Cannibal family admit killing and eating at least 30 people during gruesome murder spree

A family accused of being cannibals have admitted to killing and eating at least 30 people.

The killings are said to have taken place over 18 years as police are believed to have discovered eight body parts. 

Officers are now checking for more human remains to determine if the confessions are genuine. As well as the shocking find of human body parts, police also found a "video lessons for cannibals" in their home, local news reports have claimed.

Dmitry Bakshaev, 35, from Krasnodar in southern Russia has allegedly told interrogators he began killing and eating people in 1999. Bakshaev and his wife 42-year-old Natalia Bakshaeva, a nurse, was part of a "cannibal family", according to Mash news outlet, which is known to have links to Russian law enforcement.

Bakshaev's picture was released along with a 35-year-old woman. Mash initially identified the pictured woman as his cannibal wife but local sources in Krasnodar insisted she was a recent victim. Bakshaev and his spouse stored human remains in their fridge and freezer as well as a cellar, according to sources in the Russian Investigative Committee. Seven packs of frozen body parts were found. The couple also preserved some "meat" in jars. Some 19 remains of "human skin" were also discovered.

The couple were detained after a mobile phone was found in Krasnodar city with pictures showing a man posing for selfies by human body parts, it was reported. After being quizzed by law enforcement officers, the pair are reported to have "confessed". Natalia has undergone psychiatric tests since her detention and was judged to be "mentally healthy", according to Mash. She is alleged to have confessed to at least 30 cases of killing and cannibalism by the couple. Her psychiatric hospital tests showed she was "an absolutely healthy adequate person who fully accounts of her actions", said her diagnosis cited by Mash.

It is known parts of a female body were found on September 12 on land linked to a military academy in Krasnodar in a cellar. A bucket and bag contained body parts. Another bag was filled with the dead woman's possessions. Around the same time workers found a mobile phone with photographs of a man making a selfie with parts of a human body. Bakshaev - believed to work in a military academy - had also photographed the decapitated head of the unknown woman and her skull.

Another sickening picture has been discovered by officers and is believed to show a human head being served as dinner. It has been decorated with oranges and dated December 29, 1999, which, if true, leads to the suspicion that the confession of an 18 year reign of terror as a cannibal is correct. Another image shows alleged human remains pickled in a jar. The pictures were found by state investigators among the possessions of the "husband and wife cannibals". One image shows alleged cannibal Dmitry Bakshaev posing with a hammer and sickle - the symbols of the Soviet Union, the country in which he was born.

It is not known how long the cannibal couple have been married. She works at the same military academy where her husband is employed.They live in academy quarters in a hostel. Her picture has not been released. The smell of the drug reeked from their room in a hostel at the military academy, according to neighbours. They reportedly used ether and a Russian drug Corvalol to put their victims to sleep.

A worker said: "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."

Investigative committee official Natalia Smyatskaya said the initial criminal investigation is into the death of one woman. Other alleged murders are "being checked by our officers", she said. Ms Smyatskaya, senior assistant to the head of Krasnodar Investigative Committee confirmed that the pictured dead woman had been identified but her name was not being released. She was 35 and had came to live in Krasnodar from Omutinsk town in Kirov region.

Both Dmitry and Natalia are currently held in detention in Krasnodar. A criminal investigation has been opened.