Two people went to the NYPD to try to report a missing person, but they say officers refused to take an interest in the case, and now it's believed the person in question has gone from "missing" to "murdered." Dmitriy Yakovlev is possibly a serial killer on trial for stealing the identities of New York jewelry importer Viktor Alekseyev, Russian translator Irina Malezhik, and Greenpoint mechanic Michael Klein. Alekseyev's dismembered body was found in garbage bags (alongside a vampire mask!) in the woods in New Jersey in 2006, but Malezhik and Klein and still missing. Yesterday, an associate of Yakovlev testified that he tried to warn cops about Yakovlev, but they weren't interested.
Testifying under immunity from prosecution, Alexander Hamilton acknowledged that he committed tax fraud with Yakovlev when the two purchased Klein's ramshackle Greenpoint house. "He (Yakovlev) said with my computer knowledge it would be easy to steal money from Klein," Hamilton testified, according to the Daily News. "He tried to convince me that in this country you can do anything and not get punished."
Hamilton said he went to police after Yakovlev showed him credit cards with Klein's name, but he says the cops told him to do his own police work, and come back only if he got Yakovlev's voice on tape. "They said they couldn't start an investigation on my word alone," Hamilton testified. Klein was living like a hoarder in his squalid home, and it may be that cops assumed he simply wandered off, and would resurface in time. Now investigators believe Yakovlev murdered Klein, and so does Klein's sister, who also tried to report him missing. Outside court yesterday, she told the News, "I don't think my brother is on the planet anymore. I want to understand what happened. It's part of putting it to rest."
To report a missing person, the NYPD suggests calling 911 or, in non-emergency cases, to visit your local police precinct with a photograph of the person. The NYPD maintains a website showing missing persons in all five boroughs; currently the site shows just six people missing in all of Brooklyn. Klein is still not among them.
