Spanish officials have launched an investigation after a Russian oligarch was found dead and his wife and his teenage daughter murdered with an axe.
Fifty-five-year-old Sergey Protosenya held the position of deputy chairman of the board of directors for natural gas company Novatek for over seven years, and amassed a fortune of several hundred million dollars.
Protosenya is believed to have hacked his wife and 18-year-old daughter to death before committing suicide in the courtyard of his villa in Spain's Costa Brava.
His teenage son called local police on Tuesday after he failed to contact any of his family members. According to the Daily Mail, officers checked the villa and found the family's bodies.
The Daily Mail reports investigators are believed to be working on the assumption that Protosenya killed the two women with an axe and knife before taking his own life.
But according to local reports the evidence does not point towards that explanation, as no suicide note was found at the property and it appears steps were taken to ensure there were no fingerprints on the murder weapons.
Reports also suggest no blood was found on Protosenya's body, and blood-stained socks were found on the floor of the mother's room, suggesting the killer had used them as gloves.
The Daily Mail reports Spanish police are waiting on results from an autopsy and looking over CCTV footage from throughout the villa to determine if anyone from outside the family visited the home around the time of the murders.
Protosenya, his wife and his young daughter's bodies were found on Tuesday just a day after another Russian multimillionaire was found dead with his wife and daughter in their Moscow apartment.
In a statement on Thursday, a Novatek spokesperson extended their deepest sympathies to the people affected by "this tragic situation".
"Unfortunately, speculations have emerged in the media about this topic, but we are convinced that these speculations bear no relation to reality."
The spokesperson said Novatek hopes authorities conduct a thorough and "impartial investigation" to determine what happened.
