St. Petersburg schoolteacher who reportedly served in Russia’s war against Ukraine suspected of killing his 2-year-old son and the boy’s grandmother

A math and physical education teacher in St. Petersburg is suspected of two murders and an attempted murder. Local news outlets Fontanka and Rotonda reported that the victims were a 2-year-old boy and his 58-year-old grandmother.

The child’s mother survived. Passersby found her badly beaten near a building in the Solnechny Gorod residential complex in the city’s Krasnoselsky district. Fontanka reported that Anastasia, 32, escaped through a ground-floor apartment window. She is now in the hospital.

The suspect is a 40-year-old teacher named Dmitry. According to media reports, he worked at a school in the Krasnoselsky district where Anastasia taught history and social studies. Her mother taught English at another school.

Dmitry and Anastasia were not married. The child who was killed was their son.

The television channel 78 reported that Dmitry recently returned from the war in Ukraine. According to the channel, he “didn’t want to stand by during the special military operation” and went to the Kursk region after Ukrainian forces were driven out, serving there in a mobile fire unit. In August, after returning from the war, he suggested that he and Anastasia break up.

A friend of Anastasia’s told the channel that the couple’s relationship had soured even before Dmitry left for the war. She said he was intensely jealous of Anastasia and had “aggression issues.” After their son was born, Anastasia moved into her own apartment with the child and was afraid to be alone with Dmitry. He nevertheless came by almost every day to take their son for walks.

Dmitry is believed to have come over again on Sunday, killed Anastasia’s mother and the child, hidden the boy’s body in the refrigerator, and beaten Anastasia.

Fontanka reported that a note from the suspect was found at the scene of the killings. He wrote that “being a ‘weekend dad’ infuriated him” and that “it irritated him that while he was looking after the child,” Anastasia was “off somewhere enjoying herself.” Dmitry suspected his partner of cheating and doubted that he was the boy’s father.

The suspect fled, and a search is underway. According to Fontanka, police believe Dmitry may have died by suicide.