IT specialist Maxim Gareyev, 33, has dramatically confessed to murdering female Instagram star Ekaterina Karaglanova because she ‘insulted’ his ‘sexual prowess and earning power’
An alleged ‘jealous lover’ of a glamorous 24-year-old Russian beauty blogger whose naked body was found in a suitcase has dramatically confessed to her murder.
The man, 33, claimed Instagram star Ekaterina Semochkina – also a qualified medical doctor – had ‘insulted’ his sexual prowess and earning power.
The popular blogger was found by her distraught parents with her throat slit and stab wounds to her chest.
She was wearing only a suspender belt when she was killed in her rented flat in Moscow.
IT specialist Maxim Gareyev, 33, was quizzed by detectives in his apartment in the Moscow region before being bundled into a police vehicle and taken for formal questioning by the Russian Investigative Committee.
On a law enforcement video he dramatically admitted killing the medic after meeting her for sex, and claimed: ‘She insulted me multiple times.
‘She was insulting my sexual prowess and earning power.
‘I could not stand that.’
Ekaterina Karaglanova, 24, who had more than 85,000 Instagram followers, was found with her throat slit and wearing nothing but lace garters in her Moscow flat
Her body had been stuffed into a suitcase, which was later found by her parents. She had also been stabbed in the chest multiple times
He confessed: ‘I stabbed her with a knife at least five times around her neck and chest.’
Asked if he now regretted this he said: ‘I do and I will help the investigation.’
Pro-Kremlin REN TV, citing law enforcement sources, said that Gareyev had seen that Semochkina was packing a suitcase to go on a trip to Amsterdam to mark her 25th birthday with another wealthier lover aged 52.
It is alleged that the IT specialist – who recently quit his job – became ‘jealous’.
A row broke out and she accused Gareyev of being a ‘poor’ man, said the report.
He then used a knife to kill her and tried to pack her corpse into the suitcase, but failed to do so, according to Komsomolskaya Pravda (KP) newspaper.
Suspected killer Maxim Gareyev dramatically admitted the murder after claiming she ‘insulted’ him. ‘I could not stand that’, he told Russian police
It is also alleged the IT specialist, who recently quit his job, became jealous after he noticed that the beauty blogger was packing a suitcase to go on a trip to Amsterdam to mark her 25th birthday with another wealthy lover aged 52
The man is suspected of cleaning up the apartment and packing bloodstained clothing and the murder weapon into a smaller suitcase belonging to Semochkina who also used the name Ekaterina Karaglanova.
He took the suitcase out of the flat and disposed of it in a bin, it is alleged.
CCTV footage shows man enters the block of flats where she lived carrying a plastic bag, his face hidden by a cap.
The wording on his T-shirt may be ‘Let’s Get Lost’ in English.
Four hours later the suspect left with a smaller suitcase and was seen wearing gloves despite it being 81F (27C) outside on the day police said she was killed.
After carrying out the murder, her attacker is alleged to have cleaned up the apartment and packed the bloodstained clothing and murder weapon into a smaller suitcase
CCTV footage shows a man entering the block of flats where she lived carrying a plastic bag on the day she was murdered. Four hours later he leaves the block carrying a smaller suitcase and wearing gloves despite it being 81F (27C) outside
Before the man’s arrest, friends claimed that Semochkina had faced death threats.
Her classmates also said that she was being blackmailed over nude picture which were sent to her associates.
One theory is that she had worked as an escort to pay her way through her medical studies and that the explicit photos were linked to this.
Police have not commented on these claims.
The victim had some 85,000 subscribers for her glamorous postings, including revealing lingerie pictures.
She was proud that fans said she had a likeness to British actress and fashion icon Audrey Hepburn.
Semochkina had faced death threats before the man’s arrest, her friends have claimed
Classmates have also alleged that the student, who was a qualified doctor and had recently started working at a Moscow hospital, had been blackmailed with nude photos
Her distraught parents found her body after concern that she had stopped answering her phone, according to local media
Earlier this year she was concerned for her safety, it was reported.
A friend called Oksana told KP newspaper: ‘She wrote that she could be killed.
‘But I was comforting her, [telling her] that they would do nothing to her.
‘I cannot believe that Katya [Ekaterina] not here any more.’
Another friend named Nina said she was being blackmailed by ‘unknown people’ over naked pictures, according to KP .
Threats were coming from ‘dodgy’ accounts on a Russian social media network, she said.
The beauty blogger was also said to be proud that fans said she had a likeness to British actress and fashion icon Audrey Hepburn.
Naked photos of her were reportedly sent to other classmates, one of her friends is quoted as saying. It had also been claimed that she was a prostitute
‘They were sending her naked photos not only to me but to other classmates too,’ she was quoted as saying.
‘They were saying she was a prostitute.’
Nina said: ‘I was sent her naked photos in 2016 and 2018.’
She told Ekaterina about it and ‘she said that she had been pestered with those photos for several years’.
But the victim claimed to be unaware of who was sending the images.
One picture purports to show her naked with a unknown man.
One of her friends said she received naked photos of Semochkina in 2016 and 2018, but she said she was unaware who was sending them
Police are reportedly seeking further details of her private life following claims that she had a relationship with a 52-year-old man
Another friend Svetlana said that Ekaterina hid her private life.
Her blog had taken off after she had nose job when she was 21.
‘This was her dream,’ she said.
‘As soon as she had this surgery, she started having photo shoots in underwear.
‘Then started getting admirers.’
Reports say that escort sites including the recently-qualified doctor’s picture under the name Ekaterina Karaglanova.
Police are seeking further details of her private life, amid claims that she had a new relationship with a 52-year-old man, and had gone through an acrimonious split with a boyfriend aged 32 who she had branded a ‘wolf’.
The IT specialist who has admitted her murder has been interviewed by police in Moscow
Russian police officers were pictured carrying away suspected kiler Maxim Gareyev
She had recently started work as a doctor in a Moscow hospital, having graduated from a top medical university.
Ekaterina also went on a number of foreign trips and posted pictures from Corfu in July.
She had intended to go to The Netherlands for a trip with the 52-year-old man to celebrate her 25th birthday, it was reported.