Nikita Rasskazov, 16, confronted Artyom Shustov, 19, in a park in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Russia, on October 28, 2016. His girlfriend, Olena Matsneva, 17, said that the man touched her breasts and genitalia inappropriately and flirted with her at a party a few days before.
The two men worked together for a few months at summer camp and knew each other. Rasskazov thought of Shustov as a friend.
Confrontation Leads to Mur*der
As Rasskazov listened, Shustov told him that Matsneva had been flirting with him all night at the party. Eventually, he gave in and kissed and touched her. Rasskazov got angry, so he took a kitchen knife out of his pocket and stabbed Arytom several times in the back and abdomen.
He then cut Shustov’s head off and put it in a plastic bag, which he then put in his backpack. He left the park, and Rasskazov took the severed head home with him. He put it in a closet with the bloody clothes he had been wearing in the park that night.
Rasskazov Confesses to Olena
The next morning, he told Olena what he had done and showed her the head as proof. He thought that k*illing and beheading his girlfriend would make her happy because it “proved his love” for her. In fact, Olena was upset when she saw the severed head. Because he was mad, Rasskazov put the headless body in the backpack and added stones to make it heavier. He then threw the backpack into the River Silinka.
Olena sent the police a report of the crime. In the end, his body was found hidden in bushes in Zheleznodorozhnikov Park by the police. After the k*illings, Rasskazov dragged the body without a head into the bushes and put the victim’s schoolwork on top of him.
A witness said, “It was dragged about ten meters to be hidden in the bushes. The trace is very clear.”
“There was no blood next to the victim, but there were things nearby that were covered in blood,” the witness said. “The body was very white, like the head had been cut off somewhere else and then dragged and thrown here.”
“His fingers were marked with many cuts.” He might have been using his hands to defend himself or to fight the attacker, or both.
Witnesses Come Forward
Several witnesses said they did not see Arytom making any unwanted se*xual advances toward Olena. Instead, they confirmed what he told Rasskazov: Olena was after him that night.
She told her boyfriend a different story about what happened because she felt bad about flirting with another boy.
Rasskazov was charged with mur*der and abuse of a d*ead body on October 30, 2016. He told the police that he stabbed and ki*lled the man because Olena told him that he had raped and harassed her at a party.
Trial and Case Aftermath
During his trial, it was said that Rasskazov brought matches to the park with the intention of setting Shustov’s body on fire to get rid of evidence, but the matches were wet and wouldn’t light.
Even though there was proof that Rasskazov planned to k*ill and desecrate a body, he was only given a 6-year, 10-month prison sentence. He also had to give 2.19 million roubles, which is a little more than $25,000 USD, to Shustov’s family.
Sorry for the loss of the victim’s family.
