BRIGHTON BEACH, Brooklyn —A 49-year-old Brooklyn man is on his way to prison after he stabbed, suffocated and strangled his ex-common law wife’s new boyfriend, the Brooklyn District Attorney’s office announced Thursday.
Mikhail Chernyaev was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the 2012 murder.
“This calculated killer relinquished his right to be part of our society when he senselessly killed a man, dumped his body and tried to deceive his worried loved ones,” Acting District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said. “He thought he could get away with this crime, but has now been sentenced to many years in prison.”
Chernyaev’ victim, Charles Butler, 56, was a Florida man who visited New York frequently to see his daughter, an Upper East Side resident, court documents show. He met Anna Lioznov, Chernyaev’s ex-common law wife, on one of his visits.
Butler and Lioznov planned to get married before Chernyaev killed Butler in September of 2012, according to court documents. Chernyaev sent several text messages from Butler’s phone to cover up the murder.
“Forget about me. I’m going back to Florida,” he wrote in one one text to Lioznov from Butler’s phone.
Butler’s decomposing body was found on Oct. 15, 2012 by a fisherman, court documents show. Police identified the body in May 2013. By that point, Lioznov was dating Chernyaev again.
Police took Chernyaev in for questioning and he eventually admitted to killing Butler, but he claimed it was in self-defense.
