She married a 72-year-old Arab sheikh—and six months later, she was found in pieces in the kitchen…

She married a 72-year-old Arab sheikh—and six months later, she was found in pieces in the kitchen…

On June 22, 2023, a Filipina maid smashed the kitchen window of a villa in Raaselheim and screamed until security arrived. On the floor lay the body parts of its owner, twenty-two-year-old Russian Alexandra Krevtsova, neatly arranged in plastic containers with Arabic inscriptions. Alexandra Krevtsova studied Arabic language and the culture of Islamic countries at the Faculty of Oriental Studies in Nizhny Novgorod.

  In 2022, she registered on an international dating platform aimed at Muslims looking for serious relationships. The girl indicates in her profile an interest in Islamic culture and a willingness to move to Arab countries.  A few months later, a user named Abdulhalim bin Said al-Qasimi began corresponding with her.

  The man introduces himself as a 72-year-old widower, a distant relative of the ruling family of the Emirate of Raslheim in the United Arab Emirates.  According to him, he owns several meat processing plants and trading markets in the region.  In his correspondence, he describes himself as a devout man who is looking for a young, educated wife for a quiet family life.

  Alqasimi emphasizes that he is ready to provide his wife with comfortable living conditions and the opportunity to continue her education. Alexandra tells her family and friends about her acquaintance with an influential businessman from OA. The girl says that he is serious about marriage and is ready to formalize the relationship according to Islamic traditions.

Her parents express concern about the large age gap and cultural differences, but Alexandra reassures them that this is her conscious choice.  Shi says he sees marriage as an opportunity to put his knowledge of Eastern culture into practice. At the beginning of 2023, Alexandra will fly to Dubai on a tourist visa.

  The meeting with the future husband takes place in the presence of several of his relatives at the hotel. The girl calls home and reports that the man meets her expectations and looks respectable. Three days later, she participates in the Nikah ceremony, an Islamic religious ceremony of marriage.

  The procedure takes place in a private home in the presence of an imam and witnesses. After the ceremony, Al-Qasimi takes Alexandra’s Russian passport, explaining that she needs to obtain a long-term residence visa.  The girl moves into his villa on the outskirts of Ras Elhaima.  A two-story building surrounded by a high fence.

  The house employs several Filipino maids who speak virtually no English.  Alexandra receives a separate room and a set of traditional women’s clothing.  During the first weeks of marriage, the girl maintains regular contact with family and friends in Russia.  She says she is adjusting to a new way of life, learning local traditions, and improving her knowledge of Arabic.

Alexander mentions that her husband demands strict religious rules, but explains this by the peculiarities of the local culture.  She says she feels safe, although she sometimes misses home.  Gradually, the nature of Alexandra’s messages begins to change.  She communicates less often and answers her family’s questions more reservedly.

  The girl mentions that her husband does not approve of frequent communication with former acquaintances and believes that his wife should devote more time to studying the Quran and household chores. Alexandra says she’s trying to find a balance between following the new rules and maintaining contact with her family.

  In April 2023, calls home become even less frequent.  Alexandra explains this by her busy schedule of religious studies and preparation for obtaining permanent residence. The parents express concern and ask for her husband’s contact information, but the girl replies that he is against direct communication with her Russian family until all the formalities with the documents are completed .

The last telephone conversation with parents took place at the end of April. Alexandra spoke briefly and seemed tense. She answered questions about her health and plans evasively, citing fatigue and the need to maintain silence in the house. The girl promised to call in a week, but the call never came. In May, relatives tried to call Alexandra, but her phone was switched off.

Appeals to the Russian consulate in the UAE yielded no results.  There have been no official reports of problems with the Russian citizen . The parents began their search through social media and contacted friends with connections in the region.  But it was not possible to obtain information about Alexandra’s whereabouts .

 Alexandra’s only channel of communication was her friend, a student in the same faculty, with whom she occasionally corresponded via messenger.  In June, she received several voice messages from Alexandra, which became the last manifestations of her life.  In these recordings, the girl’s voice sounded depressed and anxious.

  In her first message, Alexandra said that her husband spends most of the day at the mosque and barely communicates with her at home. The girl complained of loneliness and strict restrictions on movement around the house.  She mentioned that the maids avoided contact with her and were clearly afraid to say anything. Alexandra said she was not allowed to leave her room without a headscarf and appropriate clothing.

In a second voice message, recorded a few days later, Alexandra described a strange smell of meat that was constantly present in the house.  She noted that all the kitchen knives had disappeared from the tables and drawers, which struck her as unusual. The girl expressed growing concern about changes in her husband’s behavior and the atmosphere in the home.

