Russian police have detained a suspect in the killings of two Jesuit priests brutally murdered in Moscow last week.
Russia's Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor General's Office says the 38 year old Russian citizen was detained in the capital on Thursday, Associated Press reports.
The committee said the man confessed to the killings of Russian Fr Otto Messmer and Fr Victor Betancourt of Ecuador.
It said the suspect said he killed Betancourt in a quarrel at an apartment in downtown Moscow and then killed Messmer, who arrived later, to cover up the first killing.
The detainee's said he had killed one of the Jesuits because of "sudden dislike, while the second murder was committed in order to remove the witness, another Jesuit who happened to visit his colleague," the investigative committee told Tass.
SOURCE
Suspect in Moscow murders of 2 Jesuit priests held (Associated Press, 6/11/08)
Tver region resident suspected of murdering two Jesuits in Moscow (Tass, 6/11/08)