Four bodies found in Kohtla-Jarve apartment

KOHTLA-JARVE 's In one of the most horrific discoveries inrecent memory, the bodies of four people who were brutally murdered have beenfound in an apartment in Northeastern Estonia.

Mari Luuk, spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, said thevictims were a man born 1988, his unmarried partner, their 14-month-olddaughter and a young woman born in 1990 who was visiting the couple.

"All the victims had cut and stab wounds and like in any apartment, therewere numerous cutting weapons also in that household. But only a complicatedexpertise can establish whether any of them fits with the victims' wounds,"Kalmar Kase, senior prosecutor at the Viru Regional Prosecutor's Office, wasreported as saying by the Baltic News Service.

Speaking with the victims' neighbors, the daily Eesti Paevaleht established that the young man, Ilya, was from theOru borough of Kohtla-Jarve, while her unmarried partner, Masha, was from Voka.The neighbors described the family as respectable people.

The police was informed of the quadruple murder in the Oru borough Tuesdayat 3 p.m. by attentive citizens. Thevictims' exact time of death will be established by forensic experts, but onthe basis of preliminary information it is possible to assert that the murderhad not been committed immediately before the police arrived but not muchearlier either.

Kalmer Kase, senior prosecutor at the Viru Regional Prosecutor's Office,said that based on preliminary information, the investigation ruled out robberyas the motive, but all other circumstances were still open.

A criminal investigation has been launched but no one has been arrested assuspect so far.

Murder of two or more persons is punishable with eight to 20 years in jailor life imprisonment in Estonia.