MOSCOW, October 9 (RIA Novosti) – Moscow police have detained three suspects in the killing of a young woman whose mutilated body was found near a park made infamous by a five-year murder spree by a man dubbed the “Chessboard Killer.”
A police spokesman gave no further comments, but a law-enforcement source familiar with the case said the woman was apparently killed in a drunken brawl in her apartment.
“The girl was killed in her apartment in the Zyuzino district [a residential area adjacent to the park], and the body was subsequently taken to Bittsa Park to conceal the crime,” the source said.
The woman, who police said was in her 20s, showed signs of a violent death and was missing her hair, an ear and had sustained several injuries to the neck and other parts of the body.
“The body was lying in the park for some time, so small rodents ate a part of the skin on her head. That’s why the media initially reported a scalping wound on her head. In fact, the murderer did not remove the woman’s scalp,” the source said.
He added that police had received numerous calls about domestic violence at the apartment, but the woman’s boyfriend was not among the suspects.
"One of the suspects confessed to the killing, the involvement of the second is being investigated,” he said.
The third man, detained some time later, is suspected of providing a car to transport the body to the park.
Bittsa Park, a sprawling natural area in southern Moscow, was where Alexander Pichushkin, dubbed “Chessboard Killer” by the media, killed most of his 49 known victims between 2001 and 2006.
Pichushkin, who was said to keep count of people he killed on a chessboard, which consists of 64 places, used to lure his victims into the woods and ply them with vodka before battering them to death. He was sentenced to life in prison in October 2007.
