Five years without Nastya Muravyova
Nastya Muravyova has been dead for five years now
The aisles between the closely packed graves at Chervishevskoye Cemetery have overgrown with grass and shrubs. Five years ago, when little Nastya Muravyova was buried in this section near a pine forest, the area around was empty. Now her burial place has to be searched for. A headstone helps — the black-and-white photograph transferred onto it seems to hold the immense pain that shook Tyumen in 2021.
A headstone appeared on the grave a year ago. From it, little and so defenseless Nastya looks out with a piercing gaze
On the day the girl was found dead — 19 August — we recall the horrifying story of fragile Nastya from Lesobaza, who vanished in an instant and was found a month and a half later. In the thickets by the water. In a box. Murdered.
New retail outlets opened not long ago in the building where, according to the investigation, Nastya was killed. And, of course, cameras are everywhere here
How Lesobaza lives now, what has changed in the Muravyov family, why children in Tyumen are still attacked, and whether anything can be done about it — in Maria Tokmakova«s report.
These cameras help law enforcement and authorities monitor what happens in Lesobaza
All of Lesobaza Is Covered by Cameras, but Children Are Still Attacked Here
The very boarding house where Nastya died
At first glance, Lesobaza remains the same as it was five years ago. The drab boarding houses have barely changed, the same old playgrounds stand there, and locals relax while others work. Some gather in clusters near shops, including liquor stores; others sit on benches near playgrounds. There are plenty of children on the streets in the middle of the day, too. That is understandable: it is school holidays, and many kids like to spend their free time outside.
Lesobaza is often uneasy, and attacks on children have occurred even after Nastya«s death
Despite the surface picture, changes did come to Lesobaza after the tragedy. The entire district is now dotted with video cameras. They are on houses, on buildings, and even in stairwells. At 40 Sudostroiteley Street, where children so loved to spend time, cameras are installed on literally every floor.
Anastasia is the mother of a teenage girl. The woman says all locals worry about their children and try to keep an eye on them
The cameras do not stop children from running through the floors of the boarding houses and hanging out on the landings. They still periodically play in this building on Sudostroiteley, where Nastya went on a summer morning in 2021. She did not leave the building alive. It was there that her life ended forever.
Another camera that films what happens on the street near the entrance
Sometimes relatives, including parents, keep an eye on the boys and girls of Lesobaza. In the first months after Nastya«s death, other children»s mothers and fathers were deeply worried and afraid to let them go out alone. Over time, the neighborhood seemed to grow calmer — children walk around by themselves.
Even on weekdays Lesobaza is often crowded. Why no one paid attention to Nastya, who walked around the neighborhood in the morning and entered the boarding house, remains a mystery. No one was able to save the schoolgirl
But in 2026, Lesobaza made national headlines again. A little girl, only 5 years old, was dragged into a stairwell in broad daylight by a local resident, who pulled down her pants there. A woman responded to the cries of the girl and other children who witnessed what happened. She saved the little one. It later became known that her name is Yulia Alferova. For saving the child, the Tyumen woman was awarded by police.
Behind the boarding houses where the schoolgirl lived and died, a new residential complex has been rising before people«s eyes. This part of Lesobaza is gradually being transformed
The man who dragged the girl into the stairwell turned out to be 44-year-old Alexey Novak, a local resident. He is now accused of pedophilia.
Video surveillance is conducted on every floor in this building
Local Mothers Fear for Their Children
Lesobaza will be entirely new in the future — without the terrible boarding houses whose apartments held much pain and grief
Forty-six-year-old Anastasia has lived in Lesobaza for most of her life. She has two children.
Many consider this district dangerous because of residents with criminal records and simply rowdy locals
— My daughter is 13. I worry about her, though I let her go out alone. I am constantly in touch with her. We had a conversation about how she must not put her phone on silent mode and must always answer calls. It is hard to say whether it has become safer, but a case happened recently that left us in shock. A man dragged a child away! There are simply many different people here who drink and do inappropriate things in that state. Of course, all of us parents fear for our children, — the Tyumen woman says.
Nastya Muravyova disappeared on 30 June. She left home early in the morning with her father and then went to the boarding house where she was brutally killed
Everyone local knows about the tragedy that took Nastya«s life. Many feel sorry for the girl. A grown woman who does not live in Lesobaza but often comes here to care for a relative says it is even hard for her to talk about what happened here five years ago.
In 2021, all of Tyumen was plastered with notices about the missing girl from Lesobaza. Hundreds of people searched for her, while only one person knew where the child really was and what had happened to her
Lesobaza residents note that there are now a great many cameras in the neighborhood. Some of them are sure that thanks to the cameras, the area has become calmer.
This is how the area where dead Nastya was found five years ago looks now
— Of course we know what happened here. And now everything is covered by cameras, you cannot take a single step. The kids walk and run around, they are watched, and then again there are the cameras, — 55-year-old Fyodor told our journalist.
Vitaly Berezhnoy lived in Lesobaza. He had a past in which he worked for the police, but later, at the time of the crime, he worked as a furniture maker
The fact that all of Lesobaza is under cameras is undeniable. We walked around the neighborhood, where footage is recorded on every corner.
This is Berezhnoy«s reply letter to Tokmakova
The Boarding Houses Where Nastya Was Killed Are Set to Be Demolished
The boarding houses in Lesobaza still have mostly shabby walls. In this shot, our journalist talks with a local resident named Nadezhda
The story of Lesobaza, where people with criminal records or the unemployed still live to this day, will soon end. The district with the boarding houses has been included in a redevelopment plan. Nastya Muravyova was killed in one of them.
