Pregnant Mother of Two Stabbed to Death, Husband Turns Himself in After Manhunt

The 23-year-old Eden Prairie woman stabbed to death Saturday was identified Sunday by her brother, who organized a candlelight vigil in his sister's memory.

Lyuba Savenok died Saturday morning, not long after police were called to a domestic-disturbance call at her house in the 17000 block of Park Circle. Her 30-year-old husband, who fled the scene in an SUV with the couple's two small children, later turned himself in to police in St. Paul. He has not been charged.


Savenok's brother, Aleksandr Katane, said his sister was 26 weeks pregnant with her third child, a son. He said she was a loyal wife and a loving mother to her children, ages 3 and 4. The couple had been married nearly six years. "Her greatest passion was being a mom and doing everything she could to enrich their lives," Katane wrote in an e-mail.

Born in Valga, Estonia, in 1993, Savenok spent most of her life in Minnesota, growing up in Eden Prairie and Chaska. Katane said his sister was very intelligent, and enrolled at the University of Minnesota at age 16.

Posts on Facebook following her death indicated that Savenok was also launching a career in real estate, as an agent with Keller Williams Realty Elite in Eden Prairie.

By Sunday afternoon, as messages from friends and co-workers poured in online, Katane announced that the family would hold a candlelight vigil for his sister in Chaska, at the home where she'd grown up. He also launched a GoFundMe page for funeral expenses and to support her children. By early evening, donors had already contributed more than $21,000.

Lyuba Savenok, with her son Matthew, 4, and daughter Vivienne, 3, was pregnant with a third child, a boy, at the time of her death, according to her brother.

Lyuba Savenok, with her son Matthew, 4, and daughter Vivienne, 3, was pregnant with a third child, a boy, at the time of her death, according to her brother.

"The entire family is heartbroken, and we look for Lyuba in the face of her remaining children," Katane said. "It is very hard."

Eden Prairie police have not released additional details on the stabbing. The Star Tribune generally doesn't name suspects who haven't been charged.

Police spokesman Greg Weber said Saturday that police had been called to the house for a domestic disturbance at least one other time in the past year and that the suspect was facing criminal charges in connection with that incident.

Late Saturday morning, some neighbors of the yellow two-story house at the end of a leafy cul-de-sac said police had shown up to the home on several occasions since the couple moved in about a year ago, adding that the husband and wife were friendly, but mostly kept to themselves.

Weber declined to say whether police recovered a weapon at the scene.

Staff writer Libor Jany contributed to this report.

Source: startribune