U.S.

Accused Family Slayer A Suicide

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

February 13, 2002 / 12:19 PM EST / CBS

Nikolay Soltys, a Ukrainian immigrant accused in the bloody slayings of six family members, hanged himself in his cell at the Sacramento County Jail early Wednesday, the sheriff's department said.

Soltys, who allegedly used a knife to kill his pregnant wife, 3-year-old son and four other relatives last August, was scheduled to have a preliminary hearing March 19.

Soltys had tried to hurt himself before. He leaped from a second-floor Sacramento County Jail balcony in November, breaking his foot.

A month before that, Soltys punctured his chest multiple times with a pencil, but authorities said the wounds were superficial and determined he was not trying to commit suicide. They said he may have been trying to tattoo himself with the jail-issue pencil.

After that incident, he was returned to a solitary cell where he was to be monitored around the clock with a video camera. But he was not placed on suicide watch.

"It's too early to have comment," said Robin Shakely, a spokeswoman for Sacramento County District Attorney Jan Scully. "It's not like we've had that many suicides of high-profile cases."

Soltys, 28, allegedly slashed his wife's throat, then killed his aunt and uncle and their two 9-year-old grandchildren before fleeing with his 3-year-old son. The boy was found dead, his throat slit, one day later in a cardboard box on a trash heap.

Soltys fled after the rampage, prompting an intense manhunt. In a note he left in his abandoned vehicle, he explained that he killed his relatives because they were "poisoning" his reputation.

Captured days later after other family members spotted him in his mother's back yard, he told investigators his wife had been disrespectful. Their troubles began years earlier in Ukraine, where her family said he regularly beat her.