Larisa and Tatyana Prikhodko, victims of a murder discovered Sunday night.
Police believe that Nikolai Rakossi is the man responsible for the slaying of Larisa Prikhodko, 27, and her mom Tatyana Prikhodko, 56, both discovered brutally murdered in an apartment at 2299 East 13th Street Sunday night. Detectives now believe Rakossi may be living it up in Russia.
As authorities piece together more details of the events surrounding the murder, they’ve come to believe Rakossi, a Russian national, boarded a flight back to his home country just moments before police discovered the scene – and he may escape prosecution.
The NYPD is working with the State Department and Russian officials to hunt down the international fugitive, but authorities are skeptical about his return.
“If he has money or influential ties there, he’s gone,” a law enforcement source told the Daily News. “They won’t send him back.”
Rakossi is described by authorities and the press as Tatyana Prikhodko’s live-in boyfriend, but some neighbors have told Sheepshead Bites he was her husband and step-father to Larisa.
Authorities believe the killings occurred Saturday afternoon or evening – more than a full day before they were discovered Sunday night. According to reports, Rakossi, a day laborer living legally on a permanent visa, and with no criminal record, stabbed the elder Prikhodko multiple times in the torso, neck and face in the couple’s bedroom. It’s still unclear what sparked the violence, but neighbors to the sixth floor apartment reported hearing an argument.
According to reports, Larisa, who lived three floors down, may have walked in during the murder or moments after, greeted by Rakossi’s blade. Her body was found by the front door, along with a knife. Two other bloodied knives were discovered in the dining room and kitchen.
“He cut them up pretty bad,” a source told the Daily News. “The apartment was a bloody mess, a lot of cuts and signs of a big struggle.”
Rakossi was caught on security video leaving the building with two suitcases at approximately 8:30 p.m. Saturday. Shortly before the police discovered the body the next day, Rakossi bought a one-way ticket to Moscow at Kennedy Airport. Surveillance video captured him “coolly” boarding the flight, according to the paper.
Police made the discovery after Larisa failed to pick up her 2-year-old son Sunday morning at his father’s nearby home. Felix Zeltser, the dad, went to the 61st Precinct stationhouse. Police checked Larisa’s apartment first, then left when they found nothing strange. But when they discovered Larisa’s mom also had missed shift at Brookdale Hospital, cops forced their way into Tatyana’s two-bedroom apartment, where they found Larisa at the front door.
Larisa worked in the maternity ward at Mount Sinai Medical Center, and her mother was a nurse at Brookdale University Hospital in Brooklyn. The 2-year-old son remains in Zeltser’s custody.
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