Russian Fraudster Turns Up 13 Years After ‘Death’
(Getty/Daniel Tadevosyan)
Thirteen years after being declared dead, Russian official Marianna Stupina has been found alive. Stupina, a former top housing official in Russia’s Astrakhan region, disappeared in 2012 after being sentenced to seven years in prison, according to People, citing Russian outlets Komsomolskaya Pravda and Izvestia.
Prosecutors say she staged an elaborate scheme to fake her death. She allegedly fled to Tatarstan, monitored missing-persons reports until a woman resembling her died, and then had her husband falsely identify the body as hers to obtain a death certificate.
Stupina reportedly assumed a new identity using a photocopy of another person’s passport and lived under that name for years, according to the Sun. Her deception was uncovered during a renewed investigation connected to the original fraud case. Investigators say her husband has confessed, and her daughter’s phone records showed regular contact.
Stupina is currently in custody, serving her original sentence, and authorities are considering additional charges.
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