Believing he had killed his wife and daughter in a drunken rage, Nikolai Gromov fled to the dangerous Siberian taiga, avoided wolves, bears and even tigers. But when he finally returned to civilization 24 years later, Gromov, now 72, learned the murder never occurred.
His sad tale began decades ago, when Gromov quit his job as a logger and joined the army. He eventually married and, in 1970, he and his wife, Lyubov Petrovna, had a son. Five years later they had another child, a girl.
At some point in the late 1970s, Gromov was arrested on unknown charges and sent to a penal colony, where he fell in love with another woman. Gromov and his lover broke out of the colony, escaping to an abandoned cabin in the forest. The two were eventually discovered and Gromov was sentenced to 12 more years in prison. His prison girlfriend disappeared and his marriage to Petrovna dissolved.
Somehow, Gromov found love again with a woman in Tayshet in southeastern Siberia. But after giving birth to their daughter, Elena, his new flame abandoned him, leaving Gromov to care for the girl alone. With nowhere else to go, he returned to Petrovna, who agreed to take him and Elena in.
The new family seemed happy at first, but Gromov began drinking and becoming violent. According to Russian news site A1, at some point in the early 1990s, Gromov physically attacked Petrovna and the now six-6-old Elena, then stormed out in search of more alcohol.
When he sobered up and returned, the house was empty—Gromov believed he had killed Petrovna and his daughter. He fled into the woods, building a wooden shelter in the Irkutsk wilderness where he stayed. Eventually Gromov injured his leg, but refused to get treatment for fear of being found out by authorities. Eventually the wound became gangrenous and he was forced to go to the hospital, where his leg was amputated.
Realizing Gromov was homeless, doctors contacted social services, which is when authorities realized who he was. He was arrested on an outstanding warrant for the assault, but was eventually released because the statute of limitations had long passed.
Petrovna did not live to see her husband again—she died in a bathtub accident earlier this year. At first Elena said she had not interest in being reunited with her father.
“I don’t want to see him! Why would I need him? I haven’t heard a word from him all these years. I thought he wasn’t alive,” she told A1. But she relented, and helped police identify Gromov.
“We met shortly when he was taken out of the police station,” she said. “He told me ‘Do not hold evil thoughts about me. A father is a father, albeit a stupid one’.”
