08/21/01: Five Killed in CA Rampage

[Freakapotimus]

Monday August 20 8:25 PM ET

Five Killed in California Family Rampage
By Jenny O'Mara

RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. (Reuters) - A 27-year-old man allegedly stabbed his wife to death on Monday and then drove to another home to kill four other family members -- an elderly couple, a young boy found dead on the front porch, and a nine-year-old girl left dying in the street, police said.

The suspect, identified as Ukrainian or Russian born Nikolay Soltys, then fled with his three-year-old son -- prompting police to issue an all-points bulletin seeking his arrest.

``We consider him armed and dangerous,'' Sacramento County Sheriff's Department spokesman James Lewis told reporters.

Police gathered outside the modest duplex apartment in this Sacramento suburb described a scene of carnage, apparently sparked by a family feud in a quiet community populated by many Russian and Ukrainian immigrants.

Police received the report of the first murder Monday in the nearby suburb of North Highlands, where they found a 27-year-old woman stabbed to death inside an apartment. While investigating that crime, dispatchers received reports of more killings in Rancho Cordova, another area suburb.

In both cases, neighbors called authorities to alert them to disturbances in the homes.

At the Rancho Cordova duplex, a neighbor called to report what was believed to be a car accident victim in the roadway.

When police arrived, they found a nine-year-old girl suffering from stab wounds in the middle of the street. She was immediately transported to an area hospital, where she was reported dead on arrival.

LOOKING FOR A MOTIVE

Approaching the complex, police then found a ten-year-old boy lying dead on the unit's front porch. Inside the house, an elderly couple, later identified as the dead children's grandparents, were found dead in a bathroom and bedroom upstairs.

Police declined to specify whether all of the victims had been stabbed, although Lewis said it was possible that the murder weapon in each case was ``an edged weapon'' or a blunt object.

Police said Soltys, described as either a Russian or a Ukrainian immigrant, had been seen driving near the scene of each crime shortly before the murders were reported.

He had also been seen with his three-year-old son -- the son of the first victim. Police believe he took the child as he made his escape.

``We're concerned for his welfare, obviously,'' Lewis said.

Police said they had no immediate evidence to confirm local media reports that Soltys could be headed for Oregon or Washington, but said they would not rule it out.

Police said they were seeking to unravel the family connections between the various victims.

Lewis said police thus far had no motive for the apparent attack, but believed it revolved around some sort of family dispute.

``It does not appear to be a random attack obviously,'' Lewis said. ``It appears as though the family members were specifically targeted.''

News of the murders shocked this quiet middle-class suburbs, which have a large population of Russian and Ukrainian immigrants.

Neighbors gathered at the scene said Soltys was well-known in the area, saying he was currently out of work but had harbored hopes of attending college.

Oleg Bogush, 19, said the family had been quiet but that Soltys was known as ``a cool guy'' among local young people.

[Freakapotimus]

Tuesday August 21 7:55 PM ET

3-Year-Old Son Found Slain After California Rampage
By Jenny O'Mara

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - The missing three-year-old son of Ukrainian immigrant Nikolay Soltys was found murdered and his body left in a cardboard box on Tuesday -- a day after his father allegedly stabbed to death five other family members.

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department said the body of Sergey Soltys was discovered on Tuesday afternoon in a rural area north of Sacramento by detectives who had earlier found a note in his father's abandoned car indicating the child's location.

``Unfortunately what I am here to announce is we have located the three-year-old child in a box ... and the child is deceased,'' sheriff's department spokesman James Lewis told a news conference.

Lewis said both the child's body and the large cardboard box in which it was found were covered with blood. ``It appears that the suspect left him there dead,'' Lewis, visibly upset, said.

Police had no information on the whereabouts of the child's father, 27-year-old Nikolay Soltys, who is being sought nationwide in connection with two separate attacks outside Sacramento Monday that killed his pregnant wife, elderly uncle and aunt, and two young cousins.

Police offered a $10,000 reward on Tuesday for information leading to the arrest of Soltys, an unemployed former shoemaker who moved to Sacramento several months ago from the New York area.

Police believe Soltys is responsible for Monday's horrific attacks, which occurred in two separate Sacramento suburbs known for their large populations of Russian and Ukrainian immigrants.

``We've had some notorious crimes in the past, but in my experience this is one of the more significant, one of the more shocking crimes, that I've ever experienced,'' Lewis said during an earlier news conference on Tuesday.

