Aigul Sailybayeva: Relatives Believe Her Mother-in-Law Didn’t Act Alone in Homicide

It was recently revealed that Natalia Dontsova, mother-in-law of Kazakh citizen Aigul Sailybayeva, has been named a suspect in the case and is now wanted in Europe.

However, Aigul’s family is dissatisfied with the way German authorities are handling the investigation and believes that Dontsova could not have committed the crime alone. 

Orda.kz reports the details.

Aigul’s Family Is Unhappy With the Investigation

One year has passed since Aigul Sailybayeva was killed in Germany. Her family only received the case materials a month ago. Her brother, Zhanat Sailybayev, shared the information they were able to translate.

From the documents we received from the Darmstadt prosecutor’s office, we learned that Natalia Dontsova is suspected of killing Aigul and is wanted in Europe. But we don’t know whether Interpol is actually looking for her.

A search on Interpol’s public website shows only two women named Natalia currently wanted, but Dontsova is not among them.

Many requests are kept private at the request of the initiating country. Dontsova may be listed, but the information could be restricted.

Aigul’s family believes the German authorities failed to treat the case with the seriousness it deserved, possibly because the victim was not a German citizen, while Dontsova reportedly holds dual citizenship, including German.

Of course, we are dissatisfied with how the investigation was handled. The authorities primarily protected the rights of their own citizens and only considered the testimony of those they deemed relevant. We believe the German investigators did not thoroughly examine the involvement of Alexander Dontsov (Aigul’s husband – Ed.) in the homicide. His mother couldn’t have killed Aigul and transported the body from the apartment to the lake by herself. We also suspect that the German investigative bodies are aware of the whereabouts of the Dontsov family, since my niece is among them (Aigul and Alexander's daughter was born in Germany – Ed.), and they usually monitor the whereabouts of minor children,said Zhanat Sailybayev. 

Zhanat Sailybayev believes that the location of the Don'tsovs was kept only from Aigul's relatives.

The Germans tend to defend their own citizens, regardless of whether they are guilty or not. This can be seen in many similar cases in Germany. 

Officially, Natalia Dontsova is the only suspect. Orda.kz previously published a profile on her, detailing her influential background, including a past bid for mayor of Moscow.

Zhanat Sailybayev shared his view on the possible motive.

Maybe there was tension. You know how family dynamics can be — small problems can turn into serious conflict. If the investigation is correct and the crime was committed by Dontsova, maybe the motive was simple jealousy over her son. Unfortunately, that kind of thing happens pretty often. 

Relatives and friends of Aigul have previously said she suffered domestic abuse from both her husband and mother-in-law.

But the family is convinced Dontsova didn’t act alone.

We believe she had help. Her husband and others may have been involved. Of course, we can only speculate. Right now, Alexander is listed as an affected person in the case, which is likely why investigators are treating him leniently. But we believe he was directly involved in the homicide.

Timeline 

Aigul Sailybayeva went missing on June 4, 2024. Her body was discovered 12 days later, on June 16.

On the same day Aigul disappeared, Natalia Dontsova also vanished. Media reports later confirmed that she had fled to Russia. Zhanat Sailybayev believes this wasn’t a coincidence, and by fleeing Germany, she created a false alibi for her son.

Natalia Dontsova left Germany and entered the Russian Federation on June 5. The following day, June 6, she met with her mother, Luiza Vasilenko, and her underage granddaughter, Alisa Dontsova, who had flown to Moscow from Kazakhstan. According to the case materials, Aigul Sailybayeva’s body was dumped into the lake approximately 24 hours before it was discovered. That is, presumably on June 15. Based on this timeline, perhaps Alexander Dontsov, possibly with the help of a third party, hid the body elsewhere for several days before discarding it. The prosecutor and the Darmstadt police missed and did not take into account all these facts,the family argues. 

In August 2024, Alexander Dontsov left Germany for Russia. A month later, on September 20, a segment about him aired on the Russian TV show Petrovka 38. The program reported that his daughter with Aigul had received Russian citizenship.

In the interview, Alexander stated that his wife had died and that he was now raising their daughter alone. He did not elaborate on the circumstances of Aigul’s death, and when Orda.kz recently checked, the video had been deleted.

Since then, Zhanat Sailybayev says, the family has not seen their niece. Alexander changed his phone numbers and has cut off all contact with Aigul’s relatives.

The family of Aigul Sailybayeva filed a request with Kazakh law enforcement agencies, asking them to open a criminal case into Aigul’s homicide. At the time, both Aigul and her husband were citizens of Kazakhstan.

But the authorities did not do so. 

This has left the family with serious concerns.

They claim the crime took place in another country. But the victim was a Kazakh citizen. What happened to the Constitution that guarantees the protection of citizens’ rights? Does it simply not apply beyond our borders?

The brutal homicide of Aigul Sailybayeva took place a year ago in Germany, where she lived with her husband, daughter, and mother-in-law. Her body, bearing multiple stab wounds, was found in a plastic bag stuffed inside a sewer pipe at Lake Erlache, near the city of Bensheim.

At the time of her death, Aigul was 24 weeks pregnant — a fact that only came to light during the autopsy. 

Aigul Sailybaeva was a former judge in Kazakhstan and a graduate of the Bolashak international scholarship program. Her friends describe her as a kind and responsible person, someone who “endured a great deal for the sake of her family.”

Original Author: Zhadra Zhulmukhametova