Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

A clip of Samsonova which was shown on Russian TV. VGTRK
gruesome

Elderly woman blows kisses to media as she is arrested on suspicion of murdering two men

Police found a sack containing the body without a head or limbs next to a pond.

RUSSIAN AUTHORITIES DETAINED an elderly woman on suspicion of poisoning a friend and chopping up the body, while police said she was being investigated over a second gruesome murder.

A court in the city of Saint Petersburg ordered Tamara Samsonova, a 68-year-old former hotel worker, behind bars until September on suspicion of poisoning the 79-year-old victim, for whom she acted as a carer, after they quarrelled.

She is also suspected of murdering a 32-year-old male lodger in her apartment in 2003 after a row and dismembering his body, police said in a statement.

The suspect wrote a diary apparently detailing some 10 killings over more than a decade, state television reported, although it was unclear whether these claims had any basis.

Russian media showed the slight, curly-haired woman in court as an investigator called her a “huge danger to those around her.”

She smiled at reporters and blew an air kiss.

Security camera footage aired on state television showed Samsonova, wrapped in a hooded raincoat, dragging a black plastic sack out of an apartment, apparently containing the body parts of her victim, which police found on Saturday.

She cut up the body with a saw and knife and dumped it in her Saint Petersburg suburb, investigators said.

Police found a sack containing the body without a head or limbs next to a pond.

State television reported that Samsonova wrote diary entries detailing a series of some 10 murders committed more than 10 years ago.

It remained unclear whether these entries were fact or fantasy — they were written in three languages: Russian, English and German.

Read: One man’s prison hell is another’s holiday park: Murderers like Graham Dwyer should not get perks

Read: Four killers on temporary release from prison this month

Your Voice
Readers Comments
8
    Submit a report
    Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
    Thank you for the feedback
    Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.