Twist after ballerina blackmailed with nude photos
A ballerina from the world famous Bolshoi Theatre was killed and dismembered with her body dissolved in sulphuric acid, law enforcement sources believe.
Russian detectives are reported to be investigating a new lead in a long-running suspected murder after the dancer Olga Demina, then 25, disappeared six years ago.
She is believed to have been killed after she was the victim of a sting operation by a man possessing ‘sexually compromising’ pictures of her.
Malkhaz Dzhavoev, 40, variously described as the dancer’s “manager” and “lover”, was detained in Moscow in 2017 after he was extradited on an Interpol warrant from Germany where he had fled from Russia, posing as a Kurdish refugee.
He was recently jailed for five and a half years over fraud involving a flat belonging to the ballerina’s boyfriend Alexey Fetisov, while he is also suspected of Demina’s murder.
Now a law enforcement official has told Komsomolskaya Pravda that Dzhavoev “let slip” Demina’s corpse “was dismembered and dissolved in acid” with her remains probably thrown in a well near a lake.
“Search work is underway there now,” a source said.
“Sulphuric acid does not have to dissolve everything to zero.
“Some body fragments should be preserved. But they still need to be found.”
Dzhavoev – seen in a video at his wedding in 2012 – and his father bought sulphuric acid from an industrial source, it was reported.
A discovery of a skull last year close to where Dzhavoev’s mobile signal was registered on the night Demina went missing was found not to be linked to the case.
The ballerina’s mother Elena Demina said investigators told her new information appeared in the case.
“The killer murdered her and then dismembered the corpse ... then he dissolved parts of the corpse in acid,” she said.
Immediately before she vanished Dzhavoev had taken her on a trip out of Moscow to dance for a group of businessmen at a nightclub.
The criminal case into Demina’s disappearance alleges "while in the apartment on the night of August 20, 2014, Dzhavoev allegedly attacked Demina and committed premeditated murder”.
The mother told how before her death the dancer had paid large sums of money to Dzhavoev.
“Shortly before her death she sold her Peugeot car. She went to sell it with (Dzhavoev), he took the money,” she said.
“Olya also had loans in her name – and gave the money to (Dzhavoev).
“She was completely at his mercy.”
She had evidently feared “sexually compromising” pictures of her would appear online – and despite paying money to prevent this, the pictures were posted.
Dzhavoev’s lawyer has denied any wrongdoing by his client over Demina’s disappearance, and claimed the ballerina may have fled abroad living on the proceeds of a housing scam.
“We have information that Olga Demina was long dreaming of leaving Russia and arranging her personal life abroad,” said a member of his legal team.
Her family say she was swindled out of money from a housing deal shortly before she vanished.
Australscope
Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@yahoonews.com.
You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter and download the Yahoo News app from the App Store or Google Play.
