Dmitry Baksheev and his wife NataliaNatalia Baksheeva [right], were arrested in Krasnodar, Russia, after construction workers uncovered their decades long cannibalism in a lost cellphone

A Russian couple was arrested after construction workers discovered a cellphone with graphic images of a man posing with a dismembered hand in his mouth.
The apparent long running lust for human flesh was exposed when the tell-tale cell phone was found on Sept. 11 with selfies of the man posing with a severed hand in his mouth, as well as, snapshots of dismembered women and severed heads.
The phone was handed over to the police, who traced its SIM card to a former employee of a local military aviation academy.
The Moscow Times reported that the phone had several other snapshots of a dismembered woman.

Workers found a cellphone with Baksheev’s selfie, feeding himself a human hand

Printed photographs, including one of a severed head on a platter with fruit, were also found in the apartment. That photo was dated Dec. 28, 1999.
Dmitry Baksheev, 35, and his 42-year-old wife Natalia, reportedly admitted to kidnapping and eating at least 30 people over an 18-year time span.
Around the same time the construction workers found the mobile phone with selfies of a man with parts of a human body. The man in the photo was later identified as the suspect, a worker at a nearby Military Aviation academy. Baksheev and his wife also live in a hostel at the military base which is attached to the Russian ministry of Defense.
Police interviewed suspect who initially claimed he stumbled upon the body parts in a dumpster and took photos with them before he lost his phone. A according to reports, he had also photographed the cut-off head of the unknown woman and her skull.

The 35-year-old victim who only recently moved to Krasnodar, has been identified as the most recent victim of the cannibal couple at the local military base

A bucket and bag containing female body parts and another bag filled with the dead woman’s possessions. were found on 12 September on land linked to the military base in Krasnodar where the suspects live.
Natalia Smyatskaya, senior assistant to the head of Krasnodar Investigative Committee, confirmed that the 35-year-old victim had just relocated to Krasnodar from Omutinsk town in Kirov region.
Just as the Russian interior ministry confirmed the man in the images had been identified and arrested, footage of police searching the couple’s home, released on Russian state media, showed a number of human body parts, some of them preserved in saline jars.
Dmitry Baksheev and his wife Natalia,  a nurse, are reportedly part of a ‘cannibal family’, according to Mash a Russian news outlet. Russian authorities have since put Natalia through psychiatric tests and she was judged to be ‘mentally healthy’, according to Mash, a highly connected Russian news outlet.
Mash reports that Dmitry Baksheev and his wife Natalia stored human remains in their fridge and freezer as well as a cellar. The Investigative Committee of the Krasnodar Territory in a statement confirmed during their investigation that “food fragments and frozen pieces of meat of unknown origin were seized in the kitchen.”
Local media reported the who couple living in the hostel of the Military Aviation Academy belonging to the Russian Defense Ministry, used a combination of ether and a Russian drug Corvalol [main substance is Phenobarbital] to knock the victims out. The smell of the drug reportedly, reeked from their room in a hostel at the military academy, according to neighbors.
A worker at the facility was quoted as saying: “Each time we tried to enter their room, they started wild shouting and crying.
“Natalia is a scandalous woman, aggressive, so we did not risk it.”

Photo of human head surrounded by oranges going back 18 years found in the couple’s home

Preserved human body parts stored in fridge and cellar in the home of Dmitry  and Natalia Baksheev

Woman body parts found in Krasnodar near the home of Dmitry  and Natalia Baksheev

They confirmed the food items are now being tested to determine whether they are human or animal. Suspected human remains were also discovered in the basement and on the adjoining property, according to the statement.
Investigative committee official Smyatskaya added that the initial criminal investigation is into the death of one woman as the couple are currently being held on an initial murder charge while further investigation and testing is underway.