A student who was burned alive in his father’s Mercedes in Vienna was likely extorted for a large sum of money he held in cryptocurrency, local authorities say.
Danilo Kuzmin, 21, originally from Ukraine, was found in the back seat of a charred wreck under a bridge in the Austrian capital last Wednesday.
A 19-year-old fellow student at his university is among two people who have been arrested in connection with the murder.
The son of the deputy mayor of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, Sergei Kuzmin, he had been living in Vienna for some years after fleeing his home country amid Russia’s invasion.
The burns, covering around 80% of his body, were so severe he could not initially be identified.
Detectives made the link after his family and a friend submitted missing persons reports, saying Danilo stopped answering his phone.
Post-mortem examinations found he suffered massive blunt force trauma including head injuries and broken teeth, though he did not die until just after the fire began, causing fatal suffocation or heat shock.
A melted petrol canister was found in the back seat indicated the incident was caused by arson, as the Mercedes – which had Ukrainian number plates – runs on diesel.
Police sources told local media Danilo was lured to a meeting in the underground garage of a luxury hotel, where he was beaten and forced into the car, which was the driven to the site of the murder.
Viennese detectives say they found a ‘large’ outgoing transfer from Danilo’s cryptocurrency wallet, though the exact amount was not confirmed.
They say footage has been found showing the 19-year-old suspect buying a petrol canister at a petrol station in the city.
He was identified alongside a 45-year-old man – both of them Ukrainian – and an international arrest warrant was issued after they were found to have fled Austria.
The morning after the murder, the pair were detected entering Ukraine, and they were arrested by Ukrainian police that evening.
Austria has accepted a request by Ukraine to prosecute the suspects on home soil.
The country said Vienna’s police will continue investigating to help with the prosecution.
There was no immediate indication as to whether the suspects admit or deny involvement in Danilo’s murder.
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