The brutal murder of Danilo Kuzmin, a 21-year-old Ukrainian student and the son of Kharkiv’s deputy mayor, in the Austrian capital, Vienna, is increasingly being linked to the theft of funds from his cryptocurrency wallet. Two Ukrainian suspects have since been detained in their home country.

Investigators shifted focus to financial motives after the young man’s body, which showed signs of massive blunt-force trauma, was found in a burned-out car in late November. The key breakthrough linking the crime to digital assets came from Gerhard Winkler of the Vienna Criminal Department. Winkler revealed that a significant amount disappeared from the victim’s cryptocurrency wallet.

He added that during the suspects’ detention, “very significant sums in dollars” were seized, supporting the theory of a high-value robbery. These discoveries allowed Austrian police to “exclude a political motive,” Winkler said.

Kuzmin was reported missing by his family after he disappeared on Nov. 25, prompting an investigation that traced his final hours to an underground parking lot of a hotel in the Leopoldstadt district, where a conflict was witnessed. Blood droplets were found in a nearby stairwell.

The attack is believed to have occurred shortly before the horrific discovery on the night of Nov. 27. The victim’s Mercedes was intentionally set on fire in the Donaustadt district using an accelerant, a possible attempt to destroy evidence. Autopsy results showed Kuzmin died a violent death from blunt-force trauma before the car was set alight.

Austrian police quickly identified two suspects: a 19-year-old university student known to the victim and a 45-year-old man. Using Europol channels, investigators established that the younger suspect, accompanied by the older man, entered Ukraine the day after the crime. Both suspects were detained by Ukrainian police on Nov. 29.

The alleged robbery and murder of Danilo Kuzmin is the latest in a growing number of high-profile crimes linked to high-value cryptocurrency holdings.

Recently, the bodies of Russian crypto blogger Roman Novak and his wife, Anna, were found murdered in the UAE desert in a similar case involving digital assets. According to reports, a Russian-led organized group is accused of kidnapping and torturing the couple to extort passwords to their crypto wallets before murdering them. Three suspects, including former security officers, were arrested in the UAE in connection with that crime, which was also driven by the immense financial value concentrated in cryptocurrency accounts.

• What happened to Danilo Kuzmin? The 21-year-old Ukrainian student was found dead in a burned car in Vienna on Nov. 27.
• Why is cryptocurrency involved? Investigators discovered large sums missing from his crypto wallet, pointing to a robbery motive.
• Who are the suspects? A 19-year-old student and a 45-year-old man were detained in Ukraine after fleeing Austria.
• Is this part of a wider trend? Yes, it follows other violent crimes targeting crypto holders, including a recent UAE double murder.

免责声明：本文章仅代表作者个人观点，不代表本平台的立场和观点。本文章仅供信息分享，不构成对任何人的任何投资建议。用户与作者之间的任何争议，与本平台无关。如网页中刊载的文章或图片涉及侵权，请提供相关的权利证明和身份证明发送邮件到support@aicoin.com，本平台相关工作人员将会进行核查。