RAMPAGE IN TWO SUBURBS

Police were first notified on Monday when a neighbor reported trouble in the apartment complex where Soltys and his wife lived with their young son in North Highlands, a suburb of Sacramento.

When they arrived they found 23-year-old Lyobov Soltys -- reported by family to be three months pregnant with the couple's second child -- with her throat slashed and bleeding heavily. She was swiftly pronounced dead.

Police said that almost immediately another report of violence came in, this time in Rancho Cordova, about 15 miles away.

Lewis said a witness reported what was believed to be a car accident victim in the middle of the road. When police arrived, they found it was in fact a badly injured 9-year-old girl, who was taken to a nearby hospital with severe stab wounds. She was pronounced dead on arrival.

Outside the modest duplex apartment, police found another victim -- the boy, the girl's cousin, who had been stabbed to death. Inside the building were two more stabbing victims, an elderly couple later identified as Soltys' uncle and aunt who were the grandparents of the two dead children.

Lewis said on Tuesday that Soltys had been seen driving his Silver Nissan near both houses shortly after the crimes were committed. He further said that investigators discovered he had then driven to his mother's home in another suburb, where he picked up 3-year-old Sergey.

``There was nothing extraordinary about it,'' Lewis said, adding that the suspect's mother had believed nothing was amiss when she handed over the toddler.

NOTE ON A PHOTOGRAPH

Lewis said the first clues as to Sergey's whereabouts came when police located Soltys' abandoned car late Monday, hidden amid dumpsters behind a local shopping center.

Investigators discovered a photograph of the child's mother in the car, on the back of which was written in Russian directions to the rural area north of Sacramento where the child's body was eventually found.

Lewis said police had initially hoped that they would find the child alive, but those hopes were dashed late Tuesday when the body was found -- as described in Soltys' note -- in a box near a garbage dump.

``This unfortunately brings closure to trying to locate the three year old child,'' Lewis said.

Police have no immediate clues as to Soltys' whereabouts, nor any motive which might have sparked the bloody rampage.

Soltys was reported to have had a history of domestic violence in Ukraine as well as possible mental problems. He was also believed to be under financial pressure, with his family pressing him to give up a dream of attending college in order to get a job.

``We have no idea what is causing these tragedies and what has caused Nikolay to get into such a fit of absolute rage or whatever it is,'' Lewis said.

[Done1done1done]

I'm not sure what's with that guy, but he must be sick in the head, considering what he's done to his family. It's disgusting. I hope someone catches him before it's too late and he kills again, whether it be another family member or himself.

[Freakapotimus]

I'm wondering why he waited so long to kill the child. Not that I wanted the kid dead, but he allegedly killed 5 on the first day, he took the kid, the next day the kid is dead.

[Freakapotimus]

Friday August 24 07:26 AM EDT

Rampage Suspect on FBI Most-Wanted List
By ABCNEWS.com

Calif. Rampage Suspect on FBI's Most Wanted List

The FBI today put Nikolay Soltys on its 10 Most Wanted List as investigators intensified their nationwide search for the 27-year-old Ukrainian immigrant suspected of killing six members of his family.

FBI officials have issued a warrant for Soltys' arrest for unlawful flight to avoid prosecution. Sacramento police hope the FBI's involvement will generate more publicity and more help from law enforcement as they try to apprehend Soltys, who has been on the run since he allegedly killed his relatives. Soltys' addition to the FBI's Most Wanted List raises the reward offered for information leading to his arrest to at least $70,000.

The FBI's involvement in the manhunt for Soltys came as Sacramento authorities took precautions to protect his surviving relatives and friends in the area and in other states. Authorities said they didn't know where Soltys is, but moved about a dozen members of his family into safehouses out of fear he could still be in the area and attempt to continue his alleged killing spree.

Law enforcement officials in Seattle ordered protective surveillance for Soltys' relatives there, as well. In addition, Sacramento police told authorities in North Carolina to be on the lookout for Soltys because they believe he has family and friends in Charlotte. Authorities believe Soltys lived in Charlotte for a short time and may head there because he knows the city well.

"Someone this dangerous, someone who could kill six members of his own family, we're taking this very seriously, and we need the public's help," said Keith Bridges, spokesman for the Charlotte Police Department.

Earlier today, authorities said they suspected the unemployed Soltys was involved in an extortion scheme that would enable him to stay on the run. Soltys, police believe, extorted money from the elderly and other people in his Ukrainian community and that he has a substantial amount of money to pay for his flight from authorities.

