Alleged murderer Drąsius Kedys had changed his appearance significantly from this photo taken of him last summer — the buzzcut had been replaced with long black hair as the fugitive disguised himself.

KAUNAS, Lithuania — The manhunt for Drąsius Kedys appears to be over, as police say the infamous fugitive’s body was found in the Kaunas reservoir Saturday and Kedys’ relatives have confirmed the body’s identity.

At a press conference Wednesday, authorities announced that the identity of Kedys’ corpse had been identified by his aunt Birutė Steponkevičienė, sister Neringa Venckienė and ex-girlfriend Laima Stankūnaitė, who is the mother of his four-year-old daughter.

Kedys was clean-shaven and had grown out his hair and dyed it black and police and relatives said he looked little like he did in his widely-circulated buzzcut photo, but other signs such as a matching mole and tattoo were found. The body had washed up on the banks of the reservoir and had a Baikal IZH-79 pistol on his person. An autopsy is currently being conducted and the cause of death had not been determined yet. Police have initially estimated that Kedys was dead for a week before his corpse was found. Kedys was 37 years old.

“No external marks of violence during the initial survey were found,” Kaunas Regional Prosecutor Kęstutis Betingis told journalists at Wednesday’s press conference.

Authorities said the testing would definitely determine whether the body was that of Kedys, but given the confirmation and body markings they are “90 percent” sure it is Lithuania’s most famous fugitive.

“Today it is 90 percent certain that it is this person,” Raimondas Petrauskas, interim general prosecutor, told the press.

Closer to being solved

Police believe Kedys could be responsible for the brutal Oct. 5 double murder in Kaunas of District Court Judge Jonas Furmanavičius and Violeta Naruševičienė, the sister of Stankūnaitė.

Possible motives could be Kedys’ belief that his four-year-old daughter was sexually abused by Furmanavičius and other men, or frustration with a bitter three-year-long custody battle with Stankūnaitė for daughter. On his now-defunct website www.pedofilai.com Kedys accused Stankūnaitė of pimping the girl out to Furmanavičius and other men who molested and raped her. Kedys contacted authorities a year and a half ago, alleging that his daughter was sexually assaulted. However, prosecutors found Kedys uncooperative with their investigations and the case stalled without any charges being pressed, even after the girl had been interviewed by psychologists three times.

The case riveted Lithuania’s criminal justice system, causing the resignation of General Prosecutor Algimantas Valantinas in February for the prosecutorial mishandling of the investigation into the alleged molestation of Kedys’ daughter.

Meanwhile the version of the story that Kedys killed the judge and Naruševičienė to protect his daughter in the face of a corrupt and indifferent legal system that turned a blind eye to the judge’s pedophilia gained widespread credence among the general public. Numerous protests were held throughout Lithuania in support of Kedys.

“I am on Kedys’ side. If I meet him in the street, I will support him,” Vitalija Navickaitė, 24 of Panevėžys told Baltic Reports. “I can talk only about the law of the state. We don’t live in a true state, the state doesn’t care about people … I don’t want to believe it, but I think there are a lot of cases like this. It is sad that we are living in a country where people can do nothing for justice.”

Whether Kedys daughter was actually molested remains unclear. The Vilnius Regional Prosecutor’s Office formally pressed charges against Andrius Ūsas, one of the men Kedys accused, for the sexual molestation of the daughter. Ūsas says he is innocent and the case remains under investigation. Meanwhile custody of the girl has not been decided yet — she is currently staying with Kedys’ sister.

“Probably there is hope for greater certainty, as there will be an intensive investigation by law enforcement authorities to identify the reasons for Kedys killed in what circumstances and what he did. And, apparently, the yarn ball will continue to unroll, and finally it will be figured out who is who,” Lithuania’s parliamentary speaker Irena Degutienė told the Lietuvos Rytas newspaper Wednesday.

Mafia manipulation

The country’s Criminal Police Bureau, which tackles organized crime, allege that Kedys was involved with smugglers, specifically Sauliaus Velečkos, a member of the Agurkas (Cucumber) gang. Several years ago Kedys was arrested in Smolensk, Russia with contraband. Now police say that Kedys may have had a disagreement with Velečkos over money garnered from the smuggling of automobiles.

“Lately we received information that Kedys had lots of conflicts with Kaunas criminal organizations,” Algirdas Matonis, bureau director, said. “If this version will be proved correct, we will have the right to say the Kaunas mafia played a trick, using that situation to kill the judge and get rid of Kedys.”

Kedys’ friend and alleged crime associate Albertas Žilius was arrested over the weekend in connection with the crime. Meanwhile Stankūnaitė, Kedys’ daughter and Ūsas remain under police protection.

This article is free to view. To read Baltic Reports’ subscription-only articles, click here.