Davydenko Kirill on the night of his arrest. Kirill allegedly tried to take the gun from an officer and was shot in the leg.
The Flatmate of a slain Russian businessman is denying any role in the brutal Oct. 14 killing or even knowing the suspected Mafia hitmen who allegedly emptied the dead man’s bank accounts afterward.
Sergei Alexandrov, 34, was taken into custody Oct. 20 at his Ananya Beachfront Condominium apartment on Soi Wong Amat. He had been questioned and released the day before over the killing of 36-year-old Viktor Grishin, whose body was dumped near Khao Cheechan Buddha Mountain.
Alleged hitman Rashid Gasanov on the night of his arrest. He took police to find Grishin’s body in a shallow grave near the Silverlake Vineyard Oct. 19.
Pattaya Police Superintendent Col. Nanthawut Suwanla-ong said investigators found 300,000 baht in cash and evidence of Grishin’s ATM cards in the condo. Alexandrov, however, vehemently and tearfully denied the charges, saying he’d known Grishin for 12 years and had been in a relationship with him since joining his Jomtien Beach real estate company three years ago. The two reportedly adopted a child together.
Grishin’s body was found in a shallow grave near the Silverlake Vineyard Oct. 19 after being reported missing by his mother five days earlier. Noticing that almost 800,000 baht had been withdrawn from the missing man’s bank accounts, police tracked down and arrested suspected shooter Rashid Gasanov, 36, and Davydenko Kirill, 45.
Investigating police begin to uncover Grishin’s body from a shallow grave near the Silverlake Vineyard next to Buddha Mountain.
The two men, who police found to be carrying nearly 25,000 baht in cash, seven ATM cards and a spade in their black Toyota Fortuner, did not go quietly. Kirill allegedly tried to take the gun of an officer and was shot in the leg. He was placed under guard at Banglamung Hospital.
The investigation took another odd twist after the suspects were remanded when Pattaya Police received a telephone call offering officers 500,000 baht to release all the suspects, now believed to be connected to Russian organized crime figures ensconced in Pattaya.
Investigators agreed to meet on Soi Yamoto and Second Road to collect the cash, then arrested the world-be bribers. Taken into custody were Dimitri Kochenko and Natasha Shepugro. Both were charged with attempted bribery and Kochenko additionally with illegal possession of a handgun.
The two alleged hitmen reportedly confessed to killing and dumping Grishin’s body, but claim they were paid $10,000 by Alexandrov to do so. Police speculate Alexandrov wanted to separate from his lover and return to Russia, but Grishin, the supposed son of a Russian millionaire, refused to give them the money needed to repatriate.
Alexandrov, however, claims he is being framed and that the night Grishin went missing he and another friend were waiting to have dinner with him at the Hopf Brew House in South Pattaya. Two hours later, he said, Grishin called saying he couldn’t make it and would not be coming home that night, Alexandrov claims.
The next day, when Grishin didn’t show and couldn’t be reached by telephone, Alexandrov said he began to worry and contacted his boyfriend’s mother.
According to the hitmen’s alleged confession and forensic evidence, the real menu that night consisted of kidnapping, torture and murder.
(L to R) Rashid Gasanov, Natasha Shepugro, Dimitri Kochenko and Sergei Alexandrov are brought out for the press.
The suspects allegedly snatched Grishin from the Jomtien Complex and took him to his office in Naklua. There they are suspected of torturing the high-end condominium broker for the PIN codes to his many ATM cards. While Gasanov reportedly said they initially considered letting the man go after obtaining the codes, they decided killing him was the best way to avoid being identified.
Grishin’s body, dressed in a violet dress shirt and black trousers, was found shot twice and dumped in a meter-deep grave at the entrance of Khao Cheechan Buddha Mountain. His hands were bound and his face showed bruises from extensive beating.
Police say the suspects then systematically began withdrawing the maximum limit out of ATM machines, mostly along Sukhumvit Road. After Grishin’s mother filed the missing-person report, police ordered the banks to limit how much cash could be taken and they used CCTV camera footage to identify Gasanov and Kirill and their vehicle, which police said was rented by Kochenko, who later offered police a bribe.
After being arrested, Alexandrov continued to maintain he didn’t know any of the men cleaning out his lover’s accounts and had not hired the pair to kill him.
