I went into the center of Moscow today and so picked up a copy of the English speaking newspaper The Moscow Times.. Found an excellent story and had to share it with you! This totally true and in the March 25th 2004 edition of Moscow Times.
The story began earlier this month when Ristic, a Yugoslav citizen who came to Russia in the mid-1990s, offered an acquaintance a healthy sum to kill his Russian wife, Oksana, and her mother, according to police.
Police spokesman Alexei Vakhromeyev said Ristic, who obtained Russian citizenship after marrying Oksana, coveted the pharmacy his wife owned near the VDNKh metro station, as well as the apartment where the couple lived. Oksana was the legal owner of both.
Ristic managed to get Oksana to sign over power-of-attorney to him, after which he registered himself as the owner of both the apartment and business. The only thing left was to tie up the loose ends.
Ristic promised the acquaintance $50,000 in exchange for a photograph of the severed heads of his wife and mother-in-law, the latter's in order to ensure that she didn't ask any uncomfortable questions, Vakhromeyev said.
But Ristic apparently chose the wrong man for the job, and the would-be killer went straight to the police with the details of the plan.
Police decided to set Ristic up.
Police investigators contacted Oksana, who didn't want to believe the story, Vakhromeyev said.
Eventually they convinced her and her mother to go to a secret hideout, where the two women were made up to look like they had been shot in the head. Police snapped a picture, and — voila! — they had the bait.
This is a typical method used by police across the globe to catch people who order hits. But creating a realistic-looking severed head, much less two, is a tall order.
"We weren't about to do that," Vakhromeyev said.
So police sent the hired killer — picture in hand — off to a meeting with Ristic, and he explained that he was too squeamish to cut off their heads, Vakhromeyev said. Dead but not decapitated proved good enough for Ristic, and he forked over the $50,000.
The next day police called Ristic and informed him that Oksana's relatives had reported her missing, Vakhromeyev said, to which he responded that she and her mother had traveled abroad for vacation.
"After that, we asked him to come down to the police station and give an explanation," Vakhromeyev said. "That's when we arrested him."
According to Vakhromeyev, Ristic has admitted to ordering the hit, and he is facing several charges related to organizing a murder.
But the story doesn't end there. Another man turned up at a police station claiming he was also hired by Ristic to rub someone out. Ristic once again chose the wrong independent contractor.
"[Ristic] offered this guy $25,000 to kill the other hired killer," Vakhromeyev said. "But the second killer was a good friend of the first one, so he decided to go to the police instead."
According to Vakhromeyev, Oksana says she still loves her husband and that "she's having trouble believing this entire story."
What a good story!
And just to add to the crazyness that is russia, just next to this column they had the weekly crime report for Moscow, we get this published every now and again and whenever I read I can never quite believe it!
City Crime Statistics - March 17 2004 - March 23 2004
Crime Total Solved
Murder 17 11
Assualt 26 15
Robbery 373 115
Rape 5 5
Theft 1005 237
Apartment Burglaries 218 20
Car Theft 61 19
For The Record
Car Accidents 120
Killed 19
Injured 118
Suicides 19
Missing Persons 55
Bodies Discovered 62
Whats all that about eh? I love it while I am here but when I read things like this it makes me feel I can;t wait to get back to the "normalness" of Accrington!
