6 Bodies Were Found in Bulgarian Mountains. Why Did a Prosecutor Call the Case Real-Life “Twin Peaks”?

Three bodies were found in a burned-down lodge in the mountains of Bulgaria. A week later, three more bodies were found in a camper, and police believe the two incidents are connected

NEED TO KNOW

• The killings of six people — three men in one location and two men and a teenager in another — has left Bulgaria on edge
• Authorities are investigating what led to the baffling deaths in the mountains of the eastern European nation
• One prosecutor likened the bizarre case to the surreal mystery-drama found on the 1990s series Twin Peaks

Authorities in Bulgaria are investigating the mysterious deaths of six people in the mountains that one local prosecutor likened to the 1990s mystery-drama series Twin Peaks.

On Monday, Feb. 2, the bodies of three men were found in a burned-down lodge near the Petrohan mountain pass that connects the Sofia province with the northwestern Montana province in the eastern European country, The Guardian, Novinite.com and Reuters reported.

The three men — identified as Decho Iliev, 45, Ivaylo Ivanov, 49, and Plamen Stattev, 51 — each sustained gunshot wounds to the head, which, according to forensics experts, appeared to be self-inflicted, per Novinite.com.

DNA found on the guns belonged to the victims, The Guardian reported, citing police.

Then, on Sunday, Feb. 8, the bodies of three others — world-renowned speleologist and self-proclaimed spiritual leader Ivaylo Kalushev, 51, Nikolay Zlatkov, 22, and Alexander Makulev, 15 — were discovered in a camper in the Okolchitsa Peak area about 62 miles north of the capital, Sofia, Novinite.com reported.

The teenager was found with fingers on both of his hands intertwined, per the outlet.

Police said they believe the two incidents are connected, according to The Guardian.

"We can conclude, for both investigations, that one of the main versions that we are working on is murder-suicide and suicide," said Natalia Nikolova, the deputy prosecutor at the Appeal Prosecutor's Office, according to Reuters.

Five of the victims were members of the National Protected Areas Control Agency, a non-governmental organization (NGO) devoted to nature protection which used the lodge as a headquarters, The Guardian reported.

According to Reuters, citing police, the men lived in the hut at the time of their deaths. The teenager was the son of a friend, per the outlet.

Authorities said the men were involved in Tibetan Buddhism, while adding that a relative of one member spoke of "exceptional psychological instability" within the group, the outlet reported.

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Speculation due to the apparent lack of information about the crimes began to run rampant, with Borislav Sarafov, the general prosecutor, saying, “Life has given us more shocking details here than in the Twin Peaks series,” per The Guardian.

Zahari Vaskov, the director of the General Directorate "National Police," said at a press conference on Monday, Feb. 9, that the two sets of deaths were “a case without comparison in our country,” the outlet reported.