Manhunt for killer who stabbed wife and four relatives

A 27-year-old man stabbed his pregnant wife to death and then drove 10 miles and killed four more relatives before fleeing with his three-year-old son.

Nikolay Soltys, a Ukrainian immigrant with no known criminal record, was being sought for the murders of his wife, aunt and uncle, and two young cousins, said sheriff’s Sergeant James Lewis in Sacramento, the Californian capital.

No motive was divulged, but police said Soltys has a history of mental instability and domestic violence.

At least two of the victims stumbled outside after they were attacked and blood stains were clearly visible near the body of a 10-year-old boy. Police said the crime scenes were gruesome.

"We want to get this guy off the streets as quickly as possible," Lewis said.

A national manhunt was under way and officers were posted at bus terminals and airports in the Sacramento area. Lewis said detectives also were investigating reports that Soltys was headed to Oregon and that he has relatives there.

"We will not rest until the coward responsible for this murderous rampage is apprehended and brought to justice," said California Governor Gray Davis, who ordered all available resources be provided to the Sacramento sheriff’s department.

Soltys’ 27-year-old wife was stabbed at their home in North Highlands. Police said she managed to stumble to a neighbour’s doorway, where she collapsed.

The other victims - a couple and their grandchildren, a nine-year-old girl and the 10-year-old boy - were found a short time later at a house about 10 miles away.

Soltys had been rejected by the Ukrainian army as mentally unfit before he moved to the United States, said Chaplain Frank Russell of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department, who counselled the family. The couple had a history of domestic violence in Ukraine, he said.

His wife, several months pregnant, came reluctantly to the US five months ago, the chaplain said. She was to start a new job yesterday.

Sacramento, California’s capital with 1.2 million people, is home to more than 50,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union, mostly from Russia and Ukraine.