Soltys arrested after terrified family flees

Suspect carrying knife when arrested

Nikolay Soltys

SACRAMENTO, California (CNN) -- The terrified brother of a murder suspect fled with his family after spotting the man hiding in their back yard, authorities said Thursday after arresting the subject of an international manhunt.

Nikolay Soltys, 27, had been on the run for 10 days as a suspect in the deaths of his pregnant wife, 3-year-old son and four other relatives.

By Thursday afternoon, authorities said the Ukrainian immigrant, who had waived his right to legal counsel, was cooperating fully with investigators.

"It doesn't matter where we caught him," Sacramento County Sheriff Lou Blanas said. "I'm just happy ... it doesn't appear there were any other victims."

VIDEO Nikolay Soltys, who is accused of killing his 3-year-old son and four others, is apprehended in Sacramento. CNN's Gina London reports (August 31) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) Sacramento county sheriff Lou Blanas talks to reporters about the capture of Nikolay Soltys (August 30) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media)   EXTRA INFORMATION • CNN Access: Officers describe Soltys' capture   • On the Scene: Roger Cossack on what's next   • Gallery: Sacramento killings rampage   • Map: Key locations in California slayings     RESOURCES FBI: Ten Most Wanted Fugitives   FBI: Nikolay Soltys   Message board: Family violence     AUDIO Detective Chris Joachim describes how officers found Nikolay Soltys 2.9 mb / 24 sec WAV sound

Law enforcement personnel, who had been providing protection for other family members of Soltys, became alarmed by sudden activity at the home of Soltys' mother in Citrus Heights, a suburb of Sacramento.

Sacramento Sheriff's Department Detective Chris Joachim, one of the arresting officers, said at a news conference that officers watching the house were preparing to change shifts at about 7:45 a.m., when they saw several members of Soltys' family rush out of the house.

"The garage door flew open ... they left in a really quick hurry," Joachim said. "When we followed them to [a nearby] store, once they made the 911 call, it was obvious why they were in such a hurry."

Soltys' brother, Sergei, told authorities they had seen the suspect in the back yard. Two teams of officers converged on the back yard and found Nikolay Soltys hiding under a desk.

"As he heard us, he sprang to up and appeared he was going to run, but an inoperable refrigerator was blocking his way," Joachim said. "He thrust his hands in the air as I entered the gate and I could see he wasn't armed."

Soltys did not resist arrest. After the arrest, news helicopters filmed Soltys, dressed in a blue T-shirt, as he was put into the rear seat of a police car.

An international manhunt for Soltys was triggered on August 20 when his wife Lyubov Soltys, 23, was found beaten and stabbed at the couple's home in another Sacramento suburb.

Soltys' aunt and uncle, Galina Kukharskaya, 74, and Petr Kukharskiy, 75, were found dead at their home nearby along with two cousins, Tatyana Kukharskaya, 9, and Dimitriy Kukharskiy, 10.

The body of Soltys' 3-year-old son Sergey was found a day later in a cardboard box at a remote location in Placer County, adjacent to Sacramento County.

'Some of the family were terrified of him'

Another of the arresting officers, Sacramento Police Sgt. Virgil Brown, said Soltys "was very dirty, his feet were dirty ... like he had been camping out. He had a two- or three-day growth of beard. He was very disheveled."

The suspect was carrying a potato peeler and a folded map of the Sacramento area, Joachim said; a sleeping bag and backpack were found nearby.

The FBI's Web site updated its Most Wanted list after Soltys' capture

Inside the backpack, investigators found a knife that Blanas said "is consistent with the murder weapon."

"It doesn't appear by the way he was dressed that anyone has been harboring him," Blanas said. "It looked like he'd been living in a field all this time, or somewhere here close to the house."

Blanas said the suspect may have been living in a homeless camp a few blocks from his mother's house or in woods nearby. He said police planned out both places as they investigate Soltys' whereabouts for the past 10 days.

Blanas said that "some of the family were terrified of him [Soltys], especially the brother," and that more than a dozen of Soltys' relatives had been under police protection for the past week.

Family offers thanks

Relatives of Soltys held a news conference Thursday night to thank authorities for their protection. They also thanked supporters in the community and across the country for their financial aid and prayers.

"He thanks God that God gives him so many friends here to help them a lot and support them during all this grief," a police officer interpreted for Boris Kukaraskiy, son of Soltys' aunt and uncle who were among the victims.

Family members also expressed gratitude to law enforcement officers guarding them, some of whom threw a birthday party for one of the children on their watch.

Area residents expressed their support of the family by refusing to buy from sandwich trucks that attempted to take over the route used by the Soltys family's catering service, said Blanas. After the arrest, "people came out and greeted them with open arms," he said.

Blanas said law enforcement officials had blanketed the Ukrainian community. "We were all over the place," following hundreds of leads, he said.

Blanas, California Highway Patrol Commissioner Spike Helmick, FBI agent Richard Baker and others commended the multi-agency cooperation -- and the assistance of the Ukrainian immigrant community and the media -- that led to Soltys' capture.

Soltys made the FBI's Most Wanted list after the killings, and numerous sightings came in from across the country. Nevertheless, Blanas said, law enforcement officials believed Soltys was likely still in the Sacramento area. "None of those sightings were credible," he said.

Rex Toom, head of the FBI fugitive publicity office in Washington, said Baker, the special agent in charge, would decide whether anyone qualifies for all or part of the $50,000 reward for information leading to the capture of Soltys. The state of California, U.S. Marshals Service and Sacramento County also put up rewards, Blanas said.