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American Morning

Sacramento Police Continue Hunt for Alleged Killer

Aired August 21, 2001 - 09:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And we're going to begin with the hunt for a suspected multiple killer. A nationwide search is underway this morning for a Ukrainian immigrant suspected of killing five members of his family, including his pregnant wife.

CNN's Rusty Dornin joins us now. She is live from Sacramento. She's got the latest on this manhunt -- good morning.

RUSTY DORNIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.

Well, Sacramento sheriff's deputies did find Nikolay Soltys' car in a parking light -- parking lot behind a home improvement store in Sacramento in the wee hours of this morning. It's in an area where there's a large population of Ukrainian immigrants, but there was a three-hour aerial search and ground search with dogs. There was no sign of Soltys and the car apparently yielded few clues.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MCGINNESS, CAPTAIN, SACRAMENT COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: What we did learn is that the car was cold to the touch, indicating it had been there for some time. So he probably got rid of that car rather quickly after having on to his mother's house in Citrus Heights and to pick up his child, his 3-year-old son, and then abandoned the car sometime shortly thereafter. So he had plenty of opportunity to get to a friend or relative and get out of the area or find a place to simply hunker down.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DORNIN: Investigators say that he does have a history of violence before he is suspected of stabbing his wife. He drove across town 12 miles and then stabbed his aunt and uncle and two young cousins -- a very deliberate act of rage. And investigators say now that they are now learning that he does have a history of a violent temper when he was in the Ukraine. Apparently he was accused there of some domestic violence with a former wife. He was also rejected from joining the National Army in the Ukraine but he did not have any criminal record. So they are still on the lookout for Nikolay Soltys with his 3-year-old son. There is no sign of him. He is armed and dangerous. Investigators say still they have no motive -- Leon.

HARRIS: Rusty, real quickly for people who live in that area have got to be -- got to be somewhat concerned about this. The police are saying and there's -- they have any idea which direction he may have been heading to? Is there any tip leading to another community he might be trying to go to?

DORNIN: The only tips they really had was that he has family somewhere up in Oregon and they thought he would be heading north. But police say it's very difficult. They found the car 12 hours -- more than 12 hours after the crimes happened. That's a long span of time. He could have picked up in another vehicle and taken off. People would not have recognized him. They would not have recognized the make of the car. There is a very good chance that he was able to escape this area and sort of escape this dragnet where people have been looking for him.

HARRIS: Rusty Dornin, live in Sacramento this morning, thank you.

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