In the hours between stabbing romantic obsession Yelena Bulchenko and her mother and being nabbed on the 3 train, police believe Maksim Gelman hid out in a cinder-block hut under LIRR freight-train overpass along Ocean Avenue, which he seems to have decorated in graffiti dedicated to his ex-lover. The name "Yelena" was spray painted in red on the wall, along with multiple hearts and the name "Max," which police believe was Gelman's tag. But according to those who knew him, Gelman had a long history of unhinged behavior.
Though he and Bulchenko were never really an item, it didn't seem to stop him from frequently contacting her. One of Blushenko's friends said, "He didn't get it. It was all in his head that they were together or would be together." The two were reportedly friendly for a while, but he turned mean when she lost interest, and a neighbor said, "We told her not to have anything to do with him. She was scared of him,” and said once Gelman pounded on her door and threatened to kill her if she didn't open up. She didn't, but neither did she file a complaint with the police after seemingly repeated harassment. Bulchenko's real boyfriend, Greg Honig, said of Gelman, "He was nobody." Neighbors also said he was frequently on angel dust.
At a makeshift memorial to Bulchenko and her mother outside of their home, one friend said, "He's just a deadbeat with nothing else on his mind. She was happy. There was nothing wrong." Gelman reportedly screamed on the subway "My girlfriend ruined my life," but he now claims he was set up.
