By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2025-01-19 20:31:32 | Updated at 2025-01-22 20:47:31
3 days ago
A Las Vegas man warned his dad in chilling text messages that he was fearful of his 'sick' stepfather shortly before he was shot dead alongside his mother.
Evan 'Sergei' Scoggins, 20, told his biological father Andrew 'things won't be good for me' if he didn't secure a student loan to go to college in another of his haunting messages, obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com.
Evan urged his dad to 'please sign the loan' to help him leave the home, with other messages detailing Groschen's erratic behavior that made his life 'hell.'
He repeatedly warned of red flags displayed by his stepfather Karl Groschen, 44, the new husband of his mother Anastasiya Akutsina-Groschen, 44, in the months before he shot them both dead in October.
Evan told of how Groschen 'destroyed (Anastasiya's) office, throwing everything off the shelf, books and boxes' in a fit of rage, and flew into a frenzy when his mother told family members 'about his deteriorating mental state'.
Andrew recalled this week to DailyMail.com: 'Evan was a loving kid, he always was smiling, but there was a change... He would have done anything to get out of that house.'
Evan and Anastasiya's alleged murders captured headlines last month when Groschen was seen in chilling police bodycam footage calmly admitting to shooting his wife and stepson in October, telling officers: 'You've gotta arrest me.'
Groschen, seen in the bodycam with a drinks can and two pill bottles, claimed he shot them both in self-defense, an allegation that Andrew told DailyMail.com left him 'sickened.'
Evan's father and Anastasiya's ex-husband Andy Scoggins (pictured with Evan as a child) said he has been left devastated by the deaths, and called for 'coward' Groschen to face the death penalty if convicted
Andrew shared chilling correspondence his son sent him in the months before the shootings, including begging him to sign a student loan application otherwise 'things won't be good for me'
In messages shared with DailyMail.com, Evan warned his father of Groschen's alleged erratic behavior in the home, with one text message detailing how he 'destroyed (Anastasiya's) office, throwing everything off the shelf, books and boxes.'
Groschen's wife Anastasiya Akutsina-Groschen, 44, and stepson Segei Scoggins, 20, were killed in the home after neighbors heard an argument followed by gunshots
'He struck me as a calm, cool, calculating, manipulative weasel of a man,' he said.
Scoggins, who lives in Hanoi, Vietnam, said he was married to Anastasiya for seven years, and that she met Groschen on a dating app following their divorce.
He said their relationship had a severe impact on his son's life, as Groschen was intent on controlling and manipulating his new family, according to Andrew.
In messages shared with DailyMail.com, Evan would repeatedly warn over red flags Groschen was exhibiting in their Nevada home, including one chilling encounter just two months before the shootings.
'My stepdad just had another episode,' Evan texted.
'When he was near me, he just randomly said, 'Evan is wrong,'' the text read.
'I asked, 'About what?' He said: 'Everything.'
In other texts, Evan shared how Groschen got 'mad' at small details in their lives, down to even getting angry at attempts to tip a waiter.
In another message sent just a month before the shootings, Evan told his dad that Groschen told him he was 'wrong about everything'
In other texts, Evan shared details of how Groschen attempted to 'control' their lives, down to even getting mad at attempts to tip a waiter
He shared chilling details of the 'hell' in their Nevada home
Groschen and Anastasiya shared a young child together, who was seen in the police bodycam footage by his father as he admitted to the deaths. The child was later taken in by Child Protective Services after the shootings
Andrew said his son was previously set to attend the University of Nebraska on a scholarship, but Groschen blocked the move as he was intent on 'controlling' their lives.
In another message between Andrew and a friend, they noted that Evan, 20, was 'trying to gain weight and muscles' but Groschen was intent on blocking even that.
'It seems Karl was trying to keep Evan from eating a full 3 meals a day,' the text added.
'I'm still in disbelief at why Anastasiya stayed,' Andrew said this week. 'I can't wrap my head around it.
'Evan was forced to be there... he had a scholarship in Nebraska, but he instead had to relocate to Nevada. That was Karl.'
'The texts show the dysfunction in that home.'
It comes as a judge this week ruled that Groschen is competent to stand trial, with prosecutors indicating they will seek the death penalty, aiming to carry out the first execution in Nevada since 2006.
Andrew has slammed the Henderson Police Department for not taking a toxicology report despite Groschen being seen with pill bottles at his arrest.
Andrew said this led to a disturbing theory that Groschen may have planned to use the pills in his defense, with the lack of a toxicology report possibly hampering Andrew's hopes he receives the death penalty.
'Did he take medication before police came, in anticipation of his arrest?' he questioned.
'In the appeals process, that will be in his defense. Death row cases get many, many appeals. Just to have that toxicology is a box checked.'
Karl Groschen, 41, was seen in police bodycam footage coldly admitting to killing his wife and stepson in their home in Henderson, Nevada on October 11, telling officers: 'You've gotta arrest me'. His five year-old son is visible behind him
Prosecutors released this image of a gun found near the car where Anastasiya's body was found
Anastasiya's body was discovered in the driver's seat of the family car in the garage, while Sergei was found in the laundry room. Both suffered multiple gunshot wounds
On the night Anastasiya and Evan were shot dead, neighbors called police to Groschen's home after hearing an argument from the garage followed by gunshots.
Groschen was seen chillingly admitting to firing on his family as soon as cops arrived, telling an officer about the bodies inside. When the cop replies: 'Who are they?', Groschen responds: 'My wife and stepson.'
The disabled five-year-old son Groschen shared with Anastasiya appeared in the footage as the officers questioned the father over what happened, as he claimed the deaths were out of self-defense.
'I thought they were trying to kill me,' Groschen said while being placed in cuffs. 'You've got to take me.'
A police report from the Henderson Police Department concluded that there was no evidence to support Groschen's claim his wife and stepson were trying to kill him.
Andrew, seen with Evan during his childhood, said his son died a 'hero' as he re-entered Groschen's home to check on his mother and stepbrother after shots were fired
Anastasiya's body was found in the driver's seat of her car in the garage, while Evan's body was found in the home's laundry room.
Witnesses reportedly said they saw Evan run back into the home after his mother was shot first, which Andrew told DailyMail.com showed his son's heroic final moments attempting to protect his mom and young stepbrother.
'Evan refused to leave,' he said. 'He ran back inside to his mother and little half-brother, and he paid the ultimate price for that... That's who my son was.'