"It is entirely possible that he has some criminal enterprise that would give him the resources to stay gone," said Sgt. James Lewis of the Sacramento Sheriff's Department.

Hitchhiking a Possibility

Soltys' last confirmed sighting was with his 3-year-old son, Sergey, the last victim in his alleged killing spree, in an emerald green mid-1990s Ford Explorer on Monday evening around 8 p.m., police said. The vehicle has silver on the lower parts of the side, and the hatchback door is a lighter green than the rest. Police believe he may still be driving that car or hitchhiking.

Sometime shortly after that sighting, investigators believe, Soltys stabbed the boy to death and left his body in a cardboard box in a rural area outside Sacramento.

Soltys is suspected of stabbing his 22-year-old pregnant wife, Lyubov, in North Highlands at around 9 a.m. on Monday, then driving his 1995 Nissan Altima to Rancho Cordova and killing his aunt and uncle in their home.

As he left the house, investigators said, his 9-year-old nephew happily ran to greet him, and Soltys allegedly stabbed him to death and then allegedly did the same to his 11-year-old niece, who police said seemed to have been coming to try to help the boy.

[Freakapotimus]

con't...

An Anonymous Face

The investigation has been hampered by language and cultural barriers between law enforcement and the closeknit community of immigrants from Soltys' native Ukraine. Their search for him could be further impaired by the anonymous character of the suspect's appearance.

"This man basically has no distinguishing features," Sacramento County Sheriff's Department detective Ron Garverick said.

Soltys is described as 6 feet tall, 165 pounds, with blond hair, blue eyes and a "medium" complexion. At first, police thought that his difficulties with English might inhibit him in his flight, but now say they have learned that Soltys studied English for nine months and speaks it reasonably well.

They also say it appears he considered what he was doing, and say he even listed three reasons for the killings on the back of a photograph of him carrying his wife in his arms.

Scrawled on the photograph in the dialect of the area of Ukraine where Soltys lived was: "1. For Lyubov for her tongue. 2. For Zoya for her tongue. 3. For Seryozha for his tongue."

"Zoya" refers to Zoya Kukharskaya, the mother of 11-year-old Tatyana, who was stabbed to death Monday, and "Seryozha" is Sergei Kukharskiy, whose 9-year-old son Dmitriy was also killed.

Garverick said investigators believe the killings may have been motivated by Soltys' anger over members of his family pressuring him to learn English, get a job and support his family, or resentment that they talked about his relationship with his wife outside the family.

Garverick said it does not seem like the spontaneous lashing out that police first believed it was.

"I don't want to say he planned everything out, but this is not a spur-of-the-moment thing," he said. "There was obviously some planning and he had pretty coherent thoughts. We're talking about going from one end of the county to the other. We have a vehicle switched. We have a guy writing things down after the fact."

The other two victims in the rampage were Soltys' aunt and uncle, Galina Kukharskaya, 74, and Petr Kukharskiy, 75. They are the parents of the two adults mentioned in the note.

Soltys may be counting on the inability of police to figure him out, according to a Ukrainian newspaper report today. The Kiev, Ukraine, daily Fakty (Facts) reported that the fugitive left a note on the dust-covered window of the Altima he abandoned saying, "Try to catch me."

The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department could neither deny nor confirm the report.

Bruising, But Not Sex Abuse

Police gave a chilling hint that there might even be more to add to the horrific portrait of the suspect when Garverick said on Wednesday, "It appears the child [Sergey] may have been violated also." He quickly added, "I'm not going to speak about that now."

The Sacramento County Coroner's Office said today though there was no evidence the boy had been sexually abused, though there were bruises on his back and legs.

"There was actually some slight evidence perhaps of bruising that might indicate or be consistent with physical abuse, but there was not evidence of sexual abuse," Sacramento County spokeswoman Betsy Braziel said.

Police found Sergey's body after they interpreted a note of directions discovered in the 1995 Nissan Altima they say Soltys used to escape after his other five relatives were slain, indicating he knew beforehand that he was going to kill the boy and where he would do it.

Soltys is also believed to have relatives in Binghamton, N.Y., where he lived when he first came to the United States from Ukraine in 1998. There will be a memorial service for his slain relatives on Sunday.

ABCNEWS' Dean Schabner contributed to this report.

[Freakapotimus]

Friday August 31 6:58 AM ET

Calif. Rampage Suspect Captured After Manhunt
By Jenny O'Mara

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Police have captured fugitive Ukrainian immigrant Nikolay Soltys cowering under a desk in his mother's backyard, ending a 10-day hunt for a man accused of stabbing six relatives to death -- including his own pregnant wife and three-year-old son.

