Missing Russian Politician Found in Barrel of Cement

Nearly a week after he was declared missing, a Russian lawmaker's body has turned up near Moscow—in an unidentified person's garage, squeezed into a barrel of cement. Mikhail Pakhomov, of the ruling United Russia party, was a member of the Lipetsk city parliament. "The nature of the wounds suggests that he was killed," investigators say, per the Moscow Times.

Twelve have been arrested in the case, with a former housing official suspected of ordering the lawmaker's death over money that was owed to him, RIA Novosti reports. The body was discovered last night and confirmed as the 36-year-old's today; but it wasn't the first odd twist in the case: Police on Thursday found some of Pakhomov's things in a car whose driver was said to be "acting strangely." (More United Russia stories.)