Story By: Ana Marjanovic, Sub-Editor: Michael Leidig, Agency: Newsflash
The 21-year-old woman whose faceless corpse was found in a stream six months after she disappeared could have been raped and murdered, her mother says.
Tragic Anastasia Novoselova went missing after leaving a nightclub in Maslyanino in Novosibirsk Oblast, Siberia, Russia at around 6am on 9th October last year.
She was last seen as she heading to a kiosk to buy cigarettes.
A horrified teenager found her body in a stream with her face missing on 15th April.
And now her death is being investigated as murder, with her mother suspecting a brother of one of her friends.
Mum Oksana Novoselova said: “They went to look at the stream, and there it lay. There was no face, very creepy.
“We went to look for her things, and five metres away I noticed Nastya’s jacket and purse, the strap of which had been torn off.
“There was a passport and a phone inside.”
Investigators sent the corpse for DNA testing, which confirmed it belonged to Anastasia.
Before her body was found, investigators thought she had been killed in a hit-and-run accident.
But a post-mortem exam revealed her brain had been pierced and she had been strangled and then drowned.
Her mother told local media: “The examination showed that her temporal region had been perforated, and strangulation and drowning had taken place, which means that this was a violent death.”
Anastasia had been working in Novosibirsk, but after her six-month relationship with a man named Vladimir ended, she returned to her home village.
Following her homecoming, she had been getting by by babysitting her friend Nadia’s children.
Police revealed that the young woman had received a series of calls and messages from an unknown number shortly before her disappearance. Investigators are working on ascertaining who the number belonged to.
And when the cops showed her mother one of the last videos found on her phone – filmed inside a bar – Oksana pointed out an older man who appeared suspicious.
The kiosk attendant who sold Anastasia cigarettes told the police she was accompanied by an older man at the time.
Forensic experts will also try to discover whether Anastasia put up resistance in the moments before her death.
Oksana said: “Nadia has a brother. Nastya told me that she and Nadia were afraid of him.
“Many locals say that Nadia’s second child is his, her brother’s. I think this friend may know something and is keeping silent.
“I really look forward to finally hearing some concrete information about my daughter’s death.”
The investigation continues.
