Cannibal couple who ate 30 women had jars of pickled remains, frozen body parts at home
A 42-year-old woman who had been accused along with her husband of eating 30 women has been declared sane by a medical team. The Russian cannibal couple Natalia Baksheeva and Dmitry Baksheev reportedly confessed to killing up to 30 women. The pair was arrested in October 2017 for the murder of a woman in the city of Krasnodar in south-western Russia's Krasnodar Krai region. Medical professionals of the Serbsky National Medical Research Centre for Psychiatry and Addiction recently evaluated Natalia and found her to be sane of mind. The pair was caught by chance after a group of construction workers found a mobile phone which contained photos of Dmitry with a severed hand in his mouth.
Police found that the phone belonged to the couple and traced them back to their home in the grounds of a Russian military academy. Upon investigating, police found the remains of the murdered woman. They also found glass jars of pickled remains, unidentified frozen body parts and 'steamed human meat', in their house, reported Daily Mail. Reports suggested that the pair had been active cannibals since 1999.
The couple has been detained since and the investigation is ongoing. Their last victim was identified as Elena Vashrusheva. While Natalia first confessed that she and her husband had killed all 30 women, they later retracted this confession saying they only killed waitress Elena.
Some of the victims were reportedly found by them on a dating site where they would be lured into meeting at the apartment. Once the women arrived, investigators believe the couple drugged their victims before killing them, reported USA Today. It is believed that Natalia made and sold 'pies' from suspected human meat and even supplied the same to the local restaurants. Investigators believe that their last victim fell prey to their actions because Natalia got jealous that Elena was trying to seduce her husband.
"They were drinking alcohol together and it ended with a conflict based on jealousy," Vadim Bugayenko of the Russian Investigative Committee said. "The wife complained and, as a result, her husband stabbed the woman. It led to the death of citizen (Vashrusheva). She was later identified." He further claims that Natalia instigated her husband to kill. "She was also actively involved in the murder," he alleged.
A local shopkeeper revealed that the pair would also use an abandoned block of flats to lure victims with the offer of vodka. "It is an abandoned block right opposite our shop," she said. "This block was built for military people but the building was never finished so it remained abandoned and not guarded. It is a multi-level block, scary looking, all the windows broken, doors stolen. I heard that somewhere in the block police found lots of blood and some body parts. There are three soldiers guarding it now." Russian authorities say there is no confirmation yet of the murders and the investigation remains open.