“I don’t understand why I did it”: a suspect in the murder of two girls was detained in Rybinsk

In the Yaroslavl region, a 41-year-old local resident Vitaly Molchanov was detained, suspected of the brutal murder and rape of two underage girls.

The video of his interrogation immediately after the arrest was published by the Investigative Committee of Russia.

In the footage, Molchanov is sitting in handcuffs on the grass and confesses to what he had done.

According to him, on the evening of the murder, he called up the girls' mother and said that they were tired and wanted to go to bed early.

The man also admitted that he drank alcohol that evening.

"I drank another bottle somewhere before 10 o'clock (in the evening - 

) and, as it were, ... and killed," Molchanov says.

On the recording, he is wearing the same red tracksuit in which he left the house where the girls were killed - this moment was recorded by outdoor video surveillance cameras.

During the interrogation, the man said that he regrets and “does not understand why he did it”.

Lost roommate

The crime became known on September 15 - the bodies of 8-year-old and 13-year-old girls with multiple wounds were found in the apartment by their mother Valentina Saprunova when she returned from work in the afternoon.

Suspicion immediately fell on the woman's roommate.

In the apartment where the girls were killed, according to media reports, operatives found several axes and knives. 

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation for the Yaroslavl Region opened a criminal case on the grounds of corpus delicti under Art.

105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (Murder), and the suspect was put on the federal wanted list.

It turned out that Molchanov had previously been convicted of murder and rape.

At the same time, according to media reports, Valentina Saprunova only recently learned about the criminal past of her partner.

Acquaintance by correspondence

According to Novosibirsk Online, Valentina Saprunova lived for a long time in the village of Krasnozerskoye, Novosibirsk Region.

Her ex-husband first worked as the head of the temporary detention center, and then as the head of the criminal investigation department.

Then the couple divorced, and the woman moved to Omsk with her two daughters.

This year, according to journalists, she met Molchanov on social networks, and a few months later she moved to Rybinsk with her two younger daughters. 

“Molchanov was very courteous and insisted that Valya move in with him.

First, she came to Rybinsk alone, and a month later she brought her daughters and arranged for a local school.

The stepfather bought the girls a bunk bed and generally, at first glance, treated them well.

The younger one even called him daddy, ”an acquaintance of Saprunova told RIA Novosti. 

Valentina's eldest son did not go with her to the Yaroslavl region.

In Rybinsk, according to Saprunova's acquaintances, both girls went to school # 36.

The older girl's classmates told RT that she called Molchanov her stepfather or uncle Vitaly and did not say anything bad about him.

On trial for murder

Vitaly Molchanov was born and raised in Rybinsk.

According to the information on his social media page, he attended local school # 14.

Since 2000, he lived in Yekaterinburg, where he worked as a service engineer for a printing equipment sales company.

On his page, he indicated that from 2009 to 2020, he was engaged in "representing the interests of those serving a sentence in courts by proxy." 

However, Molchanov spent the last ten years in a strict regime colony.

This was reported to RT by the press service of the Sverdlovsk Regional Court.

In 2010, Molchanov was sentenced by the Chkalovsky District Court of Yekaterinburg to 11 years in a strict regime colony for murder, desecration of the body of the deceased, illegal imprisonment and attempted rape. 

Molchanov's victim was his acquaintance, with whom they drank alcohol in her apartment.

The man stabbed the girl, and then tried to rape the girlfriend of the murdered woman, who was in the same apartment, but could not do it. 

Since 2017, according to information posted on the official website of the Yekaterinburg Regional Court, he has periodically filed applications for parole.

“He submitted his last such petition in January 2019.

The Chkalovskiy District Court refused him.

In July 2019, the Sverdlovsk City Court also denied him parole, ”the press service added.

Representatives of the department suggested that Molchanov could be credited with the term that he spent in custody before the verdict of the court, so he was released from the colony in December last year.

Was hiding nearby

As RT was told at the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in the Yaroslavl Region, about 200 law enforcement officers were involved in the search for a suspect in the murder of girls every day.

In addition, references to Molchanov were sent to other regions as well. 

And since September 17, volunteers of the search and rescue teams have been involved in the search.

They helped to post flyers and spread information about the man on social networks.

“The task was such that leaflets appeared in every settlement of the region, so that everyone knew about this situation and the ground under the criminal's feet was on fire,” said RT in the Partizan search and rescue unit.

According to the volunteers, this is an unprecedented case, since they are usually not involved in the search for criminal suspects.

“In this case, the police approached us to help spread information about the suspect.

All our volunteers early in the morning, as soon as it became light, went to post orientations, "Maria Borodina, a member of the Yarspas squad, told RT.  

As it turned out, all this time Mochanov was hiding nearby.

On the morning of September 18, the police found him in a forest belt on the outskirts of the Rybinsk microdistrict Perebory.

During the arrest, the offender did not show any resistance. 

As RT was told in the UK, now investigative actions are being carried out with the detainee.