A woman suspected of killing and then dismembering her husband, a rapper by profession, has been arrested and charged with murder in St. Petersburg, Russian authorities said on Friday.
According to the Investigation Committee, in charge of main criminal cases, the suspect “caused the death of her spouse with an unidentified means during an argument” in an apartment in Nevsky Prospekt, in the heart of the former capital Russian imperial.
She then cut the body of the victim there “in order to remove the traces of the crime”, added the Investigation Committee, in a statement giving no names, specifying that the body had been discovered Wednesday.
The suspect was identified as Marina Kokhal, born in 1984, said the press service of the Investigation Committee, contacted by AFP.
According to corroborating police sources, cited by Russian news agencies, the victim is a man of Ukrainian nationality, Alexander Yushko, a rapper living in Russia and known as Andy Cartwright.
His wife claimed he had died of an overdose and wanted to make him disappear to save him a “shameful death”, according to the local news site Fontanka.
The 31-year-old rapper took part in competitions organized in St. Petersburg by the Versus Battle project. On his website, the latter presents the victim as an artist “with complex rhythms and powerful metaphors”.
Last year, a famous historian, Oleg Sokolov, was arrested in St. Petersburg with a bag containing the severed arms of his companion, Anastassia Echtchenko. He is currently on trial for having killed and dismembered the young woman.