In June 2013, a nine-year-old girl named Anya was killed in a city in Central Asia by three girls she knew from her neighborhood and school. The case shocked the local community and raised difficult questions about childhood, responsibility, and how a seemingly ordinary day could end in murder.
Anya had just turned nine that April. She was in second grade and was described by teachers as responsible and hardworking, a child who did her homework without being asked and followed the rules. Her mother, Lyubov, whose name means "love" in Russian, called her her pride.
But Anya was also lonely. She had few friends and was bullied at school. Three girls from her neighborhood, who attended the same school, had bullied her before, and on one occasion they attacked and beat her. Anya never told anyone.
On the morning of June 2, 2013, those three girls invited Anya to join them for a picnic. Anya was thrilled, believing she had finally been accepted. She asked her mother for permission, and Lyubov agreed, telling her to come home in a few hours for a proper meal.
The girls were Kristina Yevdokimova and Karolina Zimmerman, both 11 years old, and Alexandra Cheller, who was 10. Anya was the youngest at nine. The group headed past the neighborhood to the river, a spot their parents had forbidden them to visit.
At some point, one of the girls accused Anya of stealing a doll. The argument escalated, and Kristina began hitting Anya. The other two girls watched. Alexandra then suggested burying Anya alive, but Kristina said she wanted to cut her instead and asked for something sharp.
Alexandra searched for broken glass or a sharp stone but could only find a leaf, which failed to cut. Kristina then removed her sweater, tied it around Anya's neck, and she and Alexandra tried to strangle her. When that did not satisfy them, Alexandra suggested drowning her.
They dragged Anya to the water and pushed her under. As she gasped for air, Anya said her final words: "Please, don't drown me. I still want to live." They continued until Kristina and Karolina walked away. Alexandra turned back, jumped on Anya's stomach twice, then checked her pulse and said, "That's it. She's already dead."
Investigators later learned that a fisherman had been watching in the distance. He turned away instead of helping. He has never been identified.
After the killing, the girls walked home and continued their day as if nothing had happened. They had dinner with their families. One of the girls told her older brother what happened, but instead of going to the police, he went to the crime scene, undressed Anya, and tried to stage it as an assault.
When Anya did not return home, Lyubov initially was not worried. But as afternoon turned to evening and Anya still had not come back, she felt something was wrong. Anya never came home late. Lyubov went to the police that night and filed a missing person report.
The next morning, police found Anya's body near the river, not far from her home. Investigators quickly identified the three girls as the last people seen with her. When brought in for questioning as witnesses, all three gave the same coordinated story: they had argued over a doll, then went home, leaving Anya alive.
Investigators knew Anya was dead and that she could not have drowned herself in the way she was found. They separated the girls into different rooms and asked the same questions in slightly different ways. Within minutes, all three broke, and the real story emerged.
None of the girls could clearly explain why they did it. One said the argument started over a doll. Another said she was not sure Anya actually took it. The third could not remember why the argument began. One investigator described the interrogation as watching the children comprehend that they had ended an actual life.
Under Kazakh law, the girls were too young to be prosecuted normally. Kristina and Karolina were 11, and Alexandra was 10. The case went to juvenile court on June 25, 2013, three weeks after the murder. The parents of the accused denied responsibility, arguing their daughters were not responsible for their actions.
The court sentenced Kristina and Karolina to one year in a specialized educational facility. Alexandra, who was 10, was sent to the same type of facility for one year after she turned 11. Many in the community believed the punishment was not enough.
Ten days after the murder, Anya's funeral was held. What was meant to be a private ceremony drew hundreds of parents. The community was grieving and frightened. Parents began restricting their children's freedom, no longer allowing them to play outside unsupervised or walk to school alone.
The court also found the girls' parents administratively negligent and ordered them to pay compensation to Anya's mother, equivalent to about $7,000 in 2013. Lyubov had sought a much larger settlement. Kristina's family reportedly sold their car to pay. The other two families said they had no money and paid nothing.
After serving their year in the specialized school, Kristina and Karolina returned to their neighborhoods. Reportedly, Karolina later worked as a teacher in a school. Kristina married and had a child. The case remains a painful reminder of how trust in a community can be broken, and how the question of when a child becomes capable of true evil has no easy answer.