Bodyguard Beauty Killed Defending Porsche

WARSAW, Feb. 2, 2008 — -- Sometimes not even a black belt in martial arts can save you, or your car. Last Sunday, Moscow's popular model and glamour girl Anna Loginova died trying to prevent her Porsche Cayenne SUV from becoming one of the 14,000 luxury cars stolen in Moscow annually.

Loginova, 29, wasn't just a pretty face -- she was a trained bodyguard who ran her own all-woman security company. But her defense training and instincts may have worked against her.

Driving through a neighborhood in southeast Moscow, on her way to pick up a kitten she had found in an ad, Loginova stopped at an intersection. A silver, Russian-made Zhiguli sedan pulled up, and a man jumped out, dragged her out of her SUV, got in and started to drive away.

"That's when her profession as a bodyguard backfired," said psychologist Mikhail Vinogradov, speaking on Russian TV. "She reacted instinctively."

She grabbed the door handle of her Porsche and, according to police investigators, it is likely that her hand got caught. The speeding SUV dragged Anna down the road, and she died from head injuries. Her body was found later that evening.

"This is a mistake even seasoned police officers make," Vinogradov said. "Someone grabs something from you; you react automatically to stop them. If she had not resisted, she would have just lost her car and not her life."

Loginova was a well-known Moscow model, celebrity and socialite. Scantily clad, she adorned the covers of men's magazines. Posh brands, so coveted by newly affluent Russians, hired her for their advertising campaigns. She became the Russian face of Chanel and BMW.

"Nothing in life is accidental," she had told Maxim magazine. "When advertising for BMW, I had to take an advanced driving course. Then I met a person who took me to a firing range and put a gun in my hand. I realized I got a kick out of fast driving and firing a gun, so why not use those skills professionally? A friend gave me the idea to set up a women's bodyguard agency. I took courses, and here I am."