“Sausage King” Oligarch Murdered in Sauna With Crossbow

A surreal-sounding series of deadly events

Crossbow Bolt
Crossbow Bolt, 1500s-1600s. Creator Unknown.
Heritage Arts/Heritage Images via Getty Images

Some crimes can be described in relatively matter-of-fact terms, while hearing about others can recall a fever dream in which Abe Froman wanders into a scene from Eastern Promises. The latter, bizarrely enough, is the best way to describe a murder which took place not far from Moscow earlier this week. The victim was one Vladimir Marugov, a Russian oligarch whose meat-packing empire earned him the nickname of “The Sausage King.” And the details of the crime are especially shocking.

According to the BBC’s article on the killing, Marugov and his partner were relaxing in a sauna on Marugov’s estate when a pair of attackers showed up. They subsequently murdered Marugov using a crossbow; his partner, thankfully, was able to escape.

Marugov’s businesses included Meat Empire and Ozeretsky Sausages, hence his nickname. Few additional details have been released about this murder; it’s the kind of event that looks surreal to read about but sounds genuinely terrifying to live through.

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Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll

Tobias Carroll lives and writes in New York City, and has been covering a wide variety of subjects — including (but not limited to) books, soccer and drinks — for many years. His writing has been published by the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Pitchfork, Literary Hub, Vulture, Punch, the New York Times and Men’s Journal. At InsideHook, he has…
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