Six people were found dead in suspected murder-suicides in a mountain range in western Bulgaria, officials have said.
Three bodies, including that of a 15 year old, were found in a van parked in a remote area of Stara Planina on Sunday. Investigators said they were connected to three others found dead near a burned-down hut six days prior.
Officers said CCTV footage showed the two groups saying goodbye to each other at the hut, with the three who remained at the scene later filmed setting it on fire.
Bulgaria’s acting prosecutor general Borislav Sarafov said the case contained “more shocking details” than Twin Peaks – the drama about a murder investigation in a US logging town.
Prosecutors have said the deaths were likely murder-suicides or suicides – sparking fevered speculation in the country and criticism of the investigation.
The national police chief branded the case an “unprecedented crime” unlike any other seen before in the country.
The first three men – aged 45, 49 and 51 – were found dead near a burned-down hut on 2 February, local media reported citing Bulgaria’s interior ministry.
All had gunshot wounds and there were “no signs of a struggle” or further trauma, Natalia Nikolova from the Appeal Prosecutor’s Office in Sofia told reporters on Monday.
Forensic experts determined that shots had been fired from close range.
According to the Reuters news agency, two handguns and a rifle were found at the scene near the Petrohan mountain pass, about an hour’s distance from the capital Sofia.
Six days later, officers found two men and a 15-year-old boy dead in a parked camper van near Mount Okolchista.
“The individuals are connected to the Petrohan case,” national police chief Zahari Vaskov told reporters.
He said they had wounds from shots which appeared to have been fired inside the vehicle. Prosecutors later said autopsies indicated there had likely been two murders and one suicide.
Most of the victims belonged to a nature protection NGO, officials said.
By BBC News
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