Authorities investigate mass murder or series of suicides involving six victims

Crime without precedent – this is how the Bulgarian police described the circumstances surrounding the so-called “Petrohan case”, which has been under investigation for a week. On Sunday, February 8, the bodies of three people who had been sought in connection with a triple murder on February 2 near a mountain lodge near the Petrohan Pass were discovered.

“Three shot bodies and a vehicle have been found, which earlier this week I said were being sought in connection with the Petrohan case”, said Chief Commissioner Zahari Vaskov, Director of the National Police General Directorate, at a briefing. The deceased were identified as the owner of the lodge, Ivaylo Kalushev, 22-year-old Nikolay Zlatkov, and a 15-year-old boy.

Chronology: On February 2, a fire was reported at a mountain lodge near the Petrohan Pass in the Balkan Mountains. Firefighters arriving on the scene discovered the bodies of three shot men from a non-governmental organization. Security camera footage captured the victims—Ivaylo Ivanov, Decho Vasilev and Plamen Statev—taking the dogs inside the lodge before setting it on fire. The footage is from Sunday, February 1. The three then left the camera’s range. Their bodies were later found lined up next to each other. Authorities said they were searching for two men and a boy known to have been staying at the lodge with the deceased, likely traveling in a camper owned by Ivaylo Kalushev.

On February 8, a shepherd from Vratsa spotted the camper hidden on a forest road under Mount Okolchitsa in northwestern Bulgaria, with the driver shot, and alerted the police. Investigators found all three of the missing individuals inside the campervan, also shot dead. “It appears that the gunfire occurred inside the vehicle, with no indications of shots fired from the outside. We continue to investigate all possible scenarios—murder or suicide”, explained Chief Commissioner Vaskov.

A week into the investigation, no official information has been released about whether it was a murder or suicide, or how the individuals are connected, prompting criticism and accusations that the police and prosecution are acting chaotically.

Without providing details at a Sunday briefing in the Vratsa Balkan, Chief Commissioner Vaskov emphasized that this is “a crime without precedent in our country” and that “the possibility of a closed community with sect-like elements can’t be ruled out.”

Edited by Ivo Ivanov

Translated by Kostadin Atanasov