  The last voice message was sent on June 14th.  In it, Alexandra spoke in a broken voice about how the situation was becoming unbearable.  She mentioned physical punishment for breaking the rules and asked her friend to find a way to contact her parents.  The girl said she felt her life was in danger, but she could not leave the house on her own.

The recording ended in mid-sentence. After sending her last voice message, Alexandra Krevtsova disappeared from all communication channels.  Her friend tried to call and write, but the messages remained unread.   The girl’s phone showed offline status in messengers. Eight days of complete silence fell in the Al-Qasim home, ending with the screams of a Filipina maid through the kitchen window.

  The events of June 20th developed rapidly. At around 2:00 pm local time, the security guards of the residential complex received an emergency call from one of the houses.  The dispatcher recorded a message about a woman screaming and banging on the window, demanding help.   The emergency crew arrived on scene seven minutes later and found the Filipina maid in a state of extreme agitation in front of the first floor kitchen window .

  A woman named Maria Santos worked in Al-Qasim’s home for about a year, cleaning the residential premises. That day she was supposed to do a general cleaning of the kitchen, but she didn’t have a key to the room.  The maid tried to knock on the door, but received no answer. Looking through the kitchen window, she saw plastic containers with contents laid out on the floor , which first received the mixed products for freezing.

Upon closer inspection, Maria realized that she was seeing parts of a human body.  The containers contained two arms, one leg from the knee to the foot, and part of a torso without a head.  Everything was carefully packaged and labeled with Arabic stickers indicating kosher frozen. Next to the containers stood an industrial meat grinder with the remains of biological tissue.

  The security guards called the police and an ambulance.  The first group of law enforcement officers arrived 20 minutes later and immediately cordoned off the area of ​​the villa.  The kitchen was declared a crime scene and closed for detailed investigation.  In the house were three Filipino maids and Abdulhalim bin Said al-Qasimi himself, who was calmly reading the Quran in the living room.

  When arrested, the seventy-two-year-old man did not offer any resistance and demonstrated complete calm. When asked by the police about what was happening in the kitchen, he answered in monosyllables, citing religious duties to cleanse the house of impurity.  Al-Qasimi was taken to Raslheima Police Station for further questioning.

  A preliminary examination of the crime scene revealed numerous details indicating systematic violence.  In the kitchen freezer, investigators found additional body parts: long dark hair, a lower jaw with teeth, and pieces of fabric with a name embroidered in Latin. An examination confirmed that the hair belonged to a European woman aged around 20 years.

  In the bedroom occupied by Alexandra, her personal belongings were found: clothes, cosmetics, Arabic language teaching materials, and a notebook with notes on local traditions.  The closet contained traditional women’s dresses and headscarves purchased after moving to the UAE.  On the dressing table lay Russian educational documents and a medical certificate for obtaining a visa.

  The search of Al-Qasimi’s office yielded more disturbing findings.  In the desk was a folder containing marriage documents, including a copy of the Nikah Nanami, the Islamic marriage certificate.   Also located there was Alexandra’s confiscated Russian passport and a certificate of change of visa status, which was never submitted to the relevant authorities.

Investigators were particularly interested in a diary containing entries in Arabic kept by Al-Qasimi.   It contained detailed notes on the wife’s behavior and the disciplinary measures taken against her .   The records were kept since January 2023 and documented a progressive increase in penalties for various violations of established rules.

  The first entries concerned relatively mild criticisms: being late for prayer, reading the Quran incorrectly, and not dressing modestly enough in the presence of maids. Punishments were limited to deprivation of food for several hours or prohibition from leaving the room.  Gradually, the list of violations expanded to include attempts to contact relatives without permission, expressions of dissatisfaction with living conditions, and questions about the return of documents.

  By May, the entries had become more severe.  Al Qasimi recorded the use of physical punishment, such as hitting the palms of the hands with a wooden stick for refusing to perform household chores, and being shackled in metal shackles for attempting to leave the assigned room without permission.  forced reading of religious texts for several hours in a row.

The last entries were dated mid- June and contained references to his wife’s complete disobedience and the need to take drastic measures.  Al-Qasimi wrote that the woman refuses to acknowledge his authority as husband and head of the family, which contradicts Islamic principles of family life.

  He considered such behavior an insult to religious feelings and a threat to the spiritual purity of the home.  In the basement of the villa, a small room was equipped with metal rings in the walls and shackles on chains. The maids testified that Alexandra was periodically locked in this room for several days without food or water as punishment for serious misbehavior.

