Natalia Baksheeva instigated the killing of a waitress after the victim was caught ‘flirting’ with her husband
A married woman who provoked her husband into murdering a waitress she thought was flirting with him before storing her chopped up remains in the freezer has been found guilty of murder in Russia.
Natalia Baksheeva, 43, was found guilty of encouraging husband Dmitry, 35, to stab Elena Vashrusheva, also 35, to death in a building known as their ‘killing crypt’.
Natalia, an alleged serial cannibal, is now facing up to 15 years in jail.
Along with her husband, the ‘cannibal couple’ are thought to have eaten at least 30 victims over 18 years, had a gruesome collection of steamed, frozen and pickled human remains from the waitress in their kitchen in Krasnodar, Russia.
Baksheeva was found guilty at a secret trial – from which the media and public were barred – of provoking her husband to murder the woman who she claimed was ‘flirting’ with him during a drinking session.
The investigation found that Baksheev dismembered the woman’s body and posed for selfies with severed parts before taking them home to his wife.
Some of the human body parts were cooked while others remained in the family’s fridge and freezer.
Baksheev (left) and husband Dmitry Baksheev (right), 35, had a gruesome collection of steamed, frozen and pickled human remains from waitress Elena Vashrusheva in their kitchen in Krasnodar, Russia
Baksheeva was found guilty at a secret trial – from which the media and public were barred – of provoking her husband to murder the woman who she claimed was ‘flirting’ with him during a drinking session
Baksheev is reportedly suffering from tuberculosis and is being held in a secure psychiatric hospital. It is unclear if and when he will face trial.
Meanwhile, criminal lawyer Dr Yulia Fedotova has alleged a cover up in the case after the law enforcement insistence that there was only one murder – and that it did not involve cannibalism.
Local Russian media have also insisted they have independent evidence of cannibalism.
‘From our own sources in law enforcement we were told most shocking details of the crime – the frying pan with the cooked meat found (in the couple’s kitchen) turned out to contain human meat,’ reported kuban.ru
Media outlets at the time of their arrest – in 2017 – carried reports citing law enforcement of multiple suspected murders and cannibalism.
The couple were said to have confessed to killing and eating 30 or more victims since 1999, and it is feared Baksheeva fed human meat to student pilots in the military academy where she was a nurse, according to reports in Russia.
They were claimed to have lured victims from dating websites, and sold ‘pies’ from suspected human meat and even supplied local restaurants, it is alleged.
But this week Vadim Bugayenko, head of regional Investigative Committee, insisted ‘there are no grounds to speak about mass murders’.
The couple were said to have confessed to killing and eating 30 or more victims since 1999, and it is feared Baksheeva fed human meat to student pilots in the military academy where she was a nurse, according to reports in Russia
They were claimed to have lured victims from dating websites, and sold ‘pies’ from suspected human meat and even supplied local restaurants, it is alleged
‘(Police) officers who leaked photographs and other information about this suspected cannibalism case will be punished,’ he added.
But Dr Fedotova – a criminal expert with links to the political opposition in Russia – has claimed the murder and slicing up of the waitress’s body was carried about by a skilled ‘butcher’ who had previous experience.
She also highlighted that in her first testimony, Baksheeva had said her husband ‘put the body parts in the bathroom, cut the skin off the skull, severed the ears and lips with his teeth, and ate them’.
Later Baksheeva denied cannibalism, which was suddenly accepted by the authorities, she said.
The lawyer has asked how Baksheev knew how to expertly cut off the dead and gouge out the heart while dismembering other body parts if he was a novice killer, as law enforcement claimed.
The investigation found that Baksheev dismembered the woman’s body and posed for selfies with severed parts before taking them home to his wife
Baksheev is reportedly suffering from tuberculosis and is being held in a secure psychiatric hospital. It is unclear if and when he will face trial
She has also put the question forward of why the woman’s body parts were expertly preserved in the couple’s fridge and freezer, if the couple were not cannibals.
She wrote in opposition outlet Mediazone: ‘The most important question is – what happened to other bodies? Did they exist?
‘What about those dozens of missing people? Why did witnesses have to go through numerous photographs of men and women for identification? Who are these people and where are they?’
Several sources have suggested the authorities did not want to allow a scandal at the prestigious military academy in Krasnodar where the couple lived.
But investigators insist the couple only met in 2012 so could not have jointly engaged in cannibal acts before this, and claim the grisly picture showing a feast – apparently depicting the severed head of a man in 1999 – was a fake.
The picture is believed to have been leaked by law enforcement sources in 2017 yet police chiefs say the ‘decapitated man’ has been found alive.