Priest ‘kills and decapitates his wife in front of their terrified daughter, eight, in Halloween murder before cops find her head in family freezer’ in Russia
A priest is said to have murdered and beheaded his wife in front of their terrified eight-year-old daughter in a macabre Halloween murder.
According to reports in Russia, the woman’s skull was later found by police in the family’s freezer.
Orthodox priest Mikhail Zubarev, 40, is in custody following the massacre that killed his wife Viktoria Zubareva, 44.
Their daughter and son Daniil, 17, were hospitalized today and received psychological care in Nizhnekamsk, Russia’s Tatarstan region.
Parishioners had complained about the priest’s “strange” behavior, and earlier this month he was suspended by the Russian Orthodox Church.
Priest Mikhail Zubarev, 40, is suspected of murdering and beheading his wife Viktoria, 44, (pictured right) in front of their terrified eight-year-old daughter
Reports citing law enforcement officials say Zubarev “slashed the knife across Viktoria’s neck” before dismembering her body.
Covered in blood, he “began to pray,” urging his daughter to join in.
The distraught girl called her older brother to beg him to return to her parents’ home. He arrived shortly afterwards.
Some stories say that the priest put his wife’s severed head in the freezer and it was found by his daughter.
Others indicate that it was his son “who hoped that his mother’s head could be reattached to her body.”
Zubarev was from the Arctic region of Murmansk and had worked as a prison priest.
He graduated from the Moscow Orthodox Theological Seminary in 2010.
A statement from the church said: “Currently, the banned priest Mikhail Zubarev is in custody.
“Law enforcement authorities are conducting an investigation.”
According to reports in Russia, the woman’s skull was later found by police in the family’s freezer. Circled is Viktoria who was murdered by priest Mikhail Zubarev (right)
Parishioners had complained about the priest’s “strange” behavior, and earlier this month he was suspended by the Russian Orthodox Church. In the photo: Priest Mikhail Zubarev
Church leader Metropolitan Kirill of Kazan and Tatarstan “received the news of the terrible incident with deep sorrow.”
He expressed his “sincere condolences” to Viktoria’s relatives.
He ‘prays for the repose of her soul and for the health of the orphans’.
The protest faces a possible life sentence if convicted of murder.