Two bodies and a severed head were fished out from ponds around the capital Monday, leaving investigators puzzled over who the victims were and whether the incidents were related.
One of the bodies was floating in the downtown Patriarch’s Ponds, while the other was discovered in a pond in Izmailovsky Park in the city’s east, Interfax reported.
Both victims were male. Their identities remained unestablished Tuesday.
Elsewhere, a severed head was spotted Monday floating in Borisovsky Pond in southern Moscow, Interfax said, citing a local police spokeswoman, who added that a criminal case was opened.
A human arm, severed about a month ago, was found in Borisovsky Pond earlier this month. The spokeswoman said the head and the arm belonged to the same person, who was not identified.
Police last week detained a Muscovite for cannibalism, arresting him as he dined on an acquaintance’s body parts.
The suspect, Nikolai Shadrin, admitted to throwing away certain body parts of the victim, including the head. Police said at the time that they were examining the possibility that he had more victims, but did not indicate whether the Borisovsky Pond findings may be linked to the case.
No cases were opened into the other pond deaths Tuesday, in an apparent indication that the two bodies might be the first victims of the warm weather. Hundreds of Muscovites drown when taking dips in the city’s ponds and rivers every year, with 70 percent of victims being drunk.
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