The Crime Ledger: September 16, 2026

DOJ: Russian Network Charged in Murder Plots

The U.S. Justice Department unsealed charges against five alleged members of a Russian intelligence-linked network accused of financing terrorism and recruiting people inside the United States to surveil and kill a prominent Russian dissident believed to be in the Washington, D.C., area.

Named defendants: Yuri Khrameev, 63; Kirill Khrameev, 27; Oemis Romagoza Durruthy, 35; Yaidel Delgado Suarez, 35; and Angel Eduardo Castro, 22: all at large. Prosecutors say one U.S.-based recruit was offered $40,000 to “eliminate” or “disappear” the American-based target; another was allegedly offered $25,000 to kill a person in Lithuania. SDNY and FBI New York and Washington Field Offices are on the file. An indictment is an allegation; all five are presumed innocent. The Kremlin declined substantive comment Wednesday.

The case was filed in Manhattan federal court. Prosecutors say the network, linked to Russia’s FSB, recruited a Brooklyn-based Venezuelan to surveil the dissident and offered $40,000 for a killing; Kirill Khrameev is alleged to be an FSB officer. All five are charged with conspiracy to finance terrorism, and Yuri Khrameev, Delgado Suarez and Castro also face murder-for-hire conspiracy. The dissident has not been named. All five remain at large, according to the Justice Department and NBC News. They are presumed innocent.

Chester: Letby Families Blame Hospital Bosses

A day after Lady Justice Kathryn Thirlwall’s public inquiry report landed, solicitor Tamlin Bolton, representing seven families affected by Lucy Letby’s crimes, said responsibility for the delay in calling police “lies squarely” with Countess of Chester Hospital executives.

The inquiry, published Tuesday by the Department of Health and Social Care, found a “complete failure” to protect infants and said some attacks and deaths could have been prevented if safeguarding had begun when suspicion first arose. Letby is already serving whole-life terms for seven baby murders and seven attempted murders. Three former managers remain under investigation for gross negligence manslaughter. Former executives said they were reviewing the findings and could not comment further while other probes continue.

The report found that executives, especially then chief executive Tony Chambers, delayed and obstructed a police referral after consultants raised fears that Letby was deliberately harming babies; police were not contacted until May 2017, nearly a year after the last death. It said Chambers sought to manage the doctors rather than investigate the safety concerns, and that internal and Royal College reviews should not have been used to avoid calling police, BBC News reports. Letby is serving whole-life orders for the murders of seven babies and the attempted murders of seven others.

Paraíba: Suspect Claims Dozens of Killings

Civil Police in Paraíba say Jorlan Lopes da Silva, 33, is linked to 16 homicides in roughly three months after leaving prison in May 2026. In interrogation he allegedly claimed about 80 lifetime killings; investigators treat that figure as unverified but “close.”

He was arrested Sunday in Mulungu after a multi-day manhunt, allegedly disguised as a woman and carrying an unrelated toddler. Two alleged accomplices were also detained; police cite possible ties to a Rio-originated faction. Cases include a double homicide of merchants in Rio Tinto on Aug. 1. Delegado Douglas Garcia is on the file. Lopes da Silva is in custody at Presídio Sílvio Porto in João Pessoa and is presumed innocent of unproven counts.

G1 reports police said his first crime was at 13 and that he hid in the bush in the Mamanguape Valley. Police said he tried to escape disguised in women’s clothes. Detectives will review unsolved homicide files after his claim of about 80 killings and are weighing a mental health assessment. Update, Oct. 11, 2026: On Sept. 22 police seized a car he had used after an exchange of gunfire. He is presumed innocent of the homicides under investigation.

Houma: Quadruple Stabbing Suspect Booked

Kaegan Jude Solet, 47, of Houma was released from medical care Wednesday and formally booked on four counts of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder, held without bond, after a Sept. 12 Ashland Drive stabbing rampage.

Terrebonne Parish Sheriff Tim Soignet says deputies found a stabbed juvenile, still critical but stable, then four deceased adults in two residences, the agency’s first quadruple homicide. Soignet asked the public for surveillance video from Sept. 12-13 along Ashland Drive. DA Joseph Waitz Jr. expects a grand jury Oct. 27. Victim identities remain withheld pending notifications. Solet is presumed innocent.

The four dead have been named as Verna Mae Verdin, Letha Verret, Paul Verret and Paul’s partner Krissy Lynn Parfait. The stabbed child, a six-year-old boy, ran for help, the New York Post and The Times of Houma report. Investigators described the attack as targeted, not random, and have not released a motive. Family members raised about $40,000 for the funerals. Solet is presumed innocent.

Adelaide: Snowtown Killer’s Parole Conditions

A day after South Australia’s challenge to James Spyridon Vlassakis’s parole failed, Parole Board chair Frances Nelson KC said the Snowtown killer remains in custody but will move to the Adelaide Pre-release Centre under curfew, weekly reporting, geographic exclusions, no contact with victims’ families, psychological intervention, and random drug and alcohol testing.

Nelson told ABC a failed illicit-drug test would “quite likely” return him to prison. Victims’ Rights Commissioner Sarah Quick said families remain distressed; as a life-sentence prisoner, his parole conditions are permanent. Vlassakis pleaded guilty to four of the 11 “bodies in the barrels” murders and served a 26-year non-parole period that expired in August 2025.

Update, Oct. 11, 2026: Vlassakis moved to the Adelaide Pre-release Centre in late September and may stay up to 12 months while his conditions are assessed, ABC News reports. He took part in four of the Snowtown murders and pleaded guilty in 2001. The state government’s earlier attempt to block his release failed after a court found the review had made jurisdictional errors.

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