Soltys was turned in Thursday by his own terrified brother Stepan, who bundled his family out of the house and then desperately called a 911 emergency line after Nikolay appeared in the family garden just a few miles from where the murders took place on August 20.

``This probably was the biggest manhunt in the history of Sacramento County and it came to a happy ending today,'' Sacramento County Sheriff Lou Blanas told reporters.

The arrest capped more than week of extensive police work in and around Sacramento as authorities hunted for the 27-year-old former shoemaker, who had been placed on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted List and had a price of $120,000 on his head.

The first alert came as a surveillance detail stationed outside Soltys' mother's house in the suburb of Citrus Heights saw his mother, brother, and several other relatives scramble to leave on Thursday morning, packing into a car and roaring away from the house on a quiet street.

The car carrying the family stopped at a nearby store where Stepan Soltys ran in to call a 911 emergency line to report that Soltys had returned.

Store clerk Jennifer Murphy told reporters that when Soltys' brother first appeared he was holding a cell phone in which he was desperately trying to dial 1-1-9.

``The guy obviously needed 911 but just couldn't get it. I'm just glad that we were here,'' she said. Murphy took him to a different phone and helped him dial the proper number, putting him in contact with police.

Officers then moved in to search the house, and discovered Soltys hiding underneath a desk in the back yard.

``Several of us could see the suspect's feet...he was curled or maybe lying on the ground as if he was resting,'' said Det. Chris Joachim, one of the first officers on the scene.

Police said Soltys appeared to want to flee, but was blocked by a inoperative refrigerator. He then put up his hands and submitted to arrest.

``The whole time he was very stoic, he didn't say anything to us. He didn't really respond immediately....We had to forcibly take him down, although he didn't struggle,'' said Sgt. Virgil Brown.

POSSIBLE MURDER WEAPON FOUND

Police said Soltys -- whom they described as dirty and disheveled, as if he had been camping for days -- was carrying a potato peeler and a map of Sacramento.

Nearby, they located a backpack containing a sleeping bag and a ten-inch knife they believe may be the weapon he allegedly used in the murders, stabbing his pregnant 23-year-old wife Lyobov to death in the house they shared in a nearby suburb before moving on to kill four other relatives, including two children, in another home.

Police say Soltys capped the murder spree by killing his own three-year-old son Sergey, driving to his mother's house to pick the toddler up and then taking him to a rural area outside Sacramento and stabbing him to death in a cardboard packing box, which was left atop a pile of garbage.

The murders horrified Sacramento's large Russian and Ukrainian immigrant communities, thousands of whom gathered on Sunday at an emotional memorial service for the six victims.

``A weight has been lifted...now we can breathe,'' said Maxim Ushakov, 27, who arrived in Sacramento two years ago from Russia.

Blanas told reporters that Soltys had talked freely to police after his arrest, but declined to release details. Police say he would probably be arraigned Tuesday.

MOTIVE REMAINS A MYSTERY

Investigators probing the alleged rampage have not established a specific motive, although they say they believe Soltys has a history of domestic violence.

Local residents have also told investigators that Soltys was engaged in racketeering and extortion within the Sacramento immigrant community, leading investigators to theorize that he may have killed his adult victims in order to silence them.

Immediately following the murders, police placed Soltys' Sacramento relatives under protective surveillance, saying they feared he might kill again.

Stunned family members met reporters on Thursday to thank the police and the broader community for their help.

``We want to thank everybody who was feeling our grief...you all know what happened in our family. Thank God, God gave us so many friends here,'' Boris Kukharskiy, the father of one of Nikolay's young victims, said through an interpreter -- adding ''God bless you'' in English with the faintest of smiles.

Attention focused on his mother Varvara Soltys, who initially told police that she had noticed nothing amiss when her son came to pick up three-year-old Sergey on Aug. 20.

Varvara Soltys later recanted and told police that Nikolay -- who had allegedly just finished stabbing five people to death -- was covered in blood and anxious, and went immediately to clean up before taking Sergey away.

Police initially suggested that Soltys might have been receiving help to evade the manhunt, a theory that gained credence after a witness described seeing him driving with a woman several days after the murder.

However, police said on Thursday they now believed Soltys had been alone and unaided during his 10-day flight, saying it appeared he had been camping outside.

