In 1953 , Peter Zamiatkin told a 16-year-old person being treated at a hospital that he had taken Anastasia and Alexei to the village where he was born near Odessa . He said he was a member of the guard of the Romanovs , and that the Tsar had asked him to do this . In 1953 , Peter Zamiatkin , who was reportedly a member of the guard of the Russian Imperial Family , told a 16-year-old fellow hospital patient that he had taken Anastasia and Alexei to his birth village near Odessa at the request of the Tsar .