Alleged serial cannibal Dmitry Baksheev used dating sites to recruit women who he and his wife then killed and ate, it is claimed.
Wife Natalia Baksheeva has told police the gruesome family had at least 30 victims over 18 years, and it is feared she fed human meat to student pilots in the military academy where she was a nurse, according to reports in Russia.
State investigators are seeking to verify the claims about dozens of victims of the sinister pair from Krasnodar who were detained after seven bags of body parts were found in their fridge and freezer.
At least one jar with pickled human remains, and 19 slices of skin were also discovered in the macabre flat.
A man aged 35, named as Dmitry Baksheev (pictured left) from Krasnodar in southern Russia, was identified as having told interrogators he began his macabre reign of terror in 1999. Right: The first picture released of alleged woman cannibal Natalia Baksheeva, 42
The pair was detained after a mobile phone was found in Krasnodar city with pictures showing a man posing for selfies by human body parts, it was reported. Pictured: A man with what appears to be a hand in his mouth
The man had been killing and eating people since 1999, according to his confession. Pictured: Body parts of a woman found in Krasnodar
Many cans with steamed meat were found in their kitchen, a source told Komsomolskaya Pravda.
Today it was claimed that wife Natalia Baksheeva, 42, had taken her 35 year old orphan husband in as a teenager and wed him when he turned 18.
Police fear that Baksheev found victims by setting up meetings on dating websites.
His wife is reported to have been shown the faces of missing women in southern Russia and identified dozens who she claimed were their victims.
A police source said: ‘Going through the photographs, the woman has recognised more than 30 victims that they killed and eaten together with her husband.
‘A psychologist was sent from Nizhny Novgorod to make her talk.’
The alleged cannibal wife Natalia Baksheeva
Separate reports say Natalia was checked by a psychiatric hospital and found to be ‘mentally healthy’.
‘In their home, many mobile phones of their victims were found, and also video lessons on how to cook meals from human meat,’ said the police source.
‘This woman had been working in the military academy as a nurse and supposedly she was sharing these cans of steamed human meat with student pilots.’
But so far police have concrete evidence of only two women who were allegedly killed and eaten, it is understood.
Baksheev was originally detained after a man found his mobile in the street in regional capital Krasnodar and saw images of him posing for selfies with a woman’s body parts.
‘He took a selfie with the hand in his mouth, at the same time he put the fingers of the dead hand into his nose,’ said a police report.
‘Then he cut one finger with a knife.’
A police source added: ‘The earliest date of their culinary experiment is 28 December 1999 – the date on one of the photographs.
‘We can see a cooked human head at the big plate surrounded by mandarins.
‘They put olives into the eyes and attached a lemon to the nose.’
A police search found body parts in a rubbish container near the hostel where the pair lived, and a red-haired woman’s head in a metal bucket, with human skin nearby.
More human remains were found in a cellar.
He confessed to throwing away the body parts, telling police: ‘I did a stupid thing.’
The woman was identified as Elena B, who lived in the same military academy where the alleged cannibal couple resided.
It is believed she was killed in a forest nearby and her dismembered remains were carried to his home by Baksheev in a backpack.
Both suspects have been detained pending further investigations.
A local shopkeeper remembers him coming to top up his mobile and walking away with blood dripping from a cooler bag he was carrying.
Natalia was fired as a nurse because of her drinking habit, according to reports.
Mash initially identified the pictured woman as his cannibal wife but local sources in Krasnodar insisted she was a recent victim
Road worker Roman Khomyakov found Baksheev’s Samsung mobile phone and noticed the hideous photographs.
‘We were working near Gastello street, putting asphalt on the road, when I found the phone,’ he said.
‘I opened the photo album and looked only at two pictures.
‘At first I did not even understand what was there, it looked like a head and a hand. I thought pictures were real.’
Baksheev came looking for the phone.
‘The man looked homeless. He said: ‘I lost my phone.’
The man – believed to work in a military academy – had also photographed the cut-off head of the unknown woman and her skull
‘I recognised him from the pictures in the phone.
‘So I did not return the phone, we said we knew nothing. He left.
‘Soon a road police car came passed, and I gave them the mobile phone.
‘I said: “It’s your job, sort it out”.’
Police have established that Baksheev was an orphan from Siberia who was adopted by a childless couple.
He was in his teens when his mother Svetlana died of cancer – and his adoptive father threw him out of the family home even though he was underage.
Some reports say Natalia took him in and married him when he was 18.
