An adventurer's skeleton has been found chained to a tree with handcuffs after the man died possibly in a "failed Houdini" or BDSM sex experiment.
Ivan Klyucharev's remains were discovered two years after he went missing and a major search had to be called off after teams failed to locate the 30-year-old.
Police are trying to unravel the mystery after the hiker's bones were found in a forest in the Shatura district of Moscow region in Russia.
They believe the survival skills fanatic tried to recreate a Harry Houdini escape trick but blundered and died in the remote location after leaving on a trip in May 2017, according to local media reports.
But they are also examining evidence that he was into bizarre sexual practices and could have died filming a bizarre BDSM experiment.
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Another line of enquiry is that Klyucharev, a courier, was murdered, and the crime scene was set up to look like he had killed himself in a bizarre accident.
His remains were found in a lying position and he was handcuffed to a chain which was secured around a tree.
Close to his skeleton was the solo hiker’s tent and a camera pointed at himself.
At the scene were five sets of handcuffs, three metal chains, six padlocks and a book on knots.
Local media published photos of the scene - showing the man's skull and the handcuffs - after the remains were found on Monday night near Cherusti village, east of Moscow.
Detectives are now examining the camera’s memory card and his computer where reports say there is evidence of his interest in BDSM sex.
Some reports say that only his left hand was handcuffed to a chain attached to a tree.
“Detectives suppose that the man could have locked himself to the tree and have hurt himself too,” reported Moskovsky Komsomolets, citing evidence that the death may have had a sexual motive.
“But this is just one of several versions."
A “scared” local man, called Eduard Karpov, came across the gruesome sight, spotting Klyucharev’s skull still "wearing a hoodie".
The rest of his skeleton was covered in leaves.
Klyucharev had been diagnosed with schizophrenia and was known to hitchhike or travel by train.
One friend who met him nine years ago told 360 TV: "He seemed to be a very strange man."
Another source added: “I only knew him because of his passion for hitchhiking. I myself hitchhiked at that time.
"He believed that nothing bad could happen to him."
Another friend doesn't believe Klyucharev died in a solo "Houdini" trick, and suspects he was attacked.
The man told Russian media: “He was simply not capable of this."
The Russian Investigative Committee said: "He was on the list of missing persons.
“It has been established that the man was a member of a community that practicing survival skills in extreme conditions.
“Forensic analysis has been ordered to establish the exact cause of death.”
Committee official Olga Vradiy said: “Detailed checks are underway aimed at establishing all the circumstances.
“The opinion of forensic experts has been requested in order to understand the true reason for the man’s death.”
Klyucharev had earlier hitchhiked across Russia and often went on walking trips to remote spots.
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His friends want police to examine whether he was murdered with the crime scene made to look as if he had killed himself or died in a bizarre accident.
But one said: “I can easily imagine that he went to the forest and decided to try his luck this way by chaining himself and throwing away the keys.”
The 112 Telegram channel said that the man’s unnamed mother had been searching for her son for two years but to no avail.
She turned to a family friend, a hunter, for help in locating him.
The forest where he was found had been earlier searched several times in vain.
“He only had a tent and the most basic things with him, salt and matches,” said the report.
Some reports say he died up to a year after leaving on his final trip in May 2017 but it is unclear how this is known before detailed forensic analysis has been completed.
