The Disappearance of Irina Malezhik - Part 1 & 2
Episodes 193 & 194
Irina Malezhik
Forty-seven year old Irina Malezhik mysteriously disappeared from Brooklyn after leaving her Brighton Beach apartment in October of 2007. Employed at the time as a Russian translator for the Federal Court system, tackling cases involving the Russian mafia, many were concerned that Irina had been targeted by someone from the mob.
However, as the FBI began digging into the case they quickly discovered that someone was using Irina's identity to make large purchases; expensive clothes, watches and linens. They'd even gone and withdrawn thousands of dollars from her bank account. That trail did not lead to organized from, but to a married couple with a direct connection to the missing woman.
What began as a case surrounding identity theft quickly developed into something more intense. Soon, they discovered a second missing person tied to the married couple. Then, the dismembered remains of a third were also linked to the identity thieves. It became quite clear; this was not just a one off crime, but a series of murders and disappearances driven by greed at the hand of a yet unidentified serial killer.
On a cool October afternoon in 2007, forty-seven year old Irina Malezhik walked out of her Brighton Beach apartment and mysteriously vanished. Nearly two years later, the FBI finally identified the prime suspect: Dmitriy Yakovlev. However, what they believed was an investigation into identity theft would quickly become something much more hideous.
While the FBI dug into Dmitriy they quickly uncovered a complex history in which Yakovlev had been the last person to see Irina alive, but also two others; Michael Klein and Viktor Alexseyev. Klein, like Irina, has never been found. Alexseyev's dismembered remains were found just a few weeks after he was last seen alive.
Quickly investigators uncovered a pattern; every two years someone Dmitriy knew vanished and within days he, and his wife, would reap the benefits of the missing persons bank account. It soon became clear that Dmitriy wasn't just an identity thief, but an active and previously undetected serial killer.
Sources:
25 Jul 2009, 12 - Daily News at Newspapers.com
02 Aug 2009, 24 - Daily News at Newspapers.com
18 Aug 2009, 7 - Daily News at Newspapers.com
19 Aug 2009, Page 5 - Poughkeepsie Journal at Newspapers.com
19 Aug 2009, 7 - Daily News at Newspapers.com
26 Aug 2009, 16 - Daily News at Newspapers.com
27 Aug 2009, 20 - Daily News at Newspapers.com
05 Mar 2010, 25 - Daily News at Newspapers.com
06 Aug 2010, 56 - Daily News at Newspapers.com
23 Oct 2010, 17 - Daily News at Newspapers.com
08 Feb 2011, 24 - Daily News at Newspapers.com
15 Feb 2011, 14 - Daily News at Newspapers.com
23 Feb 2011, 18 - Daily News at Newspapers.com
28 Feb 2011, A5 - The Park City Daily News at Newspapers.com
04 Mar 2011, 14 - Daily News at Newspapers.com
04 Mar 2011, A1 - Citizens' Voice at Newspapers.com
30 Aug 2011, 18 - Daily News at Newspapers.com
16 Sep 2011, Page 25 - Courier-Post at Newspapers.com
16 Sep 2011, 14 - Daily News at Newspapers.com
31 Aug 2016, 8 - Daily News at Newspapers.com
Irina Malezhik – The Charley Project
Bay News & Brooklyn Graphic - 09/14/2009
Gov Press Release - 09/15/2011
USDOJ: US Attorney's Office - Eastern District of New York
FBI Searches Brooklyn Home For Missing Woman - Gothamist
FBI Agents Search Sea Gate House For Body - wcbstv.com
Feds, cops digging up Brooklyn couple's basement in search for missing woman
FEDERAL AGENTS SEARCH BROOKLYN HOME FOR MISSING RUSSIAN INTERPRETER IRINA MALEZHIK - New York Post
Vampire Mask Found Near Dismembered Body Of Brooklyn Man - Gothamist
Accused Russian Dismemberer Found Guilty Of Identity Theft - Gothamist
Woman Pleads Guilty of Stealing Missing Translators Identity - Gothamist
Three Years Behind Bars For Identity Thief Of Presumed Dead Manhattan Beach Woman - Bklyner
Russian Immigrant Convicted in Identity-Theft Scheme - The New York Times
NY Woman Accused in Identity Theft Case - The Moscow Times
Suspect submits DNA in Brooklyn slay mystery - New York Daily News
The devil in ‘Little Odessa’. How the FBI caught a serial killer… | by Jonathan Vit | Medium
U.S. v. Yakovlev, 09 CR 587(S-1) (ILG) | Casetext Search + Citator
Deceased/Not Found - NY - Irina Malezhik, 47, Brooklyn, 15 Oct 2007 *D. Yakovlev guilty*
(1) Концерт В. Малежика 2006 год, г. Слободской. Часть 1 - YouTube
Суд в США предъявил выходцу из России обвинение в убийстве - РИА Новости, 05.03.2010
In New York, an immigrant from Russia was convicted of murders Russian news EN
Russian jailed in the US for 30 years for fraud
BBC Russian - Worldwide - USA: Arrests over disappearance of Russian translator
NEWSru.com :: 'Russian Dracula' suspected of murder series sentenced to 30 years in prison in US
NYPD Didn't Take Missing Persons Report on Man Believed Dead - Gothamist
Brighton Beach, New York, is a pretty great place to grow up