Investigative bodies of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation will establish all circumstances and causes of a murder of a 7-year-old boy. In the evening of October 23, 2018, a resident of Zheleznogorsk had reported his 7-year-old son missing. The Kursk Regional Office of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation had immediately launched a probe into an offence under Part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of Russia (murder).

Investigative bodies of the Investigative Committee of Russia; officers of the Russian Ministry for Internal Affairs; volunteers including search-and-rescue group Lisa Alert, and concerned citizens had immediately started to search for the child and had done their utmost to find the boy alive. The investigative experience into probes like this shows that, in most cases, such close cooperation and interaction gives positive results and contributes to finding of children safe and sound. Unfortunately, that time the boy had been found murdered.

It was possible to preliminary establish what had happened, due to cooperation between investigators of the Kursk Regional Office of the Investigative Committee of the Russia, forensic experts of the Central Office of the Investigative Committee of Russia that had arrived to the site, and officers of the Ministry for Internal Affairs. According to the current information of the investigators, in the afternoon of October 23, around 3 p.m., the suspect, a 39-year-old man, had met his 7-year-old neighbour in the elevator of the building they had both lived in. Under a false pretext, he had lured the boy into his apartment, where, as the investigation suggests, he had committed sexual violence against the child and murdered him in order to avoid punishment for his deed. Then he had put the body of the child in a large gym bag and brought it to Troyanovo rural settlement, where he had hidden the body in a forest outside his garden plot.

The investigators conducted an inspection of the burial place; they are currently examining the crime scene and interrogating the detained suspect. A number of forensic examinations including a psychiatric evaluation will be carried out in the nearest future. The investigation intends to motion the court to rule to keep the suspect in custody.

We shall remind that the Investigative Committee of Russia, in collaboration with representative of the public and state stakeholders including the Ministry for Internal Affairs, EMERCOM, Ministry for Defence, and the National Guard of Russian Federation, had developed and signed a regulatory act on an algorithm of interaction between state agencies, volunteer organizations, and volunteers in arranging and carrying out searches of missing citizens, including minors. As we have noted above, this algorithm has been successfully applied and makes it possible to find alive most of the missing people, including minors. For instance, three teenagers were found alive in Saratov Region due to joint efforts of volunteers and law enforcement agencies. In Kirov Region, a teenager that left home on July 16, 2018, was found safe and sound. A 12-year-old girl was also found alive in Saratov. And there are many other stories with a positive outcome.

However, the time factor is essential for a successful search. According to conducted research, about 70% of minors kidnapped in order to commit a sexual violence against them die in the first three hours. If a child is lost in a natural environment, the causes of death also directly depend on time factors: hypothermia, dehydration, exhaustion, injuries from falling into pits and hatches.

The Investigative Committee urges citizens not to remain indifferent to reports about missing children. Any information or detail that might seem insignificant at first glance may be important for rescue of a missing child, as well as for identification of a range of persons involved directly or indirectly in a death of a minor. To report any information that might be useful for the investigation into the above-mentioned murder of the child in Kursk Region, please call: +7(4712)703673.

According to the investigation experience, the incoming information might possibly link the detainee to other similar offences. For instance, earlier a dangerous criminal, who had kidnapped a girl and had appeared to be involved in a murder of a teenager and acts of sexual violence against two children in Perm Territory, was arrested in Orenburg Region with help of volunteers.

Alexander Bastrykin, the Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia, instructs his subordinates to investigate all offences against minors in a careful, comprehensive and objective manner, since the motto of the Committee is “No child is somebody else’s.”