 2015 near a house in Khrustalyova Street. The man committed all of the murders under influence and from all of his victims he stole gold jewelry and other valuables.

The investigators managed to find a survivor. On the night of 1 February 2011, the man was in a taxi with a young woman and he notice that she was wearing some jewelry. He got off at the same stop, Pobedy Avenue, and followed her to blocks of flats in Akmolinskaya Street. He then attacked her, tried to rape and kill. The young woman fought back: she bit him on the hand, broke out and started screaming for help. The man had to flee not to be caught.

The series of crimes was solved by solely forensic method by investigators of the Investigative Committee’s Sebastopol Office and criminalists of the Central Office using latest forensic techniques and equipment not available in Sebastopol before. In addition to other evidence, DNA was found on crime scenes and victims which matched the suspect’s DNA.

The man was detained on 21 January 2016 with assistance of OMON Berkut special force agents and operatives of the Sebastopol Police Department. It was a quiet and unremarkable 35-year-old man with a wife and two children. He was a constructor and had no police records. During the 2009 investigation in the murder of the 60-year-old woman the man had gotten attention of the law enforcers, but was released by a court due to lack of evidence. The suspect was detained as a result of committed work aimed at solving the crimes of past years. He signed the confession and told the investigators about the circumstances surrounding his crimes.

The investigators have enough evidence, so the criminal case has been forwarded for the indictment to be signed and will then be referred to court.