A four-year-old boy has been found dead in a washing machine after he was reported missing by his Russian family – amig fears he was murdered and hidden there.
Little Artem Deriugin’s body was found covered in bruises in the garage of his home, two days after he was reported missing by his grandfather.
A mass search of the area in Ulan-Ude, Siberia, including posters of the missing boy was ended when he was found inside the washing machine in the garage yesterday.
Local media reports citing law enforcement say the child was killed for ‘disturbing his parents’, and that the boy’s mother, 20, had been ‘threatened with death’ if she disclosed the whereabouts of the abused body.
A police statement said the boy went missing after he had been ‘left unattended by adults’ and was last seen by his grandfather around lunchtime.
‘As part of the criminal case, searches for the child were conducted, during which the boy’s body was discovered inside a washing machine in the garage attached to the house,’ the statement added.
‘Currently, members of the investigative-operational group are examining the scene of the incident.’
According to investigators, the boy lived with his young mother who was just 16 when she gave birth to him.
Alexander Bystrykin, chairman of the Russian Investigative Committee and the country’s senior detective, has demanded a report on the case.
The committee in Buryatia region has launched a criminal case into the boy’s death.
A source said: ‘The boy’s body was found in the garage attached to the house, inside a washing machine. Members of the investigative team are inspecting the scene of the incident.
‘A forensic medical examination has been ordered to establish the exact cause of his death.’
Russian volunteer search organisation Lisa Alert had said Artem, who was of ‘slender build, had light hair and blue eyes’, went missing on April 27.
He was wearing a blue T-shirt, gray tights and grey boots, said the alert.