panda ponders

Rarely does a story prove the statement “Truth is stranger than fiction,” so completely as the one I found today, first from the BBC!

This story has so many levels of bizarre facts.

The utilities had not been paid on a certain apartment in Moscow for some time … 2 years … so officers decided to check it out. After receiving no answer at the door, an officer broke in to discover skeletal remains.

A family of four was found dead in the southeast Moscow apartment. Sad, but not all that unusual. — wait for it — The family (a couple, their daughter, and their grandaughter) all died at different times. Very different times. I am not talking about a few hours apart … try a few years apart. The grandfather, identified as Timofei Komarov, was born in 1912 and apparently died as long ago as 1995. His wife, Anna Komarov, was born in 1914 and apparently died around 2000. The daughter, Alla Ivkina, born in 1942, and granddaughter, Anna Ivkina, born in 1971, also died at different, yet unknown, dates.

The causes of death for the family is still to be determined. A homicide case has been opened as a technicality to aid in the investigation. Hopefully, the autopsies will reveal not only causes of death but a more accurate timeline.

Some more twists in this bizarre story … The bodies were found in separate rooms, the grandfather in one bedroom, the grandmother in another bedroom, and the daughter & grandaughter in the kitchen. And another … The Guardian is reporting that they were mummified.

“As the bodies are mummified, it is impossible to [immediately] determine the cause of death. We will be able to speak about this after the chemical and DNA tests on the remains.”

He [Sergei Marchenko, a spokesman for the prosecutor] did not explain how the bodies came to be in that condition, and said the family’s neighbours and friends were being questioned.

Yes, where were the neighbors and friends while all this was going on?

Shelenkova [a 58-year-old neighbor] said, “There are always strange odors coming out of the basement, so it is tough to differentiate one from another.”

Hmm … “always strange odors coming out of the basement” … I am thinking clean it, check it out anyway, do something! And —

“Honestly, we couldn’t understand whether the smell was coming from the apartment or from our basement,” a neighbor told Rossiya television.

Hmm, figure it out!

“Alexander Kinli, head of the forensic medicine department at the Russian Post-Graduate Medical Academy” tried to excuse the neighbors by saying:

He conceded that an open window could have diminished the stench and that a particularly thick door could have helped keep it out of the stairwell.

However, even he had to admit …

“Assuming a normal room temperature, the bodies would start to decompose in four or five days,” Kinli said. “The smell would be absolutely horrifying.”
…
“But with four bodies in one apartment, the smell would still be a nightmare,” he said.

Yes … and … how were the surviving members of the family “living” with the dead members of their family .. and why? Maybe the autopsies will reveal something to shed light on the situation. The religion of the family has been drawn into question with some saying

“They were very withdrawn, we even thought they were members of some kind of cult,” neighbor Anna Zayats said in televised comments.

while others stated

a spokeswoman for the district police, Galina Berezuyeva, said the apartment had no more icons than normal and there was no sign the occupants were religious extremists.

The religion is said to be Russian Orthodox Christian. Oh, and in case you were wondering … Where was the building administration that took so long in following up on unpaid bills?

The DEZ office in the Komarov family’s district could not be reached for comment Wednesday. The office is located across the street from the apartment where the bodies were found.

Articles:
BBC ~ Family entombed in Russian flat
FoxNews ~ Cops Find Skeletal Remains in Moscow Home
The Moscow Times.com ~ 4 Bodies Lie in an Apartment for Years
The Guardian ~ ‘Mummified’ bodies found in Moscow flat
HoustonChronicle.com ~ Gruesome discovery in Moscow apartment

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 8th, 2005 at 9:33 pm and is filed under from the BBC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Edit this entry.