the investigation took a very long time, as nobody suspected taran of committing these crimes. eventually, evidence was discovered by chance. in 2008, one of the villagers from alexandrovskoye found an ak-47 assault rifle with a homemade silencer wrapped in a bathrobe in the forest. during a walk around the repair shops, one of the local locksmiths identified the silencer and said that it was ordered by taran, who needed it for a nozzle for a gas burner. soon after, he was arrested. during a search of his house, a gas pistol was located. hair belonging to taran was also found on a machine gun hidden in the forest. a friend of taran's gave the authorities the second rifle, which he had been storing for taran. the subsequent examination determined that the 3 murders and 2 attempted murders were committed with these weapons. initially, taran confessed to the murders, but refused to cooperate further.