Crime Watch Blog: Lover's Quarrels and Arson Attacks

Ugly times in Karelia. Just a few days after an upset bar patron stomped a coat-check attendant to death because of a no-jacket rule, a pensioner in the northern republic doused his female roommate and her mother with gasoline and burned them alive. The suspect, who was not named in the police report, got into a drunken argument with the 34-year-old woman and her 53-year-old mother. When such an argument turns violent, it is referred to in police jargon as a bytovukha. The woman was described only as his sozhitelnitsa, or "cohabitant," so it was unclear if she was the man's girlfriend, common-law wife or just a fellow resident in a communal apartment in the Karelian village of Gabselga. If they were romantically involved, there was a large age difference: He is 68. In any case, in the heat of the Jan. 23 argument, the suspect poured gasoline over the two women and set them aflame. The mother managed to flee and was hospitalized with burns. The daughter, sadly, died at the scene. The suspect has been arrested and is facing at least a murder charge and likely attempted murder as well. Curiously, this was just one of several incidents nationwide in the last week involving fire attacks and self-immolation. On Jan. 24, a 28-year-old man in the Arkhangelsk region set himself on fire after he lost his job and his wife left him, emergency rescue workers told the Regnum.ru web site. The regional branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry said he went into the courtyard, poured gasoline over himself and set himself alight. Luckily his neighbors noticed the flames and managed to extinguish them using the snow on the ground, Regnum.ru said. Meanwhile, a jealous boyfriend in the Sverdlovsk region set his apartment on fire, injuring his former lover, her daughter and her female friend. The dramatic events unfolded on the night of Jan. 23 in the city of Sukhoi Log. According to regional Interior Ministry spokesman Valery Gorelykh (whose last name derives from the word "burn"), 28-year-old Denis Bakhayev poured the gasoline over himself, his 36-year-old ex-girlfriend, her 15-year-old daughter (a schoolgirl) and her 40-year-old female friend and then "started a fire." Bakhayev died in the flames, while his three victims suffered serious burns. The motive for the crime was jealousy, according to police. A day before the attack, the ex-girlfriend filed a complaint with police that Bakhayev had physically abused her, Newsru.com reported. The regional Investigative Committee gives a slightly different version of events. Bakhayev was living with the woman, according to the committee's report, and when he came home on the night in question the two began to quarrel. Bakhayev began pouring a flammable liquid throughout the apartment and set the place on fire. Firefighters were called to the scene. The three victims came away with burns, while Bakhayev's body was discovered in a room that none of the flames reached. He had apparently died of smoke inhalation. An investigation is under way. Neighbors said Bakhayev had on several occasions argued loudly with the woman and had threatened to burn "property," according to the Investigative Committee.