US EditionCluster of mystery deaths in western Bulgarian mountains confounds police
Six people linked to an environmental NGO were found dead in two locations with gunshot wounds and fire damage in a case with unclear motives and ongoing investigation.
- National Police in Vratsa reported six people found dead across two sites in western Stara Planina, including three bodies at Petrohan lodge on February 2 and three with gunshot wounds near Okolchitsa Peak.
- On February 1, 2026, a farewell message from Ivaylo Kalushev referenced exhaustion, forgiveness, and a `sick child`, prompting police to search for him, speleologist Nikolay Zlatkov, and boy Aleksandar Makulev.
- Recovered footage shows men shooting dogs and setting the lodge ablaze; investigators found two pistols, a carbine, two large dogs, burn marks, and autopsy data indicating 12–18 hours between death and discovery.
- At a Feb 9 press conference Zahari Vaskov called the case unprecedented, and Natalia Nikolova said, `We can conclude, for both investigations, that one of the main versions that we are working on is murder-suicide and suicide.`
- Amid institutional silence, experts criticized handling and warned insinuations shifted blame onto victims, while journalists flagged how the NGO used the term 'national agency' and uncovered a 2022 Environment Ministry framework agreement.
33 Articles
33 Articles
In Bulgaria, mysterious deaths in mountain areas are being investigated.
In addition to rampant conspiracy theories and public opinion, politicians are also raging over the mysterious Bulgarian crime case involving six deaths, which the prosecutor's office calls the "Bulgarian Twin Peaks". The story of the tragedy, which is only referred to as the Petrohan case, from the first scene of the double triple murder, is truly an extremely complex one with threads that stir the imagination.
The mysterious deaths of six people in the mountainous western part of the country are shaking the Bulgarian public. Prosecutors have said that two of the deceased were "probably" murdered, and the case has already been nicknamed the "Bulgarian Twin Peaks" for its ominous nature.
Within a few days, five adults and a 15-year-old boy were found dead from close-range shootings – Religiously motivated suicides or murders because they saw something?
Bulgaria is reeling from the deaths of six people in a mountainous area in the west of the country. Three bodies were found in a burned-out hut where an NGO is based a week ago, and on Sunday three more people were found dead in a camper van 80 kilometers away. Police are still investigating the circumstances, treating the incident as a mass murder or suicide, as all the deceased were members of a closed group that performed spiritual rituals.
In the mountains near the border with Serbia there were two alleged triple murders in a week: conspiracy theories abound
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