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Suspect in Killings of Elderly Investigated for Involvement in Past Incidents
The prosecutor's office and police are investigating whether other unsolved crimes could be connected to the September 16 slayings of two elderly women in a rural part of Tartu County.
An earlier crime dating from January was only ten kilometers from the spot where local residents say the 58-year-old suspect lived with his extended "family".
The television news program Aktuaalne Kaamera reported that the January incident involved a robbery and murder at the home of a 72-year-old man and remains unsolved.
The victims on the slayings on the night of September 17 were an 83-year-old woman and 77-year-old woman, each living alone. Both of the houses were set on fire.
An older woman was also killed on the night of September 6 by an intruder in Jõgeva County, but that case is not believed to be related.
The suspect's neighbors say the suspect lived in a loosely structured "family", the members of which engaged in petty crime, sold drugs and offered sexual services under the guise of erotic massage.
The suspect has 13 prior convictions on his record dating back to 1971, including breaking and entering, auto theft and attempted rape. He was most recently released in late May after serving a combined sentence for driving under the influence of alcohol and unlicensed operation of a motor vehicle.
According to the latest Viru County Court records, the suspect has a ninth-grade education, speaks Romani as his native language and is unemployed.