Criminally charged Bogdan Bogdanov, 28 years old from Shumen, has been detained and charged with causing the death of 26-year-old local resident Alexander Penchev, who was found dead in an abandoned building in the city after a search at the request of his relatives.
This was announced at a press conference by the director of the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Senior Commissioner Georgi Gendov, and the District Prosecutor of Shumen Orlin Kuzdov.
Georgi Gendov recalled that on March 8, a woman reported that her brother had been missing since the afternoon of the previous day, after which he was declared wanted. On March 10, before noon, the body of 26-year-old Alexander Penchev was discovered in the unfinished building of the Nursing Home in the “Boyan Balgaranov“ neighborhood in Shumen.
Procedural and investigative actions were immediately initiated under the supervision of the prosecutor's office. A forensic doctor was also on site, who concluded that there were no traumatic injuries to the deceased man's body.
After an autopsy was performed the next day, it was established that the cause of death of the 26-year-old man was massive blood loss in the abdominal cavity, which was most likely due to traumatic injuries. Actions were immediately initiated to clarify the mechanism of what happened. It was established that Alexander Penchev was with the 28-year-old man from Shumen in the afternoon of March 7.
A dispute arose between the two, as a result of which an argument began and Penchev was hit, which subsequently led to his death.
"In the afternoon of March 13, the 28-year-old man was detained at the police station in Shumen. He told the mechanism of what happened after talks with him and indicated the place where he hid the items he took from Alexander Penchev. The person detained on Saturday was charged“, Gendov specified.
The body of Alexander Penchev was discovered after examining video cameras. The reason he and Bogdan Bogdanov were together was to smoke tea with a narcotic substance.
Under the influence of these substances, a collision occurred between the two. According to the accused's explanation, the victim blew into his face while smoking and he hit him in the solar plexus area. Then the victim gasped and told him that he could not breathe. The accused also claims that he left Alexander Penchev alive and left, said Prosecutor Kuzdov.
According to him, the charge, based on the facts and circumstances known so far, is for causing moderate bodily harm, which resulted in death, for which a penalty of “imprisonment“ from three to 10 years is provided.
The supervising prosecutor has taken a preventive measure “detention in custody“ until he is brought to court for 72 hours. Today, a request for consideration of a permanent measure of "detention in custody" is to be submitted by the Shumen District Court.
We will allow another forensic medical examination to accurately determine the time of death. If Alexander Penchev's death occurred after a single blow, the charge will be for intentional murder, where the punishment provided is 15-20 years of "imprisonment", life imprisonment, including without parole. "We will allow a new examination. At the moment, in two or three days, we have facts and circumstances that provide for a charge of causing moderate bodily harm, which resulted in death," Kuzdov specified for BTA.
The accused Bogdan Bogdanov has been convicted six times. He has been in prison twice. He has served all his sentences and has been free since June 3, 2025. The man's convictions are for possession or distribution of narcotics, Shumen District Prosecutor Orlin Kuzdov also announced.