Ludwig Tolumov and Ivan Serafimov

Both Tolumov and Serafimov were born in the little village of Duvanli, where they were childhood friends, but eventually separated after the former moved to Hisar so he could live with new wife, Penka, who later gave birth to three children. Not long after, Ludwig went on to temporarily live in Germany, before moving to Namibia. In the meantime, Serafimov became a habitual criminal, spending a total of 15 years behind bars after 8 consecutive sentences for aggravated robbery. While imprisoned, he earned the nickname "The Sweet" because of his ability to sweet talk and his love for sweets.[1]

After many years, while Serafimov was serving his 8th sentence for robbery in the Plovdiv Prison, he reunited with Tolumov, who was imprisoned for theft. During this prison stint, they decided to form their deadly criminal duet. After Serafimov's release in March 2000, he returned to a life of crime, now aided by his partner.[1]

On May 13, 2000, a couple, consisting of 19-year-old Ruzhdiye Useinova from Pravoslaven and 20-year-old Sevgin Myumyun from Voden, had decided to go to a disco in the "Mogilata" complex near the village of Varbitsa, Haskovo Province. They had stopped at a gas station near Byala Reka to gas up their car, before continuing on their journey, only to stop again to the side of the road 20 minutes after midnight, so they could talk and kiss each other. Suddenly, from the darkness the silhouettes of two men appeared, who immediately attacked the couple without saying a word. The criminals broke the car's window and with slaps and kicks pulled out Sevgin and Ruzhdiye from the vehicle. They tried to attack the girl, whose boyfriend tried to defend her. However, Sevgin was beaten harshly, before being shot in the eye-socket and the spine. They lied to the girl that they had only knocked him out, and he'd be awake after 3-4 hours. The men then robbed the corpse of his gold earrings and rings, his telephone and cassette player, and then dragged it to some bushes by the road. Tolumov and Serafimov then forced the shocked Ruzhdiye into the car, driving her to a small chapel called "St. Elijah", where they brutally beat and subsequently raped her, one after the other.[3][1][2]

After the brutal deed, they proceeded to stab her 8 times in the neck, breasts and stomach before fleeing the scene, thinking they had eliminated their only witness, relying on the fact that the authorities might think that the murders were a result from a love-related drama between the two. However, Useinova had miraculously survived, the blade from the knife just barely missing her external carotid artery.[3][2] After being unconscious for some time, the tortured woman eventually woke up, and managed to crawl her way to the road after some hours, where she was accidentally found by a Parvomay policeman. Barely managing to utter that she was attacked, she again lapsed into unconsciousness, whereupon the officer immediately brought her to the hospital. During the subsequent search of the area, Myumyun's body was located.[1]

While she was recovering from her injuries in hospital, Useinova was visited by the now-retired police sketch artist Atanas Marincheshki, to whom she described the offenders.[1] The man managed to produce an incredibly accurate facial composite of Tolumov, but couldn't do the same for Serafimov, who had tried to hide his face from the victim.

Shortly following the attack, the authorities managed to shorten the suspect circle to 20 names in the criminal registry, with detectives from the National Police's "Murders" Unit aiding the Plovdiv authorities, working 24 hours a day so they could resolve the crime.

In the meantime, Tolumov and Serafimov continued with the criminal deeds. On June 6, the duo attacked a parked minibus in the "Troyan-Karnare" Pass, stealing combine parts and personal items worth 8265 leva. They threatened the driver, Tanyo Bahchevanski, and proceeded to steal the minibus itself, only to later abandon it.[1][2]

Five days later, they beat up and robbed a female taxi driver near the village of Belovitsa, and not long after, robbed a man from Sofia along the Trakia motorway.[1][2] Three weeks after that, near the village of Mihiltsi, they robbed a man and a woman in a parked Moskvitch. The men fired at the car and forced the driver to lay down on the ground, but he managed to flee and call for help at a nearby gas station. Tolumov abandoned his partner, while Serafimov got into the car and forced the woman to have sex with him.[1][2]

On July 12, a body was found by accident near the architectural-historical memorial "Arch of Freedoms" in Beklemeto Pass. It was later revealed that on that day Tolumov and Serafimov had stopped the car of German tourists Christian Herlem and Heidi Colomb, both from Kassel - near Pavel Banya. There, they killed Herlem and later dropped off his body into the abyss, before taking Colomb to Mount Bratan, where she was reportedly raped. After raping her, both men threw the woman into the nearby swamp, effectively drowning her. Her skull was later located, with parts of her body scattered around the place, most likely by wild animals.[1][2]

The police quickly contacted German authorities, sending the victims' items to them. In order to capture the bandits, agents from Interpol took action, drawing accurate facial composites of the criminals in accordance to the surviving victims.