Others say that she had other partners and the pair did not wed until four years ago.
His father – who was not named – said: ‘Before moving out of our flat he set fire to his room.’
He said: ‘He was convicted four times for stealing things.
‘He took loans and gave my name as a trustee.
‘I had to switch off my phone because banks kept calling me.
‘I had tried to help him, I found jobs for him several times but what could I do?
‘It is useless talking to him.
‘His eyes are made of glass.
‘He is looking through your body and does not listen.’
Yesterday it was reported the alleged ‘cannibal family’ had admitted to killing and eating at least 30 people over a period of 18 years.
Police are understood to have found eight body parts, and are checking for more human remains to assess the veracity of the confessions.
Mash initially identified the pictured woman as his cannibal wife but local sources in Krasnodar insisted she was a recent victim.
In their home, ‘video lessons for cannibals’ were found, according to local news source Livekuban.ru
Since her detention, Natalia has undergone psychiatric tests and was judged to be ‘mentally healthy’, according to Mash, part of a one of Russia largest media empires, closely linked to the Kremlin.
Baksheev (pictured left and right) and his spouse stored human remains in their fridge and freezer as well as a cellar, according to sources in the Russian Investigative Committee, which examines serious crime in Russia
Another picture has been reported as showing a human head on a plate surrounded by oranges
She is alleged to have confessed to at least 30 cases of killing and cannibalism by the couple.
Her psychiatric hospital tests showed she was ‘an absolutely healthy adequate person who fully accounts of her actions’, said her diagnosis cited by Mash.
Baksheev and his spouse stored human remains in their fridge and freezer as well as a cellar, according to sources in the Russian Investigative Committee, which examines serious crime in Russia.
Seven packs of frozen body parts were found. The couple also apparently preserved some ‘meat’ in jars, with one image showing what is alleged to be human remains pickled in a jar.
Some 19 remains of ‘human skin’ were also discovered which had been ‘removed from dead people’.
The pair was detained after a mobile phone was found in Krasnodar city with pictures showing a man posing for selfies by human body parts, it was reported.
After being quizzed by law enforcement officers, the pair is reported to have ‘confessed’.
It is known parts of a female body were found on 12 September on land linked to a military academy at 135 Dzerzhinskogo Street, Krasnodar in a cellar.
A bucket and bag contained body parts. Another bag was filled with the dead woman’s possessions.
Around the same time at Repina Street, workers have found a mobile phone with photographs of a man taking a selfie with parts of a human body.
The man – believed to work in a military academy – had also photographed the cut-off head of the unknown woman and her skull.
The man had been killing and eating people since 1999, according to his confession.
Natalia Smyatskaya, senior assistant to the head of Krasnodar Investigative Committee, confirmed that the pictured dead woman had been identified.
However, her name was not revealed.
She was 35, and had came to live in Krasnodar from Omutinsk town in Kirov region.
Another picture has been reported as showing a human head on a plate surrounded by oranges. It is dated 28 December 1999 – which, if valid, leads to the suspicion that the confession of an 18-year reign of terror as a cannibal is correct.
Images from inside the house show it filled with clutter including piles of pictures, one of which appears to show a victim’s head (left) along with a collection of wigs (right)
The apartment is in a disheveled state (left), covered in rubbish and carrier bags while the bed is hidden underneath boxes and other rubbish (right)
The pictures were evidently found by state investigators among the possessions of the ‘husband and wife cannibals’.
One image shows alleged cannibal Baksheev posing with a hammer and sickle – the symbols of the Soviet Union, the country in which he was born.
Woman cannibal Natalia Baksheeva is seven years older than her husband, according to police documents.
It is not known how long they have been married. She works at the same military academy where her husband is employed.
Another image shows alleged human remains pickled in a jar
They apparently live in academy quarters in a hostel. Her picture has not been released.
Both are currently held in detention in Krasnodar.
The pair used ether and a Russian drug Corvalol (main substance is Phenobarbital) to make their victims sleep, it has been alleged.
The smell of the drug reeked from their room in a hostel at the military academy, according to neighbours.
They lived in the hostel of the Military Aviation Academy that belongs to the Russian Defence Ministry.
A worker said: ‘Each time we tried to enter their room, they started wild shouting and crying.
‘Natalia is a scandalous woman, aggressive, so we did not risk it.’
Investigative committee official Smyatskaya added that the initial criminal investigation is into the death of one woman.
Other alleged murders are ‘being checked by our officers’, she said.