A Moscow businessman was charged Monday with killing his wife and two daughters, ages 7 and 16, over the weekend after he couldn't pay off his company's large debts.
Yury Merkind walked into a police station in Vladimir, a city located about 200 kilometers northeast of Moscow, late Saturday and told the police that he had shot dead his family earlier in the day because of his financial problems, the Investigative Committee said in a statement.
"He didn't want the family to become hostage to his financial difficulties and debts," a law enforcement official told Interfax.
Merkind, who owns a printing company, could only repay 12 million rubles ($406,000) of the 26 million rubles that he owed to angry lenders, Kommersant reported. He feared that the lenders would kill his family if he failed to come up with the money, the report said.
Merkind is 51, Itar-Tass reported.
Merkind's adult son found the bodies of Merkind's wife, Inna Chernyshyova, 37, and two daughters in their apartment on Ryazansky Prospekt in southeastern Moscow several hours before Merkind turned himself in to police, investigators said.
Police believe that Merkind had planned to commit suicide. A note was found in his apartment that read, "We died of our own will."
"At first he was going to commit a suicide after killing his wife and children, but for some reason he gave up the idea and decided to run away," the law enforcement official told Interfax.
Merkind initially set out for St. Petersburg but for some reason changed course and arrived in Vladimir, the report said.
The Investigative Committee filed charges of multiple homicide and illegal arms trafficking against Merkind on Monday. If convicted, he faces up to life in prison.
Merkind will now be required to undergo a psychological examination.
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