Rampage Suspect Caught in Sacramento

Aug. 30 -- Nikolay Soltys, the Ukrainian immigrant wanted in the brutal slayings of six family members, was captured today without incident after sheriff's deputies found him hiding under a desk in his mother's back yard in a Sacramento, Calif., suburb.

Officers grabbed the fugitive at about 8 a.m. local time after Soltys' brother, Stepan, called 911, sheriff's officials said. A knife "consistent with" the alleged murder weapon was found in a backpack Soltys had been carrying, said Sacramento County Sheriff Lou Blanas.

A 10-day nationwide manhunt came to an end today when a round-the-clock surveillance team saw several family members flee Soltys' mother's home to a nearby retail store at about at 7:45 a.m. in the suburb of Citrus Heights, said arresting officer Sgt. Virgil Brown of the Sacramento Police Department.

After Stepan called 911 from the store, the surveillance team immediately set up a perimeter around the home and dozens of officers descended in two teams. The arresting officers said they saw Soltys' feet sticking out from under a desk in the yard and approached him.

At first, Soltys tried to flee, said Sheriff's Detective Chris Joachim, but the open door of an old refrigerator prevented him from escaping the small back yard, and he was apprehended. "It wasn't a very good hiding place," Joachim said.

Soltys was being questioned at the Sheriff's Department and was expected to be booked in the stabbing deaths of his wife, 3-year-old son, aunt, uncle and two young cousins, and held at the Sacramento County Jail. In a press conference held this evening, Soltys' relative Boris Kukharskiy spoke on the family's behalf through an interpreter and thanked those who have supported them throughout their ordeal.

"He wants to thank everybody who was so feeling to their grief," interpreter Paul Sweeney said. "You know what happened in our family. He thanks God that God give him so many friends here that basically helped them a lot and supported them during this grief."