Architect Who Quit Her Job To Learn 'Black Magic' Found Dead With Baby, Cat

An architect who quit her job to learn "black magic" has been found dead with her 1-year-old daughter and pet cat after an alleged ritual killing.

Elizaveta Tsarevskaya, 32, was found naked and stabbed to death in her apartment in Rostov-on-Don, a city in southern Russia. The bodies of her toddler child and cat who also had stab wounds were recovered from the scene as well, The World News reported.

Police also found a picture of Tsarevskaya's ex-lover next to the bodies, the outlet added.

"After opening the apartment, even hardened law enforcement officers were shocked," a source told the publication, adding that bloody objects such as tools used for supernatural rituals and other paraphernalia were found scattered all over the house.

"The woman's body was on her dead daughter. For some reason, the mother was naked. In addition, another victim was found - a cat," the outlet quoted the source as saying.

Deputies found the door of Tsarevskaya's apartment locked from the inside. They suspect she killed her child and cat before turning the knife on herself.

Her husband, Artur Rusin, 26, said she finished her architecture degree with flying colors. She was reportedly fond of designing clothes, but she later became obsessed with "black magic" and even tried to "communicate" with the dead.

Rusin further claimed that while he was away for work, Tsarevskaya had a lover at her workplace and became pregnant with the latter's child. Her boyfriend, allegedly named Anton, was also into the occult.

Tsarevskaya gave birth to her lover's child and her husband initially raised her as his own, The World News reported, citing local media. Anton hasn't been seen since.

Ritual killing is a sacrificial act under which humans and animals are murdered or corpses are mutilated usually for religious reasons. However, it can also have cultural, psychological and psychosexual elements.

In July, a woman and her daughter were arrested in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh after they allegedly hacked a 5-year-old girl to death as part of an occult ritual sacrifice. The police said the two women carried out the ghastly practice to discover buried treasure. The incident came to light after a neighbor of the suspects reported their daughter missing. It was found during an investigation that they committed the murder after being influenced by a sorcerer.