Two Russians found dismembered in Mexican border city

MEXICO CITY - The dismembered bodies of a Russian woman and her daughter have been found in the Mexican border city of Tijuana, the attorney general's office of Baja California state said on Friday.

The bodies of Yulya Masney Safonchik, 45, and Valeria Lechchenko Masney, 12, were discovered in plastic bags in a residential area of Tijuana on Thursday night, Baja California deputy attorney general Jose Maria Gonzalez said.

Both were asphyxiated before being dismembered, and the motive for the killings was unclear, he said.

Police want to question the woman's older daughter, 19, over the deaths, though she has not been charged, Gonzalez said.

Both daughters were born in Mexico with Russian citizenship, he added. The father, an athletics coach who was separated from the mother, is also due to speak to police, Gonzalez said.

The Russian embassy in Mexico City said no one was available to comment on the matter.