ST. PETERSBURG, November 11. /TASS/. A bag with fragments of a human body, presumably belonging to the victim of Oleg Sokolov, a lecturer of St. Petersburg State University, has been retrieved by divers from the river in St. Petersburg, a source in investigative bodies told TASS on Monday.
"The body of the suspect’s victim was found in the river," the source said, adding that the search for the fragments of the body had been underway since Saturday when Sokolov was detained on the river bank.
Early on November 9, Sokolov, born in 1956, was rescued from a river. He had a backpack with human remains. More fragments of a human body were found at his apartment. A criminal case was opened on murder charges (part 1, article 105 of the Russian Criminal Code). According to sources in law enforcement agencies, Sokolov’s victim was identified as Anastasia Yeshchenko, a postgraduate student who had been Sokolov’s co-author in joint studies and could have had sexual relationship with the man. Yeshchenko, born in Russia’s southern Krasnodar Territory, graduated from the St. Petersburg State University three years ago to continue as a postgraduate student.
According to a source in investigative bodies, Sokolov shot and killed Yeshchenko from a small-caliber gun on November 7 presumably during a quarrel. He dismembered the body and tried to toss the fragments into the river.