A murder charge has been brought against the mother of two children found dead in their beds in a house in Vakarel, the Sofia District Prosecutor, Natalia Nikolova, announced during a briefing on February 2.
A 5-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy were found dead with multiple stab wounds to their necks in their beds in an attic room of a house in Vakarel on February 1. They were discovered by their father.
The mother has confessed to the murders.
A girl, 5, and a boy, 11, were found dead with multiple stab wounds to their necks and necks in their beds in the attic of a house in Vakarel yesterday. They were found by their father.
The mother has confessed to the murders.
The woman is 32 years old and is a Ukrainian citizen with refugee status.
"A charge has been brought against the mother of the two children for a crime that carries a punishment of 15 to 20 years in prison, life imprisonment, or life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. She has explained the mechanism of the crime and the motivation that led her to commit this act," said Prosecutor Nikolova.
She also explained that a psychological evaluation is being conducted.
"In order to understand whether this was an attempted extended suicide, meaning she wanted to end her own life but also end the lives of her closest family members. At this stage, we have no evidence of domestic violence in the family," added Nikolova.
The prosecution indicated that there is evidence in the investigation suggesting that the woman had spoken about mental health issues. Psychologists are still working with her, and results from the expert examinations are expected.
She has been detained for 72 hours, and in the coming days, the district prosecutor's office will ask the court to impose the most severe pretrial detention measure—"detention in custody." The case is expected to be heard in court on Tuesday.
There is no evidence of domestic violence within the family. The neighbours do not know them well.
"This woman, who was arrested, was here until evening—silent, not interacting with anyone. Maybe she doesn't know the language?" said Dinko.
"I have no observations, nothing, even though we live next to each other," noted Ekaterina Nikolova.
The family has refugee status and has lived in Bulgaria for two and a half years. They had initially lived in Aheloy. The father worked in construction, while the mother worked in a restaurant. This week, they moved to Vakarel, where they have been living in the attic of the house since Wednesday. The father worked in Sofia and was not present in the building at the time of the murders. Relatives of the family expressed their deep distress over what happened. The main question remains—could a mother harm her own children?
"In this case, we cannot speak of any villain. Only a very severe mental disorder, such as psychosis, could push the woman to such illogical and extreme actions," said Dr. Veselin Gerev, a psychiatrist.
"It is possible that the woman, if it is proven that she is the perpetrator, fell into a state where she felt a threat to her children and thought she was saving them by killing them, and then perhaps attempted suicide," commented Alexander Milanov, a specialist at the Center for Clinical Psychology, Psychooncology, and Psychosomatics, Tokuda Hospital.
Experts suggest that such mental states typically have a history and external manifestations, such as refusal to eat, isolation, feelings of fear, and strange thoughts. When such signs appear, it is crucial for individuals to seek support.
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