Charges: Shakopee man kills girlfriend after 'violent' argument
(KMSP) - A 31-year-old man has been charged in connection with a woman’s death in Shakopee, Minnesota.
Sergey Nikolaevich Balandin is charged with second degree murder and faces a maximum of 40 years in prison.
According to the criminal complaint, Monday, police were dispatched to a home on the 1400 block of Savanna Drive for a report of a man who may have killed his girlfriend. Upon arrival, they found a 34-year-old woman dead at the home. Her face was "unrecognizable" as it was badly bruised and bloody.
Authorities arrested Balandin later near the Hampton Inn in Shakopee after a brief standoff with officers. They found him hiding in the bushes.
Police learned that the victim was Balandin’s girlfriend and that she and her mother lived at the home with him. She has since been identified as Ruzana Semenovna Yedvabnik of Shakopee.
The victim’s mother told police she heard a heated and violent argument between her daughter and Balandin the night before and that it had ended in the middle of the evening or early in the morning.
Balandin’s brother spoke with police and said Sergey called him that morning and asked for a ride.
He gave Sergey a ride to Lowe’s and noted that he was shaking and appeared intoxicated. Sergey then ran away. Balandin’s brother said he was worried for the victim’s safety because Sergey is violent when he is intoxicated and he saw the couple fighting the day before.
Sergey Balandin then called another person and asked for a ride. He told him that his girlfriend is “unable to move” and may be “under a bed.”
When police searched the hotel, they found a bloody knife on the ground near where Balandin was arrested. They also found a black bag containing bloody clothes, a charging cable and a folding knife.
Balandin told police he “blacked out” the night before and that he remembered drinking and having sex with his girlfriend. He said he woke up in his bathtub and had “no idea” what happened to her. He said they hadn’t been arguing.
He admitted he knew she was dead and that he “most likely, probably” killed her. Balandin said he didn’t administer first aid and that he used household cleaners to clean blood off the floor.
Balandin said he didn’t call 9-1-1 because he wanted to “figure s*** out first.”
The Medical Examiner’s office determined the woman’s cause of death was homicidal violence.