A 34-year-old mother and her five young children were reported in the Pskov region, where investigators say the mother stands accused of killing her children. The Regional Investigative Committee announced that the family’s deaths occurred inside a single home, and the woman reportedly lived with the bodies for an extended period before detection.
On November 23, authorities received a notification that three young children had been found deceased. Law enforcement located two boys, born in 2019 and 2023, in one Velikiye Luki apartment, while the body of their eight-year-old sister was discovered in a residential building in the Kunyinsky district of the Pskov region. All three children were raised by the same mother. Police opened a case for the murder of two or more children and the murder of a minor, and a forensic specialist was assigned to determine the full set of circumstances surrounding the incident.
How were the bodies discovered?
Reports from the Telegram channel Shot indicate the mother, who is caring for a 12-year-old son, traveled to Velikiye Luki to visit her daughter Daria Sukhanova and her grandchildren. A grandmother found a four-year-old boy’s skeleton wrapped in a diaper and covered with a blanket in the apartment. The second body, that of a one-year-old, was found on the second floor of a bunkhouse, according to the same source.
Sukhanova allegedly told her mother that the two older brothers died in their sleep within a week of one another in August, prompting the visit by the grandmother to the family hut in the village of Mokriki to check on the other grandchildren. There, the grandmother discovered the body of an eight-year-old girl lying on a bed, wrapped in a blanket. Sukhanova reportedly said the girl also passed away in August after dying in her sleep.
The surviving five-year-old girl was placed under guardianship, undergoing medical evaluation with plans for psychological support since she had shared a room with a deceased sibling for a long stretch. The child’s father contacted guardianship authorities to take custody of his daughter.
According to Shot, Sukhanova had purchased a private house earlier in the summer using maternal capital and relocated there with her four children. The first eight-year-old girl died, after which Sukhanova moved to a rented apartment with her partner, bringing the remaining three children. The family reportedly continued to live near the bodies; one child died in that space.
Contrastingly, mk.ru, citing an unnamed source, claimed the grandmother did not find the bodies; instead, Sukhanova’s elder son reportedly discovered his sibling’s remains. The grandmother was alerted and called the police after the discovery by the student who wanted to see the living space.
Authorities arriving on the scene found another child’s body. The mother and her five-year-old daughter were not present at the apartment; they had relocated to a rented unit in Velikiye Luki. Sukhanova later told police that her oldest daughter’s body was still in the hut, found inside a plastic bag beneath a blanket.
Why did the children die?
Shot’s reporting suggests hunger as a leading theory under investigation, with investigators also noting ongoing reports of physical abuse by the mother. Sukhanova’s statements during questioning reportedly shifted between claims that the children died in sleep and admission of starvation, with assertions about financial hardship and lack of funds for groceries.
According to Shot, Sukhanova indicated she stayed with the bodies to retain welfare benefits, maintaining control of the apartment while keeping her retired mother out for three months, occasionally visiting to bring food. In 2019, Sukhanova was placed on preventive police registration; after a year, staff reportedly concluded she had improved and ended monitoring.
The children had different biological fathers, and investigators are working to identify their names. The youngest son was born in 2023; according to Shot, he was allegedly born at home, not registered, and she could not recall the birth date. The fifth child’s existence was not previously disclosed by Sukhanova or her mother, and none of the children attended kindergarten or school.
The neighbors didn’t notice anything
Neighbors in the area reportedly saw little of Sukhanova. They described a quiet apartment where the children seldom appeared. Shot’s account notes that guests, including drug users, sometimes visited the home during drinking sessions, with reports that Sukhanova would scold the children and restrict meals.
Although neighbors were aware of Sukhanova’s drinking and the presence of unfamiliar visitors, those living opposite the family did not observe anything unusual. Local reports quoted residents describing a strong odor and a possible dead animal issue in the building, with some claiming the ventilation carried a foul scent.
Natalia Sokolova, the regional Commissioner for Children’s Rights, told socialbites.ca that the surviving children are now safe. She noted ongoing scrutiny of the extended family and efforts to ensure medical and psychological support for the children, while also keeping the living conditions of the two other children under review. The family had been registered with guardianship authorities briefly in the past, with the registration later deleted in 2020, she said.