MOSCOW, October 19 (RIA Novosti) – A murder and arson investigation has been opened in southern Russia after the body of a priest was found in the trunk of his crashed car and his house burned down, investigators said Saturday.
Traffic police officers discovered the body of the 61-year-old Russian Orthodox priest in the trunk of his Audi, which had crashed into a tree in the town of Belorechensk in the Krasnodar Region, Russia’s Investigative Committee said in a statement on its website Saturday. The body of the priest, who was not named by investigators, showed signs of head injuries, the statement said.
Investigators said there had also been a fire at the priest’s home, and that traces of gasoline were discovered inside the building after the fire was extinguished.
A police source told RIA Novosti a man suspected of the killing has been arrested. “He is a local citizen,” the source said adding that according to preliminary data, the murder was “domestic crime” and was not committed on religious grounds.
Russia’s Investigative Committee has confirmed that the attacker was a 38-year-old former husband of the priest’s wife, who had a property dispute with the woman.
Investigators said earlier on Saturday a local man with whom the priest had fallen out was suspected of involvement in the crime and a search for him was ongoing.
The murder is the second killing of an Orthodox cleric in Russia in recent months. In August, Pavel Adelgeim, a respected and outspoken 75-year-old priest, was stabbed to death in the northwest city of Pskov. Police charged a 27-year-old man who was reportedly suffering from an unspecified mental illness with the murder.
Updates with suspect's detention, details.