When we were on assignment, no one was in the apartment where the Muravyovs lived. No one opened the door for us. The housing is still registered to them
— To adopt a decision on the comprehensive development of the residential built-up area in the district of Sudostroiteley — Kamchatskaya — Konstantin Zaslonov streets in the city of Tyumen, with an area of 35.71 hectares. To set the deadline for implementing the decision at 15 years, — the city administration«s resolution states.
In the courtyard of the Muravyovs« building it now seems calm — the same carefree children play here as Nastya Muravyova once was
The so-called Bulgarian boarding houses are located at 32, 34, 36, 38, and 40 Sudostroiteley Street.
There are toys and flowers on Nastya«s grave. And also a lot of greenery
In the final version, 11 dilapidated buildings and 19 apartment blocks that were not classified as such will be demolished. Also to be torn down are 36 private houses, non-residential buildings, a kindergarten, garages, an unfinished building, and much more. The site is planned to have buildings up to 25 stories and various facilities.
The Building Nastya Entered and Never Left
Two adjacent boarding houses are linked by an invisible thread. In places they have been renovated and fitted with cameras. But for the most part, these are the same buildings that hold the secret of a child«s murder.
On that day — 30 June 2021 — Nastya left Building 38 on Sudostroiteley Street and then went to Building 40 to connect to an unsecured Wi-Fi network. The girl, like many other children, wanted to play on her phone and browse the internet.
According to the official version, at that moment she was met on the first floor by Vitaly Berezhnoy. He was renting an apartment there at the time. The man, as the investigation (and the court verdict) states, took the child into his home and there committed a terrible crime. No one ever saw Nastya Muravyova alive again.
A search for the girl began. Hundreds of volunteers, concerned citizens, police officers, and investigators joined in. Day after day, people combed the area, all but turning Lesobaza upside down.
And only several weeks later did a horrifying discovery emerge. The dead girl was in bags inside a box not far from a body of water.
Vitaly Berezhnoy first admitted guilt in the rape and murder of the girl. Then he claimed he had done it under torture. In May 2023, he received a life sentence. Later, in 2024, Russia«s Supreme Court upheld the life sentence.
Berezhnoy is now serving his sentence in the special-regime colony «White Swan» in Perm Krai. The man is held in strict and harsh conditions, but, as he himself wrote to the newsroom, he is able to read the news and follows the Tyumen region.
The convicted man still does not admit guilt and insists that his loved ones are fighting for his «honest name.» We publish Berezhnoy«s reply letter to our journalist, which arrived several months ago.
The Apartment Where Berezhnoy Lived and Nastya Died Has Been Sold
The small apartment where, according to the investigation, Berezhnoy killed eight-year-old Nastya Muravyova has been sold. There are new tenants there now, who are not very familiar with their neighbors. Incidentally, some of them still doubt that it was Berezhnoy who committed the terrible crime.
— We have a certain kind of contingent here, you know. Nothing grand has changed in Lesobaza. I think that parents, after everything that happened, of course watch over their children. Did I know the Muravyov family? The grandmother. I saw her about two months ago, she was standing at the bus stop. It is very sad that everything happened this way with the girl. Very, — 63-year-old Nadezhda began to recount.
She, like all of Lesobaza, is again discussing Berezhnoy«s guilt. The reason: the recent attack on a girl.
Nadezhda recalls that when Nastya went missing, police checked every apartment in Boarding House 40 on Sudostroiteley.
— I live here, after all. I think I saw Berezhnoy when he lived here. You know, at first no one even believed it was him. There were checks, after all — how many times did they come to me?! They opened the bathroom and looked, they looked in the room to see what was there. They went around to all the neighbors and checked the apartments, — she said.
The Muravyovs. Five Years Later
Much has changed for the Muravyovs over five years, too. The older girl — Tatyana — has started her own family and works. The young woman has big plans for the future and is focused on self-development. Tatyana keeps in touch with her brother and another sister, as well as with her grandmother and father.
Nastya Muravyova«s father, Sergei, has moved away from Tyumen and works. Nastya»s little twin has found a new family, where he is being raised with love. The middle sister, who was a minor in the year of the tragedy, has already grown up. The young woman also tries to live and develop, and she works.
— In 2024, Nastya«s brother and older sister left the Regional Social Rehabilitation Center for Minors »Semya.« The boy — because he was placed in a foster family, the girl — because she came of age, — the Tyumen Region Department of Social Development told 72.RU.
Tatyana Muravyova says that despite the enormous loss, they tried to pull themselves together and are now continuing to live. They visit their little sister at the cemetery and carry the kind memory of her through the years.
The Cemetery
Four years after Nastya«s death, a headstone was installed on her grave. A Tyumen businessman provided help. The date carved on the headstone is the day Nastya did not return home.
Earlier, Maria Tokmakova met with one of the key police officers who took part in the search for and solving of Nastya Muravyova«s murder. He is Renat Nikolayev, former head of the criminal investigation department of the Tyumen city police. The law enforcement officer is convinced that the guilty man is serving time for the terrible crime and Nastya»s death. How did Nastya disappear? Why could she not be found for a month and a half? What traces were found on the girl«s body? What evidence was there against Berezhnoy? The answers are in Renat Nikolayev»s only interview.
