[2] In 2009, a friend of Shayakhmetov, Konstantin Bondarenko, told him that he knew an elderly woman who lived alone in the Leninsky City District and had a large amount of valuables and money stashed in her apartment.
[2] In early June 2010, Shayakhmetov received information that 40-year-old Sergei Agafonov, the owner of a local chain of perfume shops, was planning to travel to Moscow in order to sell some of his goods.
[3] Surmizing that he likely had a substantial amount of money at his disposal, he contacted Bondarenko and another accomplice, Yelshad Sariyev, and the trio made plans to rob the family.
[3] Eventually, Shayakhmetov filled a bathtub with water, grabbed Agafonov's 4-year-old daughter and started dipping her head in and out as an intimidation tactic.
While he initially denied responsibility, Shayakhmetov eventually confessed when presented with the evidence, and even directed police officers to a place in the Kutum River where they had dumped some of their loot.
A team of divers was dispatched to investigate and located a bag containing weapons, stolen jewellery from unrelated robberies and several defunct gift cards from Agafonov's perfume shop.
[3] At the time, it was reported that was only the second life sentence to be handed down in the Astrakhan Oblast, with the first being given to mob boss and former police officer Rinat Salekhov for orchestrating several contract killings and torturing of hostages.