'Dracula murderer' convicted of killing two people to steal identities and money... and left body remains in rubbish bags

By Daily Mail Reporter
Updated: 18:08 EST, 3 March 2011

Convicted: Dmitriy Yakovlev, 43, killed Irina Malezhik and Viktor Alekseyev after stealing their identities

Convicted: Dmitriy Yakovlev, 43, killed Irina Malezhik and Viktor Alekseyev after stealing their identities

A Russian immigrant has been convicted of killing a man and a woman to steal their identities and financial assets.

Dmitriy Yakovlev, 43, killed Irina Malezhik and Viktor Alekseyev after stealing their identities, and that of Michael Klein.

Three rubbish bags with the body parts of one of his victims were found nearby a Dracula mask in a New Jersey woods.

He murdered Russian translator Irina Malezhik, 47, who vanished in 2007 after having business dealings with Yakovlev, but she has never been found.

Viktor Alekseyev, with whom Yakovlev had a real-estate transaction, also went missing and dismembered portions of his limbs were found in the South Mountain Reservation woods in 2005.

The legs and arms of the jewellery importer were removed in a manner similar to how a turkey would be carved on Thanksgiving, the court was told.

Investigators also found a pale-faced Dracula mask lying in leaves nearby. No DNA link was made to Yakovlev, but prosecutors suggested that he had worn the mask.

A Brooklyn jury, which deliberated for almost eight hours on Thursday, also convicted him of using a third missing victim’s identity and his credit cards.

Macabre: A Dracula mask was found lying in leaves nearby the scene where dismembered limbs of his victim Viktor Alekseyev were found (file picture)

Macabre: A Dracula mask was found lying in leaves nearby the scene where dismembered limbs of his victim Viktor Alekseyev were found (file picture)

Yakovlev had cheques worth more than $300,000 written to retired NYPD mechanic Michael Klein, who went missing in 2003 after selling his house, prosecutors said.

Klein was never found, but his car was discovered abandoned not far from where Mr Alekseyev's remains were spotted. Yakovlev has not been charged with his murder.

The trail of banks and cash machines he used to loot accounts were also close by in New Jersey, where he lived at the time before moving to Brooklyn, prosecutors said. 

DISAPPEARING PEOPLE: A timeline of the 'Dracula' case

  • 2003: Michael Klein went missing after selling his house

  • 2005: Viktor Alekseyev's body parts were found in the woods

  • 2007: Irina Malezhik vanished but has never been found

  • 2009: Dmitriy Yakovlev is arrested by police and charged


Financial transactions, cash machine withdrawals and credit card charges showed he tried to quickly drain his two murdered victims’ accounts, prosecutors said.

He had received medical training in Russia and learned how to surgically dismember bodies by cutting through joints with precision, the court heard.

Prosecutors had no conclusive physical evidence linking Yakovlev to the murders and their case was simply ‘speculation and innuendo’, Michael Gold, defending, said.

Murdered: Russian translator Irina Malezhik, 47, vanished four years ago after having business dealings with Yakovlev, but she has never been found

Murdered: Russian translator Irina Malezhik, 47, vanished four years ago after having business dealings with Yakovlev, but she has never been found

Yakovlev had permission to use the bank cards as loan repayments, Mr Gold said.

His wife, Julia, pleaded guilty before his trial to charges of identity theft, but she was not charged in the murders, reported the New York Post.

Yakovlev, who faces life imprisonment when he is sentenced, will appeal the verdict.

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