A crime most foul

Call the cops:

Though investigators recently identified the burned body found in Glenn County late last month, much about the suspected homicide case remains a mystery.

Exactly how Marat Magdeev, a 21-year-old Russian-born man living in Chico, turned up dead and burned beyond recognition in a walnut orchard south of Hamilton City has been the subject of an intense investigation. The Glenn County Sheriff’s Department has been tight-lipped about the suspected cause of death or any possible motive, citing the delicate nature of the case.

But it’s safe to say one thing—someone attempted to dispose of Magdeev’s body in a gruesome fashion, dousing it with liquid fire accelerant and setting it ablaze on a Billiou Ranch property near Highway 45.

Glenn County Sheriff Larry Jones said during a phone interview that the flames leapt to a great height, scorching leaves at the top of nearby walnut trees. Given the crime scene’s proximity to the highway and intensity of the fire, it’s likely that passing drivers would have seen the flames, though no one called in a report.

“The area is very questionable, as far as their ability to hide or conceal themselves,” Jones said of the suspect or suspects. “Where they were at was readily visible from anybody traveling on Highway 45 at the time.”

A Billiou Ranch worker stumbled across Magdeev’s body on May 24, and it’s unclear at this time how long it had been there. It was so badly burned and decomposed that investigators classified it as a John Doe. In a June 4 press release, the Glenn County Sheriff’s Department announced that the body had been identified as Magdeev’s through fingerprint and dental analysis.

Action News Now initially aired a report that the victim had been shot in the upper body, but Jones declined to confirm or deny whether Magdeev had suffered a gunshot wound.

“We haven’t gotten the final report back from our pathologist,” he said. “He wants a toxicology report before he renders the final cause of death.”

As lab work for homicide cases is typically fast-tracked, Jones said, he expects to see the report at the end of this week or early the next.

Magdeev was originally from Kaliningrad, a Russian city on the Baltic Sea, according to his Facebook page. He had no immediate family in the area, Jones said. His mother, sister and stepfather live in New York City, while his biological father remains in Russia. He lived in Chico for two years prior to his death, but what originally brought him here is unclear—he wasn’t enrolled at Chico State or Butte College and investigators have yet to determine whether he was employed.

Natalie Low lived a couple doors down from Magdeev at an apartment complex on Magnolia Avenue until he disappeared a few weeks ago. During a recent interview, Low said that Magdeev’s “really thick Russian accent” made him hard to understand. Moreover, he wasn’t inclined to socialize with his neighbors. “He had two friends who would come over all the time,” she said, “but he didn’t talk to us much.”

Low recalled that Magdeev had always driven a “shitty Honda Civic,” but recently had begun driving a much newer Infinity sedan.

A few days before the sheriff’s department publicly identified the body as Magdeev’s, Low said, deputies showed up at the apartment complex, entered Magdeev’s unit, and began removing his belongings, including a substantial amount of cash. Jones confirmed that “more than $1,000 and less than $5,000” in cash was found in Magdeev’s apartment.

While Jones reiterated that further details have been withheld as the investigation continues, he said the incident appears isolated and residents of Hamilton City should rest easy.

“There has been a lot of concern that there is a killer loose in the community,” he said. “But we feel that the community is safe. This crime has very specific nuances to it that I can’t disclose at this time, but we’re fairly confident that no one is in danger at this point.”