‘Mom, I dream of my brother every day.’ A mother's year-long fight for her son's killers
Samrat Dzhavadov«s mother described how the family has changed a year after her son»s death.
“Was my son lying in the forest, dying? And the examination of his injuries shows he was beaten daily with some regularity. How is that possible? They would come, beat him, and leave. And he was lying there. And in the end, he grew cold completely…”
The mother received a video of her son being brutally beaten days after he disappeared.
A year after the death of 30-year-old entrepreneur Samrat Dzhavadov from the Moscow region, his mother Lyudmila is still asking the same questions: what really happened to her son? Were the killers really caught? Why has the case been so drawn out? Neither the investigators who keep replacing each other, nor the accused who are still in pre-trial detention (SIZO), nor her Sema, who has long been buried, can answer them.
During his life, Samrat enjoyed traveling and was passionate about sports.
The young entrepreneur disappeared on 31 October 2024 along with his car. A few days later, his parents received a video showing their son, covered in blood, kneeling before armed men. After two weeks of unsuccessful searches, while combing through remote areas once again, his mother and his underage brothers found Samrat«s body in a Moscow region forest themselves.
The entrepreneur«s body was found by his mother in a forest.
For several more hours, the petite woman stood in the dark forest plantation before the corpse of her child, waiting for the police and mortuary services.
The mother called acquaintances, questioned witnesses, and posted missing person flyers.
“Nothing good has happened to us,” Lyudmila began the conversation.
According to his mother, Samrat was a cheerful and lively person.
Over the past year, Samrat Dzhavadov«s mother has given interviews to various media outlets numerous times and even appeared on a program on a federal channel. After the broadcast, she was told the criminal case had been transferred to the main directorate of the Investigative Committee (SK). She took on part-time work at a hospital, is raising her sons and daughter, but has not been able to leave or let go of Samrat»s case.
The mother found her son«s body near the Sadko gardening partnership between Chekhov and Domodedovo.
“But we celebrated too early, let«s say, because for almost 10 months it just lay on a desk, as it turned out,” said the mother of the deceased entrepreneur. “They changed our investigator, who told us about the work she had done, the requests she made for surveillance footage. As it turned out, it was just procrastination, and she was simply stalling for time. It seemed like all those trips to the scene were a sham, a setup, and someone»s game.”
Samrat«s mother says her son fought for the truth until the very end.
More than a year passed after Samrat«s death before his mother could tell why her son»s body ended up in a Moscow region forest. Lyudmila learned that shortly before his death, the young man decided to earn some extra money and agreed to help acquaintances transport something. At first, he did not suspect what exactly he was carrying in his car.
One of the last postcards Samrat gave to his mother.
“Over time, he began to understand that these guys were transporting something they shouldn«t have,” Lyudmila said. “He had worked with these people for five years, and then his eyes began to open to what was happening. But he did something that seems to have been his undoing. He took their goods, hid them somewhere, and it»s still unknown where. Everything around my house was dug up—they were looking, apparently. He did it as a guarantee to get out of this shady business. That is, he wanted to do it like this: «Either I leave, or I turn everyone in.» He couldn«t stand such things and hated anything related to substances.”
When her son died, his mother tried to find information everywhere she could reach. That«s how she learned from his correspondence in a computer game that Samrat indeed suspected the true purpose of his deliveries.
“He wrote: «I will find out gradually, because people with shoulder straps are involved, and not small shoulder straps,»” Lyudmila recalled. “And he was apparently afraid for his life. It also said: «Guys, if something happens and I don»t return from there, if I don«t make contact within five days, then come to my house, look there. And so my mother doesn»t worry and doesn«t know. So my mother doesn»t get sick.«”
According to Lyudmila, the investigator “investigated” the case for so long that it became impossible to retrieve surveillance camera footage to reconstruct the chronology of events after Samrat«s disappearance.
“Because of the delays, two people involved in this case went to the special military operation (SVO). They were the fiercest, the ones who beat him more than all the others,” Lyudmila stated. “If they left the SIZO, then at this stage they left as not guilty. The case is suspended, and until the court says they are guilty, we can«t even make claims against them. Until the court decides they are guilty—they are not guilty and owe me nothing.”
