WARNING: This post contains graphic language.
According to Mexican authorities, 19-year-old Anastasia
Lechtchenko Masney has confessed to murdering and dismembering her mother, Yuliya Masney Safonchik, aged 45, as well as her little sister, Valeria Lechtchenko,
12.
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| The poster seeking Ms. Lechtchenko Masney earlier this year |
Why Ms. Lechtchenko (who in Mexico is also known as Lechtchenko Gubarev) has since been released, and why
the court has not issued an arrest warrant for her, is uncertain.
On Wednesday, June 10, Mexican authorities found the two
dismembered bodies wrapped in plastic bags in a rented apartment on Paseo
Ensenada in the Playas de Tijuana neighborhood, where the family had lived for
five years. Police were called after neighbors complained of a foul smell. The
two had last been seen on Sunday, June 7.
Two days later, on Friday the 12th, police detained Ms. Lechtchenko. She confessed to the murders during the
preliminary investigation, saying that her mother and sister were “dangerous witches”.
Aside from the confession, police were led to believe that Ms. Lechtchenko was implicated, as she did not report her mother or sister missing, as
well as the fact that the apartment showed no damage or sign of forced entry.
Her father was interviewed, as were crime-scene experts.
Police also stated that the suspect complained that her
mother was paying too much attention to her younger sister, who was born paraplegic
and attended a school for children with special needs. Anastasia Lechtchenko stated on the record
that she had visited various web sites leading up to the deaths, searching for “how
to kill a witch,” which informed her that it was critical to dismember the
bodies, and that a kitchen knife would be ideal.
Ms. Lechtchenko allegedly told detectives from
Tijuana’s intentional homicide unit that she removed her sister’s eyes with a
spoon because a voice had told her to. Her sister, she claimed, was a “puppet”
of her mother. She also removed her mother’s heart to stop her from “bewitching” her. Both victims were beheaded.
The father of the family, originally from Russia, is Igor
Lechtchenko, a renowned trainer of gymnasts at the Autonomous University of
Baja California in Tijuana. The parents were divorced.
According to the Mexican press, and also to Yulia Masney Safonchik’s Facebook account, Anastasia Lechtchenko had a history of drug use
and psychological problems, often going missing for extended periods of time.
In February of this year Lechtchenko’s parents organized a
large scale search for their daughter, including billboards, until she finally
appeared in Culiacan, Sinaloa, where she was living with friends. At that time
her disappearance had caused serious anxiety within Tijuana, as many thought
she had been kidnapped or killed.
Mexican criminal investigations are notorious for
sloppiness, incompetence, brutality, and corruption. There has been no comment
from Tijuana’s Fifth Penal Court (Juzgado Quinto de lo Penal), which has
jurisdiction, to suggest that Ms. Lechtchenko was released due to lack
of evidence, or a denial of her human rights (i.e. having a confession beaten
out of her). It is unlikely also that she, or someone she knew, bribed her way
out – though that remains a possibility.
The most likely answer is incompetence. In an online survey
in Mexico’s El Debate, readers responded to the question, “Do you believe this
case be resolved?” Out of 695 votes, 82.2% said ‘No’, and only 17.8% ‘Yes’.
TE Wilson is the author of Mezcalero, a Detective Sánchez novel.
UPDATE: Ms. Lechtchenko has been arrested. See:
TE Wilson is the author of Mezcalero, a Detective Sánchez novel.
UPDATE: Ms. Lechtchenko has been arrested. See:
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