A raging Russian national butchered his live-in girlfriend and her stunning daughter in Brooklyn, then coolly boarded a Moscow-bound flight before the bodies were found, sources said.
International fugitive Nikolai Rakossi was already on a plane when police discovered the two dead nurses Sunday night inside the apartment he shared with Tatyana Prikhodko, 56, officials said Monday.
Police believe Larisa Prikhodko, 28, was savagely attacked after walking in on her mother's murder, two police sources told the Daily News. Cops found three knives at the gruesome scene on E. 13th St. in Sheepshead Bay.
"He cut them up pretty bad," said one source. "The apartment was a bloody mess, a lot of cuts and signs of a big struggle."
Rakossi, 56, was caught on a security camera lugging two suitcases while leaving the building about 8:30 p.m. Saturday - the day of the slayings. The next evening, Rakossi bought a one-way ticket to Moscow using his own name and passport at Kennedy Airport, sources said.
The fugitive double-murder suspect was aboard a 9 1/2-hour Aeroflot flight when the bodies were found in the older woman's sixth-floor apartment. Larisa lived three floors below.
Although the NYPD was working with the State Department and Russian officials on the international manhunt, authorities were skeptical about his return.
"If he has money or influential ties there, he's gone," a law enforcement source said. "They won't send him back."
Rakossi, a day laborer, was living legally in the U.S. on a permanent visa. He had no previous New York criminal record.
"He's not a big hulking guy, but he worked all his life with his hands and he is strong ... and filled with rage," the law enforcement source said.
It was unclear what ignited the bloody rampage inside apartment 6-F. Neighbors reported hearing a Saturday argument, but provided cops with few details.
"Everyone says the suspect is a nice guy," one police source said. "Really, everyone involved, nobody has a bad word to say about any of them."
The bodies of Tatyana Prikhodko and her daughter - both stabbed multiple times in the face, neck and torso - were found in separate locations, police said.
Tatyana was inside a blood-spattered rear bedroom, while Larisa's body was found inside the front door with a bloody knife nearby, police said.
Another bloody blade was found in the dining room, with a third knife recovered in the kitchen. There was no sign of forced entry, and anguished neighbors were stunned to learn of the tragedy.
"It's sad, it's very hard, knowing something like this happened to them," said neighbor Inna Hozhda, 33.
Residents said the two slain women doted endlessly on Larisa's 3-year-old son, Ryan. Tatyana, who immigrated to Brooklyn years ago, was described as a hardworking woman who raised two daughters.
"[It's] absolutely terrible," said Nina Kikah, 44, who recalled chatting Saturday with Larisa about the boy.
Two memorial candles burned in the lobby of the Neck Road Arms building, where yellow crime scene tape was strung loosely outside.
The bodies were found after the young mother - last seen Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on building surveillance - failed to pick up her son Sunday morning at his father's nearby home.
When she didn't show by 8:30 p.m., Felix Zeltser, the concerned dad, went to the 61st Precinct stationhouse. Police checked Larisa's apartment first before breaking down the door at her mom's place - and walking into the carnage.
Larisa worked in the maternity ward at Mount Sinai Medical Center in Manhattan, while her mom was a nurse at Brookdale University Hospital in Brooklyn.
"You don't expect things like this to happen," said Maliha Sayla, 26, a Mount Sinai resident. "She's very young, she's a great nurse.... It's just a shock to everyone."
No comments:
Post a Comment