In the area where the killing occurred, those met by LTV said they feel uneasy, and they are sure that if they met Rusiņš they would recognize him.
The murder scene is a remote rural road – fields, forests, and homes mostly inhabited by pensioners.
“Everyone is hoping that he [Rusiņš] is somewhere further. Because now all the media are full of his pictures and we all know his face. It would be crazy if he walked around here. I think he's gone [somewhere],” said a post office employee Inga Osma.
Rusiņš' car was found near the Aiviekste River, in a village that is not on the way to Jēkabpils but in the opposite direction.
“Is he going to be sitting with a fishing rod on that bank of the Aiviekste? He's a proper partisan. I've known him a long time. He just laughs at the police. He's capable of anything. And when adrenaline starts to work... He can be walking around,” the local resident Antons said.
However, the locals confirm that the police and the national guardsmen have been seen a lot here in the first weeks after the crime. It makes them feel safer, and on the contrary, it is a reminder that the killer may still be wandering around.
“If he is exactly like in the picture, I would recognize him. But hopefully, I don't need to see him. When you begin to think such a man is still free, it's horrible. The feelings aren't very pleasant. But we saw the police almost every day,” said local janitor Jeļena Borščenko.
The police in the neighborhood are still on duty. State Police Chief Armands Ruks said: “We do everything we can. Of course, it's already a fight against the consequences, the irreversible hard consequences. The work is ongoing, let us see how we will do in the future."
