A manhunt has been launched for a convicted sex killer suspected of strangling a 13-year-old girl.
Nikita Silnov, 33, is accused of killing Viktoria Kravtsova, the teenage daughter of a female prison officer he had a relationship with in Russia.
Russian police officers are investigating whether the schoolgirl was raped before she was killed with a scarf.
Prison officer Ekaterina Sholokhova, 40, had started a relationship with him on his release from a 11-year sentence in her jail.
She is said to have thought she could tame him.
The warder left her teenage daughter in the care of her lover in Nelidovo, in Russia’s Tver region, while she was in hospital.
Viktoria phoned her mum to say she was taking the dog for a walk but then did not answer messages.
Silnov also stopped answering his phone.
Ms Sholokhova asked the emergency services to check her flat.
After breaking in, officers found the girl’s body.
The man had disappeared while the mum’s laptop, credit cards and fur coat had gone missing.
He took a taxi to Rzhev town and vanished and is now on the run.
Silnov is on Russia’s federal wanted list.
He had been released from jail in 2019 after securing early release from a 15-year prison sentence for “murder involving rape”.
He served 11 years and then moved in with Ms Sholokhova, a prison service officer who he had met during his time behind bars.
Investigators have opened a murder case.
The girl’s funeral is due to be held on Tuesday.