  In the room, investigators found traces of blood on the floor and walls, as well as scratches  left by fingernails on metal surfaces.   The house’s CCTV system included cameras in all living areas, including Alexandra’s bedroom and kitchen.  Al Qasimi explained this by the need to control the observance of religious precepts and family discipline.

   The camera footage from the last two weeks before the incident was completely deleted, but a technical examination partially restored some fragments.  The reconstructed footage captured a scene in the kitchen where Alsimi forced Alexandra to perform humiliating acts. The girl was forced to crawl on the floor and beg forgiveness for disobeying her husband.

Other footage shows a man beating her on the back and legs with a leather belt while demanding that she repeat religious formulas in Arabic.   A medical examination of the remains confirmed the victim’s identity through dental records and DNA samples provided by relatives in Russia.  The forensic expert determined that death was caused by asphyxia caused by pressure on the neck with a leather belt.

Injuries to the body indicated prolonged physical abuse, including multiple bruises, broken ribs, and internal organ damage. The experts’ particular attention was drawn to the condition of the victim’s hands.  The nails were completely torn off, and there were deep cuts and burns on the fingers.

  These injuries were inflicted shortly before death and indicated the use of torture. Tissue analysis revealed the presence of diazepam, a sedative that could have been used to subdue the victim.   A toxicology study also revealed traces of other medications not prescribed to the girl by doctors.

  Residues of potent psychotropic substances were found in her body  , which could cause disorientation and suppress volitional functions.  This indicated the possible systematic use of chemical behavioral control.  The autopsy revealed that some internal organs had been partially removed after death.  In particular, part of the liver was missing, and other abdominal organs were also damaged .

The nature of the injuries indicated the use of professional meat cutting tools, consistent with Al-Qasimi’s work in the meat processing industry.  The interrogation of Abdullah Halim bin Said Al Qasimi took place in the presence of an interpreter and a lawyer appointed by the suspect’s family.

  The seventy-two-year-old man demonstrated complete calm and answered investigators’ questions without signs of emotional stress. His testimony was recorded in Arabic and then translated into English for the record.  When asked directly about his wife’s death, Al-Qasimi answered in the affirmative, but refused to admit it was a crime.

According to him, he had every right to punish his wife for disobeying religious regulations and family traditions. The man claimed that he was acting within the framework of Islamic law and fulfilling the duties of the head of the family in maintaining order in the house.

  The details of Alexandra’s last days , as told to Al-Qasim, were striking in their insensitivity. According to him, his wife constantly violated the established rules of conduct, refused to study the Quran and showed disrespect to her husband.  She tried to secretly contact relatives in Russia and expressed a desire to return home, which he considered a betrayal of their marriage obligations.

   The decisive conflict occurred on June 18, when Alexandra openly announced her intention to leave home and seek help from the Russian consulate. Alsimi regarded this as the ultimate violation of marital fidelity and decided to apply the death penalty. He lured his wife into the basement under the pretext of needing to discuss her behavior and there he threw a leather belt around her neck.

  According to the defendant’s testimony, Alexandra resisted and tried to free herself, but he held the belt until she stopped moving.  After his death, Al-Qasimi moved the body to the kitchen, where he kept the butchering tools he used in his business. The man explained the dismemberment of the corpse as necessary to cleanse the house of impurity according to his understanding of religious norms.

   The dismemberment procedure took several hours.  Alsimi methodically dismembered the body with an industrial meat grinder and sharp knives, placing the pieces in plastic containers marked for freezing. He planned to completely dispose of the remains through a waste recycling system at one of his factories. He had already managed to remove and destroy the head and some organs before the crime was discovered.

Testimony from three Filipina maids who worked in the house confirmed the systematic nature of the abuse against Alexandra.  Maria Santos, Rosa Fernandez and Gloria Mendez gave detailed accounts of what they observed over several months.  The women were afraid to intervene because of threats of dismissal and deportation, but secretly sympathized with the young Russian wife.

According to the maids, Alexandra often spent days in captivity without food or water.  Al Qasimi locked her in a basement with metal shackles for the slightest offense.  Mispronouncing Arabic words, performing household chores slowly, attempting to speak to servants without permission. The girl was losing weight before our eyes and becoming more and more withdrawn and frightened.

Particularly severe punishments followed Alexandra’s attempts to contact the outside world.  Al Qasimi monitored all of her communications and regularly checked her phone for unauthorized calls or messages. When he discovered violations, punishments included beatings on the palms of the hands with a wooden stick and forced reading of religious texts for hours in an uncomfortable position.

