Haze hangs over murder of city worker

Feb 24, 2000
By J. Michael Lyons

Police have now steered their investigation toward 30-year-old Arthur Fokins personal life rather than his work as head of Riga's veterinary department. His murder in the stairwell of his Riga apartment Feb. 17 has also been loosely linked with ongoing pedophile investigation currently enveloping parliament.

Police believe a lone assailant shot and stabbed Fokins as he climbed the stairs to his apartment at about 1 a.m.

Fokins was stabbed several times and shot through the heart but managed to call the police before dying at his apartment, police said.

Police believe there was one killer and that the assailant waited in Fokins' hallway.

"The first question is; Is it connected to his personal life," said Valdis Pumpurs, Latvia's criminal police chief. "The second question is; Is it connected to his professional life."

Pumpurs would not comment on the coroner's report released late Tuesday that showed Fokins was infected with the HIV virus.

But Vinets Veldre, director of the state veterinary service, believes Fokins, his former college classmate, was killed because of his work policing Riga's meat packing and dairy industry.

"It's a very dangerous situation today," said Veldre, who said he and others in his office have been threatened.

The state veterinary service oversees 1,123 mostly small businesses in Latvia that have come under intense scrutiny in recent years from health authorities.

But Janis Adamsons, the controversial head of the parliamentary commission investigating an alleged pedophile ring, said this week that Fokins was ready to testify.

"I was telephoned by an acquaintance of Fokins about one week before his death," Adamsons told a local wire service. "He said that Fokins wanted to provide information."

Neither Pumpurs or Veldre commented on Adamsons' statement.

No suspects have been named in the murder.

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