Woman Dies After YouTuber Boyfriend Was Allegedly Paid to Abuse Her on Livestream

Stanislav Reshetnikov, a Russian YouTuber, was allegedly paid by a viewer to live-streaming a stunt in which his girlfriend, Valentina Grigoryeva, stood outside in sub-zero temperatures wearing nothing but her underwear. As a result of the horrifying setup, Grigoryeva, who was pregnant at the time, died and her boyfriend’s reaction—as well as his attempt to revive her—was streamed to his viewers and uploaded to YouTube, according to the New York Post. Reshetnikov has been arrested and could potentially face two years in prison if the coroner concludes that hypothermia induced by the filming setup was the cause of Grigoryeva’s death.

Reshetnikov had allegedly received money to abuse his girlfriend on camera prior to this incident. One video depicted him “showering” her with pepper spray after a viewer paid for that specific act. In Russia, where the couple live, there are no regulations banning these kinds of videos from appearing online, according to the Mirror. The abuse seems to have directly generated income: For each act of violence against his girlfriend that got streamed out live to viewers, Reshetnikov received “donations” from viewers to keep his streams going with some dollar amounts attached to specific requests.

The stream, which first appeared on a different platform but was then uploaded to YouTube, was removed after YouTube was alerted to the contents, a rep for the company told the Post. However, a quick search brings up several re-uploads of the original video, still hosted on YouTube, which viewers can watch with little more than a warning that the video is “inappropriate of offensive” to some viewers. One version of the video that was uploaded on Friday has over 9,000 views already.