Maid Rosa Fernandez described how Alexandra had repeatedly asked her for help in the last week. The girl begged to find a way to send a message to the Russian consulate or contact her family in Russia.  She said she feared for her life and felt her husband was planning to seriously harm her.

  The maid wanted to help, but was afraid of losing her job and being punished.   The house had a strict system of control that made it virtually impossible for anyone to escape or seek help.  All windows were barred, doors were locked with electronic locks, and the area was guarded around the clock.  Alexandra had no access to money, documents or means of communication without her husband’s supervision.

  Even trips to the toilet and shower were controlled and limited in time. Psychological pressure was compounded by physical exhaustion. Alexandra was given minimal food, often forced to fast under religious pretexts, and forced to perform grueling housework.  She was forced to wash clothes by hand, scrub the floors of the house on her knees, and perform other humiliating tasks as part of the process of indoctrination.

The girl did not receive medical assistance even though her injuries were serious. The maids saw Alexandra suffering from infections caused by the unsanitary conditions in the basement.  She developed skin diseases, but Al Qasimi considered illnesses to be punishment for sins and refused to see doctors.  He prescribed treatment through prayers and reading the Quran.

  The religious justification for violence played a central role in Al-Qasimi’s worldview.  He considered himself a true Muslim believer.  who carries out divine orders for managing the family.  In his understanding, a wife had to show complete submission to her husband as the representative of Allah on earth. Any resistance was regarded as blasphemy, requiring severe punishment.

The investigation found that the online dating platform through which Alexandra and Al Qasimi met did not conduct sufficient user verification.  The man provided false information about his marital status and character.  In reality, he was married three times, and all previous marriages ended with the wives disappearing under mysterious circumstances.

Al Qasimi’s first wife, a Filipina named Lourdes Costillo, disappeared in 2016, eight months after their wedding. She was officially declared to have left the country voluntarily, but relatives claimed that the woman never contacted them after her disappearance.   His second wife, Pakistani Fatima Ahmed, disappeared in 2019 under similar circumstances.

Investigations into these earlier cases were reopened following Al-Qasimi’s arrest. Police found that in both cases, the women had complained to friends about their husbands’ abuse and expressed fear for their lives.  Their passports were also confiscated under the pretext of paperwork, and their last contact with relatives ceased abruptly and without explanation.

   A  large-scale search operation was carried out on the territory of the Al-Qasimi estate using special dogs and ground-penetrating radar equipment. Three areas of disturbed soil structure were discovered in the garden behind the house, which could indicate a burial. The exhumation revealed the presence of human remains, tentatively identified as belonging to two women of Asian descent.

Additional evidence was found in storage areas of  Alqasimi’s meat processing plants. Workers confirmed that the owner periodically brought in additional bio-waste for disposal in industrial furnaces.  He explained this by the need to destroy expired products, but the amount of waste did not correspond to the volume of production.

An examination of financial documents revealed that Al Qasimi used online dating platforms as a way to attract victims to satisfy his sadistic tendencies. He specifically sought out young, educated women from other countries who were vulnerable and easily manipulated by the prospect of a secure life in a wealthy Arab country.

  The plan of action was worked out down to the last detail.  Al-Qasimi created an attractive image of a successful businessman and devout Muslim seeking a life partner to start a traditional family. He promised his wives comfortable living conditions, the opportunity to study Islamic culture and receive religious education. After the women moved to the UAE, he isolated them from the outside world and gradually increased his control and violence.

Al-Qasimi’s psychiatric evaluation revealed signs of antisocial personality disorder with sadistic traits, but found him sane at the time of the crimes. The man was fully aware of the illegal nature of his actions, but considered himself entitled to control the life and death of his wives according to a distorted understanding of religious principles.

The trial of Abdullah Halim bin Said al -Qasimi was held behind closed doors by decision of the Ras Elkhaimah judicial authorities.   The official justification for the secrecy was the need to protect the dignity of the accused’s family and prevent any negative impact on the Emirate’s reputation. Alexandra Krevtsova’s relatives from Russia were denied participation in the trial under the pretext of a lack of necessary documents and visa formalities.

The defense was based on the assertion of the accused’s mental insanity and his inability to control his actions due to senile personality disorder.  Al Qasimi’s lawyers presented reports from private psychiatrists who diagnosed him with progressive dementia and religious hallucinations. According to their version, the man did not understand the illegality of his actions and acted under the influence of morbid fantasies.

  The Emirate’s religious council supported this defense, arguing that a true Muslim could not have committed such crimes in his right mind.  Clergy members claimed that Al-Qasimi’s actions contradicted the principles of Islam and could only be the result of mental illness. This position made it possible to avoid accusations that the crimes were motivated by religious beliefs.

