A friend of Russia’s ‘cannibal couple’ met women on dating websites and then passed on their details to the pair who killed and ate them, police believe.
Suspected killer Dmitry Baksheev and his wife Natalia, from Krasnodar, were held after the discovery of body parts in their fridge and freezer and pickled human remains.
Police have detained Baksheev’s close associate Roman Sidorov and are said to have suggested during interrogations that he was an accomplice to the pair.
A friend of Russia’s suspected ‘cannibal couple’, Dmitry Baksheev (pictured) and his wife Natalia, met women on dating websites and then passed on their details to the pair who then killed and ate them, it has been claimed
Suspected killer Dmitry Baksheev and his wife Natalia (pictured together), from Krasnodar, were held after the discovery of body parts in their fridge and freezer and pickled human remains
Baksheev and his wife were arrested after human remains were found at their home including those belonging to their ‘last victim’ Elena Vashrusheva, a 35-year-old waitress.
Natalia Baksheeva, 42, is then reported to have confessed to state investigators that the couple had killed up to 30 people including women lured after going on dates arranged through a lonely hearts websites.
They have since denied this to human rights visitors to their cells, but admit to killing and dismembering the waitress.
Today it was revealed that Dmitry Baksheev, 35, also went by the nickname ‘Devil’ while 27-year-old Sidorov was known as ‘Angel’.
Sidorov’s lawyer Alexey Avanesyan disclosed details of his client’s interrogation by six investigators, giving a revealing insight into how police view the gruesome case.
Police have now detained Baksheev’s close associate Roman Sidorov and are said to have suggested during interrogations that he was an accomplice to the pair. Sidorov’s lawyer Alexey Avanesyan is pictured
Baksheev and his wife were arrested after human remains were found at their home (pictured) including those belonging to their ‘last victim’ Elena Vashrusheva, a 35-year-old waitress
They suspect ‘Angel searched for victims on dating websites and later passed them to Devil for massacre,’ it was reported.
‘They tried to force him to say that he was involved in the murder,’ said the lawyer, denying Sidorov – who worked with Baksheev repairing flats – was in any way involved.
‘The criminal psychologist asked him: ‘What’s your nickname? Angel, is that true?’
‘”Yes,” said Sidorov. I see, so we have an Angel and a Devil, you were in this together,’ said the psychologist.
‘Then they said; “You are a handsome guy, you must have found those girls for Dmitry, raped them and later you killed them and utilized the bodies?”
‘Sidorov said: “Why do you think so? Am I an idiot? I would have never done anything like this. I can’t believe that Dmitry did such a thing”.
‘Then the psychologist started shouting that they got him, they understand the roles, and finally told him that Dmitry’s wife had already given evidence against him.’
The lawyer said that Sidorov had shown police a flat that he and Baksheev were repairing.
Natalia Baksheeva (pictured), 42, is reported to have confessed to state investigators that the couple had killed up to 30 people including women lured after going on dates arranged through a lonely hearts websites
It was here that Baksheev had taken selfies of himself with the body of Vashrusheva who had been knifed to death by the couple in a disused block.
Avanesyan claimed that his client is being intimidated by detectives, and was not involved.
Police deny that Sidorov is listed as a suspect but he has been detained for separate administrative offences.
‘Nobody has brought charges against him,’ said Avanesyan.
But he is treated ‘like a suspect’ and quizzed each day.
The jars found in the couple’s home contained the pickled body parts of Elena Vashrusheva
‘They threaten to put him into a cell where he can be raped, and another investigator promised to call the owners of the flat he was repairing to organise fraud charges against him. They are putting pressure on him.
‘He is not withholding any information. He is telling everything about his contacts with the couple.’
He admitted that his client and Baksheev were ‘best friends’ and had known each other since Sidorov was 14.
They had been previously convicted together for carrying out a robbery.
‘My client insists that he had no idea about strange perversions of his friend and surely was not an accomplice in the murder,’ he said.
‘He has agreed to be tested by a lie detector.’
Avanesyan claimed his client is ‘in a dangerous situation now’.
‘Natalia can point her finger at him, Baksheev may hang himself in the cell – as often happens – and all the evidence will be against him.’
Bakseeva has complained that she has been mocked by fellow inmates taunting her: ‘Did you eat enough human meat?’
Her husband Dmitry Bakseev, 35, is kept in solitary confinement amid fears he will be ‘beaten’ by other detainees.
The couple lived at a military academy and she is alleged to have cooked pies made of suspected human meat for trainee pilots.
The pair from Kransodar city confessed to murdering the waitress ‘in a fit of jealously’ after Natalia accused her of seeking to seduce her husband.