Kaunas murder defendant says he planned further killings

A man on trial for murdering two women in Kaunas told the court he had planned to kill more people, LRT reported. Benas Mikutavičius admitted his guilt as the Kaunas Regional Court began hearing his case on Friday.

Mikutavičius said he had planned both killings in advance. He also said he had intended to kill five people, then corrected that number to six. Some of those he had selected were unavailable at the time, he said. One was a man he had lived with previously; he said he had not known the others.

He told the court that he had not previously argued with his cousin. Their conflict began over the rental of her flat: he had been asked to move out in 2024, and had lived separately for a year. “I snapped because of being made to move out,” he said.

In September, he visited his cousin, ostensibly to collect belongings left at her flat. He said he actually wanted to gain her trust before killing her. He also described planning to kill an acquaintance at a pizzeria at about 2 p.m. He had borrowed money from the man deliberately, he said, to have a reason to meet him; they had arranged to meet that day.

Mikutavičius said he chose rental properties and addresses according to their locations so he could carry out the killings as quickly as possible. He planned to act on December 4 and prepared spare clothes and three phones, including an old, basic model. He also bought a large, heavy knife, saying he knew what he intended to do with it.

He recounted arriving at his cousin’s flat and talking with her about studies and life. After asking for coffee, he went to look out of a window, then returned and attacked her with a knife, demonstrating the movement in court. He said he took 10 euros from her wallet, washed his hands, wiped the knife and broke the key in the door before leaving to meet the second victim.

At the hearing, Mikutavičius sat behind a glass partition and smiled. Asked whether he regretted the killings, he replied, “On the contrary.”