[Done1done1done]

I came back and read this again, and I'm thinking how the media loves to also focus on the copycats, as though these things become a killing of the week. It happened after Columbine, it happened after Andrea Yates, and it happened after this one. It's quite fascinating how the media immediately catches onto something, and then finds similar cases immediately. It's also fascinating that people use these sorts of things to inspire their own dirty work.

[Freakapotimus]

At 9/7/01 01:25 AM, Wheatonman wrote: It's also fascinating that people use these sorts of things to inspire their own dirty work.

That reminds me of a made-for-cable movie that was on last year, but I can't remember the name of it. It was about a lawyer who had to sue a publishing company for printing a book that gave step-by-step instructions on how to be a hit man. Very interesting, if only I could remember what it was, and what channel it was on.

[KaneOfNod]

I wonder if Katie Couric (and NOW) are going to pimp his defense fund like she did for Andrea Yates, who killed her 5 children in Texas.

[Done1done1done]

At 9/7/01 07:29 PM, KaneOfNod wrote: I wonder if Katie Couric (and NOW) are going to pimp his defense fund like she did for Andrea Yates, who killed her 5 children in Texas.

I remember that... it was the Today Show in particular who was behind the Andrea Yates fund thing. I mean, she dragged her children to their deaths. It's disgusting.

Oh, and on another Sacramento killings-related note, here's another one:

Ex-guard sought in Sacramento killings
September 9, 2001 Posted: 7:33 PM EDT (2333 GMT)

SACRAMENTO, California (CNN) -- Authorities began a nationwide manhunt Sunday for a 20-year-old former security guard accused of shooting and killing three co-workers and a park employee in Sacramento late Saturday night.

Sacramento police said the suspect -- Joseph Ferguson -- is armed and dangerous. They said Ferguson was suspended from his job last week and despondent after breaking up with his girlfriend.

The killings were the second series of multiple slayings to hit the Sacramento area in less than a month. Ukrainian immigrant Nikolay Soltys, 27, was arraigned last week on seven counts of murder in the killings of his pregnant wife and five other family members in late August.

After a 10-day nationwide manhunt, Soltys was found hiding under a desk in the back yard of his mother's home in a Sacramento suburb.

"We're living yet another nightmare in Sacramento," said FBI agent Arthur Belizan. "It is our responsibility to collectively band together and put this to an end.

Police responded to a phone call at 11:18 p.m. reporting shots fired at a city equipment yard. Inside the guard booth they found the bodies of two uniformed Burns security guards, both women, shot several times, as well as a 9 mm pistol.

Thirty minutes later, officers responded to a call that said two people were lying on the ground at the Miller Park Marina, about 10 miles away from the first scene.

Officers found the bodies of two men who had been shot several times -- one a Burns Security guard and the other a park employee. Police also discovered an assault rifle at the scene.

At about 3 a.m. Sunday, officers located another Burns Security employee, a woman, handcuffed in the Sacramento Zoo. Sacramento Police Chief Arturo Venegas said the suspect stole the guard's 1992 green Toyota Tercel and fled. After the shootings, Ferguson called a manager at Burns Security and said he was going to Old Sacramento, a downtown entertainment district, and shoot people on the street.

Authorities converged on the area, but did not find the suspect.

Police tape surrounds the city equipment park where two Burns Security guards were found dead Saturday night.
"He's very brutal, very violent," said Hahn. "This person has threatened numerous people other than security personnel, such as the [people in] Old Sacramento. Now, whether he really meant to carry that out, we don't know, but we're proceeding as if he might."

Police searched the house where Ferguson had been living with his father and brother for more than a decade. Venegas said they found numerous weapons and white supremacist literature.

A neighbor who lives two houses away told CNN the family has had run-ins with police before. He declined to elaborate.

Several law enforcement agencies -- including the FBI, U.S. Marshals Service, California Highway Patrol, Sacramento County sheriff's office and federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms -- are working with the Sacramento police department on the case.

Don Walker, CEO of Burns Security, said his company was offering $50,000 for information leading to the arrest of Ferguson, described by police as 6-foot-1-inch tall, 150 pounds with a shaved head, blond hair and blue eyes. The state of California has offered $50,000 and the city of Sacramento $20,000.

"There's nothing I can say that would express my profound condolences for the families of these security officers," Burns said. "We're going to do everything we can to cooperate."

Burns said that 150 Burns Security officers in the Sacramento area have been taken off the job. Venegas told reporters Ferguson had said "he was going to take care of Burns Security."