Sacramento toddler dead, officials say
By Don Thompson
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO — The 3-year-old son of a man suspected of killing his wife and four relatives was found dead today.
Associated Press
Authorities were led to the location by a note found in the suspect's car last night. The body of Sergey Soltys was found in a box under a light tower in a Sacramento suburb.
Ukrainian immigrant Nikolay Soltys, 27, is a suspect in this morning's killing of five people.
Nikolay Soltys is suspected of killing his wife, his aunt and uncle, and two young cousins yesterday.
Authorities posted a $10,000 reward today and pursued dozens of tips in a nationwide manhunt for the Ukrainian immigrant.
The note was written on the back of a photograph of the child and his mother, Lyubov Soltys, who was one of the victims. It was concealed in the door panel of the car, said Sheriff's Sgt. James Lewis, spokesman for the department.
Soltys was seen at both crime scenes, which are about 20 minutes apart. Soltys has been charged with the five slayings, and Lewis said investigators believe that he was responsible for his son's death.
Lewis said the child was found in a rural area in Placer County, east of Sacramento, in a box big enough to hold a 36-inch television.
Lewis said the discovery of the body was "probably the most distressing of all, because there was a great deal of hope throughout the department that we would be able to find this child safe and sound."
Authorities were investigating reports Nikolay Soltys had headed to Seattle, where he has relatives. Lewis said Soltys also has relatives in North Carolina and New York.
"He could be anywhere," he said.
Officers in the Sacramento area were stationed at bus terminals and airports. Sheriff's officials also planned to hand out fliers in Russian and English in some neighborhoods in the Sacramento area, where an estimated 75,000 Ukrainian and Russian immigrants live.
Investigators said they had no motive for the stabbings but were looking into reports some relatives were unhappy Soltys was unemployed and on welfare.
Soltys had been rejected by the Ukrainian army for mental instability, investigators said. He also had a history of domestic violence in Ukraine, but he had no known criminal record in the United States since his arrival more than a year ago.
His wife, Lyubov, who was about three months pregnant, left Ukraine and reluctantly joined him about five months ago, said sheriff's Chaplain Frank Russell, whose office counseled relatives after the killings.
After reuniting with his wife, Soltys apparently began trying to refashion his life by going to college. Lyubov Soltys had also planned to start a new job yesterday.
