According to Church tradition, the six-year-old Gabriel was kidnapped from his home in the village of Zverki, 13 km from Zabłudów, Grodno Uezd (then Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, today's Poland) during the Jewish Passover, while his parents, pious Orthodox Christians Peter and Anastasia Govdel, were away. Shutko, a Jewish arendator of Zverki, was accused of bringing the boy to Białystok, poking him with sharp objects and draining his blood for nine days, then bringing the dead body back to Zverki and dumping it in a local field.