Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.
SOFIA, BULGARIA: The chopped-up remains of a missing crypto mogul were found by horrified plumbers in a sewer on Saturday, August 12, when they were called to unclog a drain in Bulgaria's capital, Sofia.
Christian Peev, 41, who held citizenships in the US and Bulgaria, was reported missing by his unidentified cousin just two days before parts of his body were discovered, according to The US Sun.
Investigators believe the crypto boss was allegedly murdered between August 8 and 9 by Vesco Valchinov, who chopped up his body and flushed some parts down the toilet.
As the alleged accused was unable to dispose of his skull and large bones through the toilet, he chose to bury them instead.
Who was Christian Peev?
Peev was a university graduate who built his fortune off of crypto investments. The millionaire was known for taking his friends out for high-profile parties, in one of which he is said to have met the alleged killer, who was working as a bartender, as per Mirror.
As per claims, the perpetrator first battered Peev with a heavy dumbbell and then dismembered his body in his apartment bathroom before flushing the pieces down the toilet.
Prosecutors and the Ministry of the Interior held a joint press conference earlier this week, noting that the victim's cousin filed a missing report on August 10. Officials also noted that deputies reached the supposed crime scene after checking the two phones of the missing person.
"All contacts he had on the day he was last seen were checked," said the deputies, adding, "One of them was with his friend Vesco Valchinov. A camera was seized from the block where the suspect lives and it was established that he and Christian entered the entrance in the late afternoon of August 8."
The next day, the suspected killer reportedly came home alone and went out several times during the day without any trace of Peev, according to the officials.
What was the motive behind Christian Peev's murder?
The local media reported that Christian Peev had helped Vesco Valchinov with his cryptocurrency business, leading the authorities to believe that monetary gain played a key role in his murder.
It is also claimed that another man, named Konstantin Subotinov aided Valchinov to hide the dismembered body of Peev.
Upon his arrest, Subotinov reportedly admitted that he helped the alleged killer to hide the victim's body parts by taking some of them with his car to Vitosha, where the remains were supposedly buried.
After fleeing to a hotel in Vitosha, Valchinov was apprehended on Sunday, August 13, when his whereabouts were discovered after tracing his phone. The investigation into the murder is still underway.
