On March 20, 1996, Chaikova disappeared in Chechnya while on assignment; she was last seen alive near the village of Sernovodskoye with a group of refugees from Samashki. Three weeks later on April 11, 1996, her body buried in a sewage pipe in the Chechen village of Gekhi, Urus-Martanovsky District, was found by the village elders. Unable to identify her, three days later they buried the corpse in a corner of their local cemetery in accordance with the Chechen customs. Photos were taken before her burial and a forensic examination of her body after exhumation by the local prosecutors suggest that she was blindfolded and bearing signs of severe beatings. The cause of death was determined to be a gunshot wound to the back of the head, performed from a Makarov PM handgun while she was in kneeling position.