While the police were investigating the first murder, Karnov committed a similar one a month later, again strangling a drinking companion before stealing his bike and mobile phone. Sometime that same month, Karnov was drinking with 23-year-old Nikita Gorbunov, a drinking companion who acted as his accomplice during some of his robberies, when they came across a 37-year-old acquaintance of his, Svetlana Boytsova, on Narodnaya Street. Boytsova, who had recently been divorced and had issues at her workplace, decided to invite the two men to drink at her apartment. After some time, a drunken Karnov strangled his new drinking buddy with a belt and then stole her items, while a terrified Gorbunov watched, unable to do anything due to his own drunkenness and newfound fear of his friend.
