The fifth suspect in the abduction and killing of an Azeri national in September has turned himself in and confessed, investigators said.
"Alexei Alyokhin, having learned from media reports that [investigators] were looking for him, has turned himself in voluntarily," Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Interfax on Thursday.
He added that Alyokhin, who investigators accuse of being an accomplice to the killing, is currently being questioned.
Three Moscow police officers — Dmitry Kolotovkin, Alexander Vlasenko and Artyom Skubak — and an unidentified unemployed friend were detained in the capital on Wednesday in connection with the same case.
According to investigators, on Sept. 5 the suspects killed the 22-year-old Azeri national by stabbing him at least 77 times with a knife following a quarrel.
They then buried the body in a wooded area near Moscow, took possession of his BMW sedan and tried to cover up the murder by posing as kidnappers demanding a $195,000 ransom for his release.
The suspects face charges of abduction, extortion and murder, which carry a maximum sentence of up to 15 years in prison.
On Wednesday, Moscow police chief Anatoly Yakunin fired the top four police officials in the capital's northwestern Khoroshyovo-Mnevniki district, where the three detained police officers worked.
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