194 - The Disappearance of Irina Malezhik - Part 2

Trace Evidence

Steven Pacheco

True Crime, Documentary, Society & Culture, History

4.7 • 4.2K Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2022

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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.

Trace Evidence Facebook

Instagram

Twitter

Official Website

Official Merch

Music Courtesy of: "Lost Time" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This episode is brought to you by National Rail.
0:03.2	Picture it, the view of the British countryside from your window seat.
0:07.2	The excitement of knowing you're on route to see someone you love.
0:10.3	The smogsets are satisfaction you get knowing that you're not stuck in traffic.
0:13.8	It's a great feeling.
0:15.6	Whether it's wild weekends, Sunday surprises, anywhere adventures.
0:20.1	Get closer to the people, places and things you love with rail.
0:24.2	Beats being there.
0:34.9	Nearly two years after 47-year-old Arena Malesek vanished from her Brooklyn apartment,
0:40.6	the FBI had finally identified the prime suspects.
0:44.2	Dimitri Yakovlev and his wife, Julia.
0:47.5	Both were captured on camera using Arena's identity to make large purchases, resulting
0:52.2	in them being hit with a slew of charges.
0:55.0	However, what investigators originally believed to be a little more than a case of identity
0:59.4	theft would quickly grow into something far more sinister.
1:03.5	As it turned out, Arena was not the only person to go missing after a meeting with Dimitri.
1:09.2	Michael Klein, a former NYPD civilian employee, vanished in 2003.
1:14.6	The same day he sold his building to a close friend of Dimitri's.
1:19.0	Two years later in 2005, Victor Alexeiev, a jeweler and neighbor of Dimitri's went missing
1:25.0	and was last seen alive in Dimitri's car.
1:28.2	Two years after that, in 2007, Arena disappeared with Dimitri later confirming he had been the
1:34.8	last person to see her alive as well.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Steven Pacheco, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Steven Pacheco and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.