Man kidnaps 13-yr-old girl from outside youth disco, before raping, murdering and dumping body in the forest
A man is being held by Russian authorities on allegations that he preyed on minors outside a teenage disco where a 13-year-old girl was kidnapped, raped and strangled to death. Local police suspect 35-year-old Alexander Lipatov of being part of a child sex gang with at least one other accomplice who is still on the run, The Sun reports.
According to the report, Elizaveta Chernova screamed for help as she was nabbed in her village in the Tambov region in central Russia. There were three men in a car who abducted the 13-year-old close to the disco she had attended, according to some witnesses.
The schoolgirl's body was later recovered by authorities from a 5ft-deep makeshift grave in a nearby forest after a massive search that involved over 600 volunteers. The Russian Investigative Committee noted how forensic evidence later revealed she had been raped and strangled to death with an electric cable.
The autopsy also found Elizaveta's covered in bruises and that she had sustained a significant blow to the head prior to her death. Lipatov was suspected of murder after being linked to driving the car the teenager was abducted in. Local reports say he is a married father.
Now, authorities are conducting DNA tests in a bid to identify Elizaveta's attackers. She was leaving a youth club disco in her village of Bokino and her father was just about to pick her up when she was kidnapped by the attackers.
The teenager had reportedly phoned her mother to say she was leaving the disco and was on her way home before she went missing. At first, Lipatov claimed to police he had run over and killed Elizaveta before throwing her body into a river in a state of panic. However, he is now accused of misleading the police,
Devastated father Alexey Chernov demanded that authorities "should not hide” evidence of a “gang rape” of his daughter that allegedly involved one or more kidnappers.
"She left the disco early….People heard screams, and there was some kind of suspicious car," Elizaveta's mother Tatyana Chernova said. "The girls who remained in the club heard some screams."
“My daughter was calling for help," she added.
Police are awaiting DNA results as the investigation continues.