The corpses were subsequently found in deserted places, where there are no surveillance cameras[2] (under bridges, near fences, garages, in abandoned hangars or on far-away glades in forest parks):[1] The five members of the gang included: Pavel Voitov, Elena Lobacheva, Artur "Narcis" Narcissov, Maxim "Zakirka" Pavlov and Vladislav "Persik" Karataev.
Lobacheva had grown up on the outskirts of Moscow near the Vykhno metro station, and after school she worked first as a courier, then as an assistant accountant.
The youngest of the "Cleaners", Maxim Pavlov, who at the time of the crimes was only 16, lived in Rostov, Yaroslavl Oblast.
[1][6] He wanted to be a soldier, so, together with Karataev and Pavlov, he tried to go to war against the rebels in the far-right Azov Battalion, but all three were instead deployed on the Russian-Ukrainian border, and then returned home to Moscow by bus.
[6] In the fall of 2014, operatives paid attention to a similar style of murders in different parts of the city:[7] victims were tricked into visiting scarcely populated or deserted areas, mostly at night,[8] then hit with a hammer first and struck with dozens of knives afterwards,[1] the victims usually being heavily drunk or homeless, sometimes guest workers.
[1] Suspicion fell on supporters of Nazi ideology, and relevant groups in social networks were actively studied, but no trace of crimes in the virtual space could be found.
[5] Subsequently, employees of the Main Department of the Sledkom and FSB were able to track the mobile phones in the areas where the killings occurred.
[5][9] As a result, on February 19, 2015, the police, together with the FSB, detained 20-year-old Pavel Voitov and 25-year-old Elena Lobacheva—their place of residence was calculated from video cameras installed around the city.
During the searches, six knives, an unregistered "Osa" pistol, clothes with the janitor's blood and a hammer were found inside their home.
The exception was Narcissov, whom the board unanimously found guilty of attempted murder, but was divided on the issue of leniency—6 were in favor and 6 were against.