CHERNIHIV – In an unusually open and frank press conference on Thursday, law enforcement authorities showed their eagerness to soothe the fears of a foreign community stunned by the recent brutal murder of a Peace Corps volunteer stationed in this small, northern Ukrainian city.
After ten days of reluctance to disclose any details of the investigation, during which conflicting rumors circulated about the case, Interior Ministry officials announced they had arrested the chief suspect in the death of 64-year-old Belgian-American Victor Verloo, who was murdered after an apparent robbery attempt in the early morning hours of Sept. 14.
In a prepared statement, Chernihiv Oblast Prosecutor General Mykola Shadura told reporters that police had arrested 33-year-old Volodymyr Mynko on Sept. 21 in Mykolayiv, on the Black Sea coast.
Internal Affairs police said the motive for the killing was straightforward robbery, and the theft of personal items, including a notebook computer, from Verloo's modest two-room apartment at Pirogova Street 2, led them to the alleged killer.
Verloo was found dead of a knife wound in the apartment after neighbors notified police of a scuffle.
'The murder had no relation to Verloo's position as a Peace Corps volunteer or to his work as a consultant representing the U.S. government,' Shadura emphasized. 'This was an ordinary criminal act.'
Shadura also acknowledged the 'palpable resonance' of this act, which he said 'dictated the necessity of this press conference.'
'We wanted to show the U.S. government, with whom we have solid, friendly relations, that we work openly and that we keep no secrets. … Every part of the investigation was conducted in accordance with the law.'
At the time of his death, Verloo worked as a Peace Corps business development adviser in Chernihiv, providing help with public relations and advertising to Akhalar, a non-governmental development center. At the press conference, representatives of Akhalar came forward to express their sorrow at Verloo's death and to extend their sympathies to his family.
'Victor Verloo came to work for the good of Ukraine and we feel obliged to carry on Victor's work in his memory,' one Akhalar official said.
According to the official account, Mynko worked with a number of accomplices who helped him to obtain keys to Verloo's apartment; all allegedly were motivated by the promise of money they believed to be stashed in Verloo's home.
'It was with the assistance of this group of people that [the suspect] was able to gain entrance to the apartment,' Shadura said. 'Without their collusion, the murder would not have been possible.'
Local Internal Ministry officials also briefly detained and questioned two women, whose ages and identities were not revealed. No other arrests were made. Lt. Col. Valery Bevz, chief of the Interior Ministry in Chernihiv Oblast, reminded the press that police authorities are within their rights to detain individuals for 72 hours without pressing charges.
Police and prosecutors appeared to take pains to reassure the Ukrainian public and the Americans present that the Interior Ministry had been in control of the situation since the first days of the case. Shadura said police knew the whereabouts of the alleged killer even before his flight from Chernihiv.
Oblast and city Interior Ministry officers who spoke at the press conference gave few details of the killing, instead padding the press conference with extended recounting of crime statistics in Chernihiv and Chernihiv Oblast. Bevz told attendees Chernihiv has a low overall crime rate and that 'the crime situation is under control.' The city's Interior Ministry regaled the press with statistics that resembled a crop report more than a crime scene description.
Chernihiv's chief prosecutor said the lag in giving out information owed to the extensive non-public notification required beforehand, both of U.S. Embassy officials and Ukrainian security organs. By his account, a working group of 'top professionals' was assembled within two hours to crack the case, but the requirements that U.S. officials be present to identify the body and at the inquest delayed public notification.
Still, the Interior Ministry was clearly far more forthcoming with information than it has been in other investigations.
One man, who identified himself as a local television reporter, complained during the press conference that in covering previous criminal cases, the only answer he ever received from the local prosecutor's office was 'the investigation is in progress and we cannot give any details.'
Representatives of the U.S. Embassy and the Peace Corps were present, and the Peace Corps' deputy director for Ukraine, Frank Yanichek, read a brief statement. Yanichek expressed gratitude for the efforts by national and local police officials to bring Verloo's killer to justice and said the Peace Corps 'does not want to change its cooperation with Ukraine.'
Yanichek also emphasized that Peace Corps workers in Ukraine and throughout the world serve without salary and that volunteers live 'at a modest level equivalent to that of the country where they serve.'
Earlier reports speculated that a large sum of money had been involved in the killing. The newspaper Fakty reported that $4,000 of Verloo's had gone missing. Another, unsubstantiated, report alleged that a young woman had been intimately involved with Verloo.
Chernihiv was abuzz with news of the death. At a newspaper stand down the street from the Internal Ministry building, several women debated different versions of the killing, but all declined to comment to reporters.
Chernihiv police gave few details about the killer's accomplices, who apparently were also involved in assisting the suspect in his flight, but promised that the investigation would continue.
Shadura also hastened to remind the assembled press that in Ukraine premeditated murder is punishable by execution. Despite formally committing to abolishing the death penalty, Ukraine continued to execute criminals until a moratorium earlier this year. Ukrainian courts, however, continue to issue death sentences.