“Was he wandering in the forest waiting for his death?”
Recently, the case was transferred to another investigator, and apart from arrests or extensions of pre-trial restrictions, there have been no court hearings. But after her own investigation, Lyudmila stopped trusting the words of law enforcement.
“I no longer believe any of them,” the mother said quietly. “The only thing the new investigator did was visit the scene where it all happened. But I still haven«t signed the documents about going there with her. The people involved in the case remain as witnesses. Some testimonies change. But what shocks us most is the new forensic examination, which is generally afraid to say anything against the previous one.”
The mother cannot accept that all the time she was searching for her son with volunteers and relatives, he was alive. But no one could help him.
“There was already an interrogation of the expert, but what«s the point of that interrogation?” Lyudmila asked. “They don»t know anything, can«t establish anything, and have no capabilities. The child had an empty intestine, an empty stomach with a small amount of water, and an empty bladder. Where did it all go if, as the investigation claims, he was killed right after the restaurant? Besides, it was discovered that his rectal temperature was one degree Celsius (1.8°F) higher than the surrounding environment.”
During the search for Sema, time for Lyudmila turned into a monotonous gray mush—unclear where day was and where night was. The mother tried by any means to find at least some clue about her son.
For a long time, she tried to draw the investigators« attention to her child»s smartwatch, which tracked his location. This short-statured woman with glasses also drove around the Moscow region, arranging with owners of small shops and restaurants to get surveillance footage.
“He died on the 12th, and I found him on the 14th. And the last blows, according to the examination, were inflicted on the 11th. Let«s say they brought him to the spot. But where was he all these days? Are you trying to say that all this time he was just wandering in the forest waiting for his death? Well, that»s nonsense. We were walking there, shouting…” Lyudmila said.
According to Samrat«s mother, the forensic examination states he was beaten day in and day out without respite.
“They tell me: «We can»t establish it, it«s impossible, it»s unclear, it«s unknown, it»s not subject to establishment.« Guys, stop, wait, how is that?” the mother of the deceased asked. “You are investigators—draw conclusions, interrogate, find out what happened, who took him where.
Initially, investigators charged the suspects under two counts of Part 2 of Article 127 of the Russian Criminal Code (unlawful deprivation of liberty), as well as under Part 4 of Article 111 (intentional infliction of grievous bodily harm). Later, the Investigative Committee reclassified the case under points “a, z” of Part 2 of Article 105 (murder). These articles could carry up to life imprisonment for the accused. But a little over a year has passed since the start of the investigation, and the potential sentences suddenly began to be reduced, despite the case being transferred to the control of the head of the Investigative Committee.
“They want to remove the charge under Article 105 from the case and leave only Article 111. There is a feeling that everything is being deliberately delayed, and there is no reaction. More than a year has passed since the death. And now, of course, it«s almost impossible to find people who saw something or know something, you can»t even recheck or seize cameras,” Lyudmila explained. “And we couldn«t check the investigators» work.”
Lyudmila told of another strange detail that happened after her son«s death. According to her, when Samrat was already dead, his bank card was used to pay at a tobacco shop. And she found this out herself too.
“That is, someone used it. And questions about who it was still haven«t arisen? And now try to find out who it was. Back then it was still possible to find out and check the cameras. Now there»s nothing left,” Sema«s mother said resignedly.
“To get another child in such a state?”
Due to bureaucratic red tape, the mother still cannot obtain the title for Samrat«s car, which he left at a restaurant in the Moscow region a few days before his death. The car, which her son bought on credit, began to break down due to idleness, and Lyudmila had to deal with the problem herself.
“My son was such a pedant, he took care of that car. And now I have a weight on my heart because I«m also paying the loan for it. The car is deteriorating and depreciating. I offered the bank to take it as payment for the loan. But nothing works out,” the mother said.
After conducting her own investigation, Lyudmila became afraid for herself and her children. When Samrat died, strange things began happening at and around the country house: a lock was broken and almost torn out by the roots, then some pits appeared, then suddenly the lights went out only at their dacha.
