Oregon man suspected of killing his Russian bride in twisted love triangle identified through KFC receipt found near body
A man who allegedly murdered his Russian bride in 2017 after getting caught up in a love triangle with another woman was reportedly identified through a KFC receipt found near her body in the Oregon woods, the police said.
On April 17, 2017, Anna Repkina, 27, was found dead on a secluded road outside of Alsea with an apparent shotgun wound in the head, the Corvallis Gazette-Times reports.
Authorities found no form of identification on the body. At the start of the investigation, the only lead the detectives had was a name on the receipt inside a takeout bag near the corpse - Kevin Thomas.
Thomas was subsequently tracked and interrogated by the police when he revealed how he had shared a meal at KFC with his friend William Chase Hargrove, 29, just days before cops found Repkina's body.
Investigators, who first believed the story was innocuous, later uncovered Hargrove's love triangle with the victim. They found Hargrove had allegedly lured Repkina from Russia with a promise to marry her. However, he allegedly came under pressure from a third woman, Michelle Chavez, and killed his Russian wife-to-be shortly after.
Speaking to police, Thomas recounted how Hargrove had borrowed his shotgun but never returned it. Detectives later recovered the weapon from Hargrove's vehicle and even placed him at the scene of the murder using cellphone triangulation data.
On October 28, Hargrove's murder trial kicked off in the Benton County Circuit Court.
According to prosecutors, Hargrove murdered Repkina after Chavez gave him an ultimatum forcing him to choose between his two lovers. She had allegedly been involved with Hargrove before Repkina arrived from Russia in March 2017. But Hargrove's attorneys claim it was actually Chavez who murdered Repkina out of jealousy.
"Mr. Hargrove has always maintained that he did not kill his fiancee", defense attorney Mike Flinn told The Washington Post on Sunday. "The evidence at trial will clearly show that Michelle Chavez murdered Anna Repkina."
That said, Chavez took the witness stand last week and profusely denied having anything to do with Repkina's murder. The trial continues.