Footage has emerged of the moment a mother, Elena Karimova gave her two young children a final treat before killing them, according to police. Elena Karimova, 27, is alleged to have strangled her daughter Khadizha, four, and Suleiman, two, in the back seat of her car before burning their bodies. Footage from the petrol station where she bought their final chocolate bars shows her acting casually as she pays in advance for a Snickers bar and some lighter fuel.
She then goes back to the hired Kia Rio to fill up before returning to pick up the items. An hour later she is then believed to have murdered her children before taking their bodies to woodland in Nizhny Novgorod, western Russia, where she used the lighter fluid to set them on fire.
Fearing the smoke would attract attention, she is alleged to have put out the flames with water then put their charred bodies into the car before heading home for the evening. The following day prosecutors say she took the bodies to an abandoned warehouse and set fire to the building. Local resident Evgeny Katyshev said: ‘The fireman initially thought that the charred corpse belonged to a dog. But when he came up closer, he realised these was the bodies of two children.
‘They were in unnatural poses, and rumours spread that they had been transported in a suitcase. ‘The bodies were so damaged only one leg remained, and it was impossible to identify the gender of the corpses.’
Police said that she confessed that she couldn’t provide for her children and blamed money issues but later retracted that statement. However at an early court hearing she said: ‘I’m very sorry for what happened. I do not even know how I could go about this.’ She added: ‘I lived with my husband, and then we divorced and it became difficult to raise children.’
Karimova has an Instagram business with 27,000 followers and despite her financial problems she spent £470 a month on car rentals and took foreign holidays. Speaking after the alleged murders, her mother Natalia Testenkova said: ‘We do not believe this. She is the most loving mother. How could she kill her kids?
‘We do not know what has happened, but we do not believe these are her kids that were found.’ Two weeks before the alleged double murderer Karimove wrote on daughter Khadizha’s birthday card: ‘You are my soul, my dearest little one, my long-awaited daughter. ‘The one I live for. You are my copy.’