Man held in Irkutsk region over killing of missing married couple

A resident of Sedankina in Russia's Irkutsk region was placed in custody in a case involving the killing of a married couple. The husband and wife had been listed as missing for more than two weeks, investigators reported on October 8.

Regional police initially said the couple lived in Klyuchi in the Kazachinsko-Lensky district. They were thought to have gone into the forest and become lost. Police later told RIA Novosti that they had been found dead.

Investigators allege that an acquaintance shot the couple with a shotgun at his home in Sedankina while intoxicated. The husband and wife had been helping him with household work. Investigators said both died at the scene and that the man then locked the house and left.

The regional Investigative Committee said investigative steps and forensic examinations were continuing to gather evidence. Custody is a pretrial measure. The account of the killings remains the investigators' version of events and must be examined through the criminal case.