In New York, a Russian-speaking woman fell into a garbage chute and died: after 3 years, the case was returned to court

Family of a Russian-speaking woman, found dead after falling into a garbage chute apartment building in Union Square, claims that she was the victim of a hitman, and that the police have failed the investigation into her murder. This is stated in a lawsuit filed by the victim's family in the Manhattan Supreme Court on February 25. The details were told by the publication New York Daily News.

Lara Prikhodko, 48, died at Zeckendorf Towers on Irving Place and E. 15th Street on July 10, 2018. At first, her death was considered suspicious and the investigation assumed the possibility of murder, but the city medical examiner concluded that it was an accident.

The lawsuit filed against Prikhodko's husband David Shlachet alleges that he was allegedly to blame for her death. The victim's father, Nicholas (Nikolai) Prikhodko, disagrees with the findings of the forensic medical examination and believes that Shlachet hired a hitman to kill his wife out of fears that he would lose $ 6 million as a result of their divorce. According to the friend of the deceased, the divorce was scandalous.

Shlachet has not been charged with any criminal charges in connection with the death of his wife, and the lawsuit contains no evidence to support the claims of the victim's family.

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The lawsuit says that shortly after the victim arrived home on the night of the incident, the killer "strangled Prikhodko to death and then threw her body into the garbage chute at home."

Prikhodko's father and co-plaintiff in the case, financial adviser Lance Meyerovich, claim that the killer allegedly pursued the woman using spyware installed on her laptop and visited the house where she lived before the murder in order to prepare.

“Prikhodko was conscious during the strangulation and before her death experienced horror at the realization that they were going to kill her, as well as other severe pain and suffering,” the lawsuit says.

In 2018, the building superintendent found Prikhodko in a trash compactor in the basement, police said. CCTV footage shows how the woman walked alone along the corridor on the 27th floor of the building before the fall, nothing strange or unusual in her behavior was noticed. After the discovery of the body in the basement, the bag of the deceased was found on the 27th floor near the garbage chute.

An autopsy report in December 2018 stated that Prikhodko died from multiple injuries and blunt force attacks. Presumably, she received all these injuries as a result of falling into a garbage chute, so the case was closed.

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The lawsuit, filed on February 26, also says that Shlachet allegedly met with the killer a few days after the death of his wife in an unnamed location in Manhattan to make his "last payment for the murder of Lara Prikhodko."

Nicholas Prikhodko and Meyerovich say that Shlachet filed his own lawsuit against the owners of Zeckendorf Towers after the death of his wife, "to distract suspicion from himself."

“Nowhere in the complaint filed by Shlachet does he formulate how Lara Prikhodko could open the garbage chute, crawl through its small hole and fall down the chute - everything supposedly happened by accident,” the lawsuit says.

When asked to comment on the suspicions and allegations contained in the lawsuit, a spokesman for the New York police said that Prikhodko's death was an accident and did not cause any suspicion on the part of law enforcement officers.

"NYPD detectives conducted a multifaceted investigation and worked with the chief medical examiner's office before reaching a decision to close the case," added Sergeant Edward Riley.

Nicholas Prikhodko's lawyer Amanda Ravich declined to comment. Shlachet did not respond to a request for comment.