In Russia, a man snatched his ex-girlfriend’s daughter from school, lured her into the woods before abusing and killing her as revenge.
Pavel Surkov, 35, is accused of raping and killing Valeria Pazukhina, 9. Pavel allegedly lured Valeria to a deserted place before raping her and strangling her to death.
Valeria’s body was found 600ft away from her house in the village of Neklyudovo.
Local media reported that Pavel met Valeria in the street on her way from school and lured her into the woods “to show her something interesting”.
The 9-year-old girl —who knew Surkov as her mother’s ex-boyfriend— followed him as she did not suspect anything wrong.
A CCTV footage showed Valeria’s last moments as she is seen walking next to Pavel.
The two reportedly entered the woods and reached an abandoned scrapyard where Pavel attacked Valeria.
Valeria’s relatives reported to the police that she had failed to return home from school.
Police officers conducted an investigation and found out where Valeria was last seen and started searching places along with hundreds of volunteers, and several hours later, the child’s body was found and had visible signs of violent death.
According to the medical examination, Valeria was indeed raped before she was strangled to death.
Meanwhile, Pavel was arrested and detained the next day while trying to leave the town in the early hours of the morning.
Pavel —whose pictures were posted online by the hunting police— was spotted at a bus stop by locals.
“He was sitting on a bench and waiting for a bus,” a woman who reported him told local media. “His pants and shoes were all stained with mud. His hands were swollen. He was trying to hide them.”
After further interrogation, the police said that before killing Valeria, Pavel killed his acquaintance, Snezhanna Fomenko, 46, with a hammer.
Reports said that Pavel confessed to both crimes and blamed alcohol for “everything that happened.”
Pavel admitted that he killed Valeria to take revenge on her 30-year-old mother, Yulia Pazukhina, for breaking up with him.
Yulia’s relatives said that she ended her two-month relationship with Pavel after an episode of domestic violence.
Pavel is charged with double murder, including the murder of a minor, and sexual abuse against a child.
“The man is accused of beating the woman with a hammer to death during a quarrel,” Yulia Sklyarova, a Russian Investigative Committee official has said. “On the same day, the suspect took the nine-year-old girl to a deserted place, where he committed violent acts of a sexual nature against her before strangling her to death and fleeing the scene.”