A 43-year-old man who has reportedly confessed to murdering 61-year-old Olga Vasilieva will appear again before a Limassol court on Monday, where Limassol CID investigators are expected to ask for his custody to be extended so they can finish examining evidence and complete the case file.
The man is accused of premeditated murder. Although police have solved the case, investigators are still gathering the evidence needed to bring it before the Limassol Permanent Criminal Court. He appears to be cooperating fully with the authorities, Phileleftheros understands.
Vasilieva was murdered at his home on 21 October. In his written confession, he said he picked her up in the Linopetra area and took her there, and claimed that she insulted him over his origin and that he then struck her on the head with a hammer. He said he moved her body the next day and hid it in a sewage pit in her field in the Saittas area.
Her mobile phone and other personal belongings, including her handbag, have been found based on information he provided. The phone, which was on the seabed off Moni, has been sent to police forensic laboratories to establish whether any data can be recovered that might shed light on aspects of the case.
Investigation
The inquiry now extends beyond the circumstances of the killing and the moving of the body to Saittas. Investigators are also examining the man’s movements before and after the killing, bank accounts and financial transactions, and any information that may emerge from the phone. They are continuing to take statements from people who may know about his contacts and movements.
He was found at the airport before he could flee to Beirut, and investigators are also looking closely at what he did after the killing. They are expected to seek help through Interpol for further examinations.
Funeral
Vasilieva’s funeral will take place at 10.30am on Tuesday, 10 November, at the Russian Church of St Nicholas the Wonderworker in the Kalogiron area of Limassol.
In a message of farewell, those close to her described a beloved mother and friend who was highly educated, with a strong character and deep faith in God. They said she was known for her kindness, compassion and love of life, as well as her determination, sincerity and thirst for knowledge, and called her death an irreparable loss.
Background
Philenews previously reported that Vasilieva withdrew 25,000 euros and then a further 10,000 euros, a total of 35,000 euros, a few days before she disappeared, and that investigators were looking into why. When the 43-year-old was stopped at the airport, he had a small bag containing 4,620 euros in banknotes and foreign currency, including Russian roubles, according to the same reporting.
Her car was found in a car park in Linopetra on 30 October, philenews reported. Divers found her phone off Moni on 3 November, in the area where it last gave a signal on the afternoon of 21 October. The man was later attacked by another detainee in his cell at the Limassol police holding cells and has since been kept apart from other detainees, philenews also reported.
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