Manhunt Focuses on Sacramento

A Ukrainian immigrant suspected of slaughtering six family members is probably still in California, authorities said Friday, but there is still a nationwide manhunt underway.

Capt. John McGinness of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department said one reason authorities believe 27-year-old Nikolay Soltys remains in that area stems from a “credible” witness who reported seeing the fugitive and an unidentified woman driving Wednesday in Sacramento.

“There is no clear indication he has left the area,” McGinness told reporters. “We are still treating it as a high probability that he still remains not very far from where he started out.”

Tips from across the country have led authorities to briefly detain possible suspects at airports in Los Angeles and Washington, D.C.

Police also believe that Soltys, whom the FBI placed on its most-wanted list Thursday and police describe as an experienced criminal, may be getting help from someone, possibly by using force.

“I’ve got to believe he is getting some assistance from someone,” McGinness said. “It is also possible he has been able to con someone that he is not the person responsible for this and has been set up.”

Soltys is suspected of stabbing his pregnant wife to death Monday morning and then driving 15 miles to another Sacramento suburb, where he allegedly murdered an elderly uncle and aunt and two young cousins.

Police said he then picked up his 3-year-old son from his mother’s house and drove the child to the outskirts of town, where he apparently lured the child into a large cardboard box with new toys and then stabbed him to death.

Police have put out a nationwide alert for Soltys. They said they believe he is driving a green Ford Explorer with a mismatched rear hatch.

McGinness acknowledged that Soltys may have already ditched that car, but he said locating the vehicle could provide important clues.

Authorities have said Soltys is probably armed and dangerous.