The Russian man who confessed to raping and murdering an American woman who he met after she had breast enlargement surgery says he was tortured into confessing by Russian cops.

The man suspected of the murder of American student Catherine Serou denies any involvement in the crime and now says he was tortured and forced to incriminate himself.

Serou, 34, a student from the US who had breast enhancement surgery reportedly so she could meet a man, disappeared after driving off in a car with a man following her surgery in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, at around 9.00 pm on 15th June.

Before disappearing, Catherine sent one last message to her mum which read: “I’m in the car with a stranger. I hope I haven’t been kidnapped.” Cops say the man she was with was the man who later confessed to her murder, identified only by the surname Popov.

After a few days of searching, her dead body was found in the Gorodetsky district of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia.

Security officials detained the suspect who later turned out to be the 44-year-old local resident named Popov, reportedly previously convicted for “similar offences”, according to local media outlet Life.

He allegedly admitted to the murder and showed the investigators where the victim’s body was hidden.

But now he has denied having had anything to do with the murder.

Popov is suspected of killing the American citizen but he has refused to plead guilty.

The man filed a complaint against law enforcement for “torture and forcing him to incriminate himself”.

Earlier, the court extended the arrest of Popov until November 2021.

According to local media outlet Life, the man claims now that his testimony was forced by the police department.

Serou’s body was cremated in the Nizhny Novgorod Oblast and the urn with her ashes was sent to New Orleans, in the state of Louisiana in the United States, where she will be buried in the family grave with her grandmother.