Oleg Belov, the man suspected of slaughtering his children, pregnant wife and elderly mother, could also be charged with raping and killing a 19-year-old girl in 2014 after it emerged that a sketch of the attacker created back then matched his appearance, the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reported Wednesday.
The teenager's body was found in an abandoned building in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, the report said — the same city in which Belov's family was killed. The portrait of the killer was composed based on footage from security cameras in the area that recorded a suspicious man following the girl. The police will now investigate Belov's possible involvement in the crime.
Belov was arrested on Tuesday, several hours after the dismembered remains of his six children and pregnant wife were found in the family's apartment in Nizhny Novgorod and his mother's corpse was discovered in a hole in the yard of her dacha in the neighboring Vladimir region. Belov was discovered hiding in the dacha of his mother-in-law in the Vladimir region, prompting speculation she was to become his next victim.
The man behaved aggressively when confronted by police officers, who shot Belov in the stomach when he tried to stab one of them. He underwent surgery in a hospital in the Vladimir region and was later transferred to Nizhny Novgorod. Upon regaining consciousness, Belov asked for forgiveness, Komsomolskaya Pravda reported. He was put under arrest, but remains in the hospital.
According to his mother-in-law, Valentina Zaitseva, Belov was diagnosed with schizophrenia years ago. Zaitseva told reporters that her son-in-law, a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, often fought with her daughter Yulia and beat her.
His wife had filed several complaints to the police about Belov beating her and threatening to murder her and the children and dismember their bodies, but to no avail. As a result, five negligence cases have been launched against police officers, the Interfax news website reported Wednesday. The officers have been suspended from their duties pending the investigation, the report said.
In 2011, local officials tried to give sole custody of the Belov children to his wife and deprive him of his parental rights, but Belova reportedly asked the court not to do so. In 2015, media reports claim, she applied for a divorce and asked the authorities to deprive her husband of parental rights, but failed to attend the court hearing.
Contact the author at d.litvinova@imedia.ru
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