PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A Northeast Philadelphia man faces charges after police say they found his wife’s dead body hidden inside their home in the city’s Bustleton neighborhood. The discovery came just days after 61-year-old Lola Karabaeva had been reported missing.
A friend of Karabaeva’s called police on Sunday around 12:30 a.m. to say they had not spoken with her in about 24 hours and they were concerned for her safety. Police took the report and began to investigate.
Investigators spent a few days looking and, based on the information they had gathered, they decided to go back to the home Karabaeva shared with her husband, 65-year-old Vladimir Lushevskiy, on Diplomat Place, not far from Welsh Road and Bustleton Avenue.
On Wednesday, officers brought a search warrant with them. Lushevskiy was not home at the time. While searching the home, police found Karabaeva’s body. It had been wrapped in plastic and duct tape and placed inside a closet space, inside a wall.
Lushevskiy was arrested in New Jersey and faces a charge of abuse of corpse and related offenses.
Investigators are still trying to piece together exactly what happened. Surveillance video obtained by NBC10 shows Karabaeva getting home and struggling to open her front door in the early morning hours on Saturday. Neighbors also said they saw her husband later that morning moving her car.
Anyone with information helpful to the case is asked to call or text police at 215-686-TIPS.
The cause of death is unknown, as they await the autopsy report on Karabaeva’s body. Homicide detectives say they believe foul play was involved.
Additional charges may be filed depending on what the investigation reveals.