A ex-convict has confessed to raping and stabbing a former female US marine in Russia, then leaving her to die in a forest, according to local police.
Alexander Popov, 43, appeared in court on Sunday as a judge ordered his detention for two months over the death of Catherine Serou, 34, an Afghanistan veteran.
Serou had been studying law at a university in Nizhny Novgorod, a city 260 miles east of Moscow, after arriving from California three years ago.
Her body was discovered in a forest on the edge of the city on Saturday following a massive search operation by law enforcement and volunteers after she went missing last Tuesday.
Popov told interrogators that he drove her to a forest outside the city where he raped her before beating her with his fists. He then stabbed her three times 'before leaving her to die in the forest'.
He is held on a murder charge.
Some reports say that Popov was an 'acquaintance' of Serou, but the woman had messaged her mother in the US after leaving a grocery store - saying she was in a stranger's car and feared she had been 'abducted'.
Catherine Serou, 34, had been studying law at a university in Nizhny Novgorod, a city 260 miles east of Moscow, after arriving from California three years ago.
Alexander Popov (pictured in court on Sunday) told interrogators that he drove her to a forest outside the city where he raped her before beating her with his fists. He then stabbed her three times 'before leaving her to die in the forest'.
Alexander Popov, a man who was arrested on suspicion of murder and surrounded by police officers, arrives at a courtroom in the city of Gorodets, 36 miles north-west of Nizhny Novgorod, on Sunday
The suspect is known to have previous convictions for rape, sexual assault, hooliganism and robbery
The suspect is known to have previous convictions for rape, sexual assault, hooliganism and robbery.
The attacks came after his latest release from prison, say reports.
The American had served with Cherry Point Marine Corps from 2006 to 2011, and had been posted to Afghanistan.
Serou, originally from New Orleans, had two degrees
