Russian police are conducting an internal investigation after residents of the city of Serpukhov said a warning last year about a man now suspected of raping and killing a 5-year old girl was ignored by the authorities.
Residents of the city south of Moscow say the victim, Vaida Tillozoda, might still be alive if police had taken action after a woman reported in 2017 that a man behaved suspiciously at a playground and tried to sexually abuse her daughter and another girl.
The Moscow Oblast police said on July 24 that it has opened an internal probe into the matter, indicating it would determine whether appropriate measures were taken at the time.
The body of Tillozoda, the daughter of labor migrants from Tajikistan, was found in a sports bag after she went missing on July 22. The regional branch of the Investigative Committee said on July 23 that a suspect had been detained.
Law enforcement authorities have not named the suspect, but media reports and residents of Serpukhov say it is the same 27-year-old man the local woman reported to police in 2017.
Tillozoda's father, Abdusalom Saidov, told RFE/RL on July 24 that his daughter was still in the morgue and that she will be buried in Tajikistan once her body is handed over by Serpukhov city police.
