Lithuanian police solve brutal murders of two elderly women in Šalčininkai district

Two young men with prior criminal records have been charged in connection with the murders of two elderly women in Lithuania’s Šalčininkai district, prosecutors announced Thursday, calling the crimes among the most shocking in nearly three decades.

Vilnius Regional Prosecutor General Justas Laucius told a press conference that the suspects—both previously convicted for violence, theft, and drug offenses—had been referred to court for the killings, which occurred in 2025. “As a prosecutor, I must say we haven’t seen such macabre crimes since around 1996,” Laucius stated.

In the first case, a 92-year-old woman’s home was set on fire, and she died from smoke inhalation. Investigators determined the arson was deliberate, with €9,000 stolen from the property. A second woman, aged 83, was fatally beaten in her home, while €2,500 was taken. A third elderly victim, 84, survived by feigning death; the attackers stole €40 from her.

The case has drawn comparisons to a wave of violent crimes against the elderly in the 1990s, a period marked by post-Soviet instability in Lithuania. Authorities have not disclosed further details about the suspects’ motives or potential links between the attacks.