vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #536 / Crime watch / Reading article...

Khabarovsk police officials on Wednesday told reporters that an American, Christopher Garner, and his Ukrainian wife, Svetlana, had killed a Russian man to get absolute property rights for an apartment.

First deputy head of Khabarovsky regional police department Yuri Goncharov said that the couple had arrived to Khabarovsk in early September to attend the funeral of Svetlana’s aunt. The aunt lived in the apartment in Kalarash Street together with a man. In his report Yuri Goncharov did not reveal the name of the man. After the funeral the man claimed his rights for the apartment.

Intending to get rid off the unexpected heir, the couple killed the man, placed the body in a bag and then disposed of it near the village of Solnechny in the Khabarovsky region, Goncharov said, Newsru.com reported.

The couple hired a taxi to get to the village and paid 8,000 rubles ($ 300) to the taxi driver. The driver testified against the couple in the murder case.

After the murder, the couple left the area for Moscow where the duo appeared at the U.S. Embassy confessing to their crime.

The criminal investigation of the case is being conducted by the prosecutor’s office of Industrialny residential district of Khabarovsk.