The maids’ testimony was found unreliable by the court due to their dependent position and possible interest in receiving compensation.   The defendant’s lawyers argued that the Filipino women may have distorted the facts under the influence of promises of financial compensation from the victim’s Russian relatives.

  The court took these arguments into account when assessing the evidence.  Tests on the remains of Al Qasimi’s previous wives have not yielded conclusive results for bringing additional charges. The condition of the bone tissue made it impossible to accurately determine the cause of death, and the lack of documentary evidence of identity complicated identification.

The investigation was forced to focus only on the case of Alexandra Krevtsova as the only one with a sufficient evidence base.  The prosecutor’s office demanded the death penalty for premeditated murder with particular cruelty, but the defense insisted on a declaration of insanity and compulsory treatment.

  The court debate lasted several weeks, with the participation of religious authorities and medical experts. The decisive role was played by the position of influential members of the Emirate’s ruling family , who advocated for the most lenient sentence possible.   The court’s final decision was a compromise between the demands of justice and the need to preserve the reputation of local elites.

Abdulhalim bin Said al-Qasimi was found guilty of manslaughter due to mental illness. The court ordered that he be sent for compulsory treatment to a private psychiatric clinic in Ajman, with a subsequent review of the case in five years.  This verdict provoked outrage from the Russian side and human rights organizations, but official protests did not lead to a review of the decision.

  UAE authorities said the verdict was in line with local law and took into account all the circumstances of the case. Russia’s diplomatic attempts to secure a harsher sentence for the killer have been met with formal excuses about the independence of the Emirate’s judicial system. Alexandra Krevtsova’s parents received official notification of their daughter’s death only two months after the verdict.

  The document stated that the girl died as a result of a domestic tragedy in the family and was buried according to local traditions.  Details of the crime and the trial were not released under the pretext of protecting privacy.  Attempts by relatives to obtain the body for burial in Russia were rejected by local authorities.   The official justification was the need to observe Islamic burial rituals and the impossibility of exhumation after religious rites.

In reality, Alexandra’s remains were cremated without the family’s consent, and her ashes were scattered in the desert outside the city.  Alexandra Krevtsova’s Russian passport was destroyed by order of local authorities as a document belonging to a person who had converted to Islam and received a new name after marriage.

   The Russian consulate received notification that the citizen voluntarily renounced her Russian citizenship in favor of becoming the wife of a UAE citizen, which precluded any further claims from the Russian side.  Media outlets in the UAE have been given tacit instructions not to cover the Al Qasimi case to avoid damaging the region’s tourism appeal.

Local journalists attempting to investigate the circumstances of the crime faced obstacles in obtaining information and pressure from the authorities.  Several publications in independent outlets were quickly removed at the request of censors. International human rights organizations have sought to draw attention to the case as an example of systemic discrimination against women in some Arab countries.

  However, their efforts have not received widespread attention due to the geopolitical interests of Western countries in maintaining good relations with the UAE.  Economic ties proved more important than protecting human rights and justice for crime victims.   The private psychiatric clinic in Ajman where Alqasimi was treated belonged to his distant relatives and provided the most comfortable conditions possible.

The patient lived in a separate cottage on the medical center grounds with personal staff and the ability to receive visitors.   The treatment regime was more reminiscent of a respectable holiday than forced hospitalization. Medical reports on Al-Qasimi’s condition were formal and contained standard phrases about the gradual improvement of the patient’s mental health.

The clinic’s doctors regularly reported to judicial authorities on the progress of the treatment and expressed optimistic prognosis regarding the possibility of early release. No independent specialists were given access to examine the patient. Two years after the start of treatment, Al-Qasimi’s condition was reviewed by a medical commission, which concluded that he had fully recovered and posed no danger to society.

The man was discharged from the clinic with recommendations to continue outpatient monitoring and undergo regular preventive examinations.  In fact, he received complete freedom of action and the opportunity to return to normal life. After his discharge, Alqasimi returned to managing his businesses and resumed his online dating activity under new names.

Law enforcement agencies did not exercise any control over him, and his criminal record was formally expunged under an amnesty for people with mental disorders. The public was not informed about the release and return of the killer to normal life.   The case of Alexandra Krevtsova is one of many examples of how corruption, religious fanaticism, and legal irresponsibility can lead to impunity for the most brutal crimes.

   A young Russian student who dreamed of studying Eastern culture and starting a family became a victim of a system that values ​​the reputation of influential families above human life and justice.