3rd Suspect Emerges in Bulgaria's Teen Murder Case

Police in Bulgaria's western city of Pernik came under fire for letting a suspect commit suicide in their presence. Photo by BGNES

Police are probing the possibility that a third person had been an accomplice in the kidnapping and gruesome murder of a Bulgarian teen girl.

The information was reported by the State Television, BNT. According to the report, the third suspect is a business associate of Stoycho Stoev AKA Chocho, who committed suicide.

The man is identified as Krasimir Petrov, 43, AKA The Cop – a former policeman. Petrov and Stoev have been investigated in 2008 for another kidnapping and for thrashing.

Rumors about a third accomplice emerged last week, but the authorities rejected them.

Miroslava Nikolova, 17, from the western city of Pernik, near Sofia, was kidnapped in November and her body was discovered by the police 65 days later. Two men were arrested as suspects. One of them – Chocho, according to the police, had made confessions and implicated his accomplice, Mario Lyubenov, as the physical perpetrator of the murder.

Chocho, however, committed suicide before the eyes of highly-trained policemen when he got hold on a gun during the search of his apartment.

The other suspect – Lyubenov AKA The Rabbit is listed in a Sofia psychiatry ward to be tested for schizophrenia over another criminal case against him. He is appearing in Court Friday where the magistrates are to rule if the deadline for the expert report can be extended or not.

The case stirred controversy and outrage with many dissatisfied with police work and with information provided to the public, where many details remain unclear and confusing.

The Chief Secretary of the Interior, Kalin Georgiev, and the Head of the Main Directorate for Combatting Organized Crime, GDBOP, Stanimir Florov, will appear before the Parliamentary Committee on Internal Affairs for a hearing on the case next week.