Godmother Details How Mother Drowned Son in Bathtub
The godmother of the child drowned in a bathtub in southern Moscow shared details of the tragedy with our colleagues from MSK1.RU. According to Lyubov, 46-year-old Alexandra Shalina systematically beat her five-year-old son.
The woman has two daughters from another marriage, aged 21 and 15. Previously, a native of Yakutia, she lived with the children in the Nizhny Novgorod Region, in Diveyevo. She was married to 55-year-old Alexander Shalin for about four years. After the official divorce in 2020, the ex-spouses had a son. According to family friends, the father doted on the little one. Despite separating from his wife, he allowed her and her children from her first marriage to live in his house and provided for the family.
‘The children lacked for nothing. He outright idolized his younger son, loved him so much that he bought everything that could be bought,’ the godmother told MSK1.RU.
Alexander has two adult sons from his first marriage — Vadim and Stanislav. But on his VKontakte page, the man paid more attention to the younger child. He published many photos with little Sasha, and his status stated: ‘I love my son!’
It was Alexander who first noticed oddities in his ex-wife«s behavior. According to family acquaintances, the woman was fixated on spirituality and often went on religious tours abroad. They do not rule out that Alexandra Shalina could have been part of a sect.
‘When the son was little, she went to Abkhazia. There, Alexandra burned the child«s documents and demanded money from her ex-husband. She threatened that if he didn»t do it, she would kill the son,’ the godmother of the deceased child complained in a conversation with MSK1.RU.
As Lyubov notes, Alexander repeatedly appealed to child protective services to have custody of his son left to him. But he failed to achieve this. And in early 2024, his ex-wife went to the police — allegedly Alexander had been raping his teenage stepdaughter for five years. In the spring of the same year, the Investigative Committee«s Main Investigative Directorate for the Nizhny Novgorod Region charged Alexander, and he ended up in a pre-trial detention center. During the hearings, Alexandra and her daughter stated that they wanted not only a prison term for him but also compensation of 40 million rubles (approximately $400,000 at current rates).
Simultaneously, Alexandra accused her ex-husband«s older son of beating her: only the fact that cameras were installed in the garage saved Stanislav from a sentence. Thanks to the video, it became clear that the woman had beaten herself with a hammer. But the court only fined Shalina for giving false testimony.
‘There were red flags already back then, but neither child protective services nor anyone listened to us. In court, we said that Alexandra was unstable. The lawyer asked to have her checked for sanity, but our requests were rejected. This is what it has come to: the family fell apart, she destroyed everything,’ Lyubov fumes in a conversation with MSK1.RU.
According to the woman, Lyubov last saw her godson in the summer of 2024. And in 2025, Alexandra moved with the children to the capital, deciding to stay with a friend in Brateyevo.
‘It was Sasha«s birthday, I invited myself over, I say: »Can I come, I«ll bring a gift.» He turned three then,’ the godmother told MSK1.RU. ‘I played with him a bit. Before that, child protective services had come to them, we, the relatives, begged for it tearfully. Alexandra was given two weeks to get the house in order. But she quickly, on the sly, packed up and left for Moscow.’
According to the woman, on January 24, investigators called Alexander«s son Stanislav. They informed him that his younger brother was dead. The guy immediately went to Moscow to retrieve the body — it was decided to bury the child in Diveyevo.
A criminal case was initiated against Alexandra Shalina for the murder of a minor (subpoint «c» of part 2 of article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). During interrogation, she pleaded guilty and said that she had long planned the killing because she did not want to raise the child. Now the woman faces up to 20 years in prison. The Nagatinsky Court sent Shalina to a pre-trial detention center.
‘I am in touch with the friend with whom Alexandra lived with the children. We exchange information: sometimes she learns something and tells me, sometimes I do. Before, we fought with her: she defended Alexandra, and we defended Alexander. Now there is nothing more to split with her: their side is sitting, and our side is sitting. There«s no more splitting, and no child either,’ Lyubov sighs in a conversation with MSK1.RU.
Earlier we reported what is known about 46-year-old Alexandra Shalina. All that is known about the cruel murder, we are gathering in a separate article.
