Man Kills 11-Month-Old In Drunken Stupor, Burnt Grandson In Stove

A man and his wife were arrested for burning their 11-month-old grandson to death in a stove Tuesday in Russia.

Viktoria Sagalakova, 20, had left her son Maxim in the care of her parents in Russia’s Khakassia district. When she returned, she heard the news of her baby’s death. A neighbor said the grandfather, 47, had “gone mad” after getting drunk and threw the baby into the stove while the grandmother watched. A family member found the baby’s charred body in the stove, Daily Mail reported.

"He came back home, and we hear he pushed the baby into the wood-burning stove. That was it,” their neighbor, Evgeniy Borgoyakov, told local media.

The committee investigating the incident issued a statement saying, “The grandparents were drunk and killed the baby. A family member found the body of the boy badly damaged by the high temperature inside the stove.”

Law enforcement sources said the grandparents were taken into custody and investigation is on into the “deliberate murder of a helpless minor.”

His mother posted an emotional status on Facebook saying, “Rest in peace, my beloved son. My dear little son. My pain does not ease even for a minute. How will I cope with it that you are not with me? I can't hug you. Only your photograph is here with your kind and tender look. I look at your picture and you are smiling to me. I miss you so much my son. Please come to see me just for one second. Come to see me in my dreams. I know that you see everything now because you are flying so high.”

A relative said she was shocked by the news as she often looked after the child when the mother was away.

“I am still shocked. They took good care of the boy, fed him. My children played with him. How could it happen?” Natalia Sagatayev said.

Marina Chaptykova, another neighbor said, “I felt sick when I heard this. I just can't imagine how it could happen?”

The grandparents were sent to jail and could face life imprisonment if found guilty.

In a similar incident in October 2018, a Mississippi grandmother was charged for stabbing a 20-month-old girl and then stuffing her into the oven. The woman’s brother found the baby who then called the police. He said no one other than the suspect, 47-year-old Carolyn Jones, was at home when the incident took place. Preliminary investigation showed the baby was stabbed before being stuffed into the oven.

Veronica Jones, the mother of the girl, however, defended her mother saying, “All I know is that my mother stabbed my daughter and put her in the oven and cooked her. My mother was not a violent person. She loved Royalty and she always treated Royalty like Royalty. My mom obviously was not herself.”