“And it«s clear why the case was delayed. And it»s clear why he began to fear for his life. And it«s clear why he did it, that»s why they were asking my son where it was and what it was,” Lyudmila recalled. “I understand that he didn«t tell them. After we found him, they dug around our house in the region. There were constantly some people there. And our house borders the forest. They came in cars, spent several hours near our house.”
Now Samrat«s mother fears that the trial of her son»s killers may be formal: some of the accused may sign a contract with the Ministry of Defense and go to the special operation, others may have most of their time in pre-trial detention counted towards their sentence.
“They told us from the start that they had taken these six people. And that«s it. There will be no masterminds,” the mother said indignantly. “Sit quietly and calm down. Be thankful they at least took them. Here they are, six people. What more do you need? Well, there will be a trial, yes. Some kind of trial, but there will be one. For damages, go to them. The lawyers said right away: »Don«t be foolish, you won»t get it back anyway.«”
Murder not established
The press service of the Main Investigative Directorate of the Russian Investigative Committee for Moscow Region told MSK1.RU that a criminal case under the most serious charge—Part 4 of Article 111 of the Russian Criminal Code—is currently being investigated against four accused. As for the other two suspects, they indeed went to the special military operation (SVO), the Investigative Committee confirmed.
“A criminal case against two more suspects has been separated into a separate proceeding, as their requests to be sent to the SVO were granted in accordance with paragraph 5 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated 17 December 2024 No. 39,” the department reported.
The reclassification of the criminal case is explained by the findings of a comprehensive forensic medical examination, as well as other circumstances of the incident. According to the forensic examination, as clarified by the investigation, the established cause of Samrat«s death rules out the possibility of the victim being held and beaten over several days.
“In the criminal case, a large volume of work has been carried out as part of the investigation: 15 witnesses have been interrogated, 20 forensic examinations have been conducted, one of which is a commission forensic medical examination (its conclusion was ready 5 months after being ordered), 8 searches of residences have been conducted, 6 confrontations have been held, details of the accused«s telephone conversations have been obtained, they have been inspected, 3 inspections of the scene have been conducted, a flash drive with video recordings from the victim»s cafe has been seized, a flash drive with correspondence from the main witness has been seized,” the Investigative Committee added.
The length of the investigation was explained by lengthy examinations. In other words, it is still ongoing.
“God helped and the church helped”
Lyudmila is sure that from the killers it will be impossible to get back not only money but, most importantly, her son. More than a year has passed since Samrat«s death. And Lyudmila still continues her fight, trying to uncover the mystery of her child»s murder. After the tragedy, many of the entrepreneur«s friends blocked Lyudmila for unknown reasons. On the anniversary of his death, no one came to the family except the closest relatives.
Constant stress and fear, among other things, became the cause of a minor stroke, which Lyudmila endured on her feet. She only felt it when the left side of her face and her fingers began to go numb and her face began to distort. And coping with all this grief, as the mother says, was helped by turning to God.
“God helped and the church helped, becoming churched,” Lyudmila explained in a calm voice. “Probably, without that I really would have gone completely mad. Thanks to the person who helped me with work. I started working at a hospital. It distracts me. My children also distract me. Recently we all flew to Kaliningrad together. The children tried for the anniversary—gave many good gifts. We went to a restaurant on the first day of the Nativity Fast. The priest allowed us to eat fish. We sat together as a family.”
But the mother now worries about her eldest son, who stood with his mom in the dark, cold forest and together with her found Sema.
“I don«t know, he doesn»t talk about it… He has closed himself off in that regard. He started skipping college—oversleeps because he doesn«t sleep at night, only falls asleep towards morning. I ask what happened, it»s the last year of study. He says: «Mom, I dream of my brother every day.» I ask: «And what are the dreams like?», and he doesn«t answer. Apparently, the realization of what happened is only now starting to catch up with him. Honestly, me too, just the other day.”
Samrat«s younger sister also cannot forget him. When she was relaxing at the dacha with her mom and girlfriends, the girls came up to Lyudmila and said: “Aunt Lyud, do you know that she sometimes sits at night and cries. She remembers her brother.”
