A priest allegedly killed and decapitated his wife in front of their terrified eight-year-old daughter in a macabre Halloween killing.
The woman’s skull was later found by police in the family’s freezer, according to reports in Russia.
Orthodox priest Mikhail Zubarev, 40, is in custody after the bloodbath in which his wife Viktoria Zubareva, 44, was killed.
Their daughter and son Daniil, 17, were today hospitalised and receiving psychological help in Nizhnekamsk, in Russia’s Tatarstan region.
Parishioners had complained about the priest’s ‘odd’ behaviour, and earlier this month he had been suspended by the Russian Orthodox Church.
Priest Mikhail Zubarev, 40, is suspected of killing and beheading his wife Viktoria, 44, (pictured right) in front of their terrified eight-year-old daughter
Reports citing law enforcement say Zubarev ‘slashed the blade across Viktoria’s neck’ before dismembering her body.
Covered in blood he ‘began to pray’, urging his daughter to join in.
The distraught girl phoned her elder brother to plead with him to return to the family home. He arrived soon afterwards.
Some accounts say the priest put his wife’s severed head in the freezer, and it was found by his daughter.
Others indicate it was his son ‘who hoped that his mother’s head could be reattached’ to her body.
Zubarev hailed from the Arctic region of Murmansk, and had worked as a prison priest.
He graduated from the Moscow Orthodox Theological Seminary in 2010.
A church statement read: ‘Currently, the banned priest Mikhail Zubarev is in custody.
‘Law enforcement agencies are conducting an investigation.’
The woman’s skull was later found by police in the family’s freezer, according to reports in Russia. Circled is Viktoria who was killed by priest Mikhail Zubarev (right)
Parishioners had complained about the priest’s ‘odd’ behaviour, and earlier this month he had been suspended by the Russian Orthodox Church. Pictured: Priest Mikhail Zubarev
Church leader Metropolitan Kirill of Kazan and Tatarstan ‘received the news of the terrible incident with deep sorrow’.
He expressed ‘sincere condolences’ to Viktoria’s relatives.
He ‘prays for the repose of her soul and for the health of the orphaned children’.
The protest faces a potential life sentence if convicted of murder.
***
Read more at DailyMail.co.uk