Charles Butler dead and obituary,  led detectives to a brutal murder and a “demon”

Returning to New York City in 2012 was a joyous trip home for Charles Butler, a hardworking, cheerful businessman and divorced father of three. He grew up in Queens and moved to Florida in his 20s.

Three years later, Butler, 56, returns regularly. He shares an apartment with his hairdresser daughter Molly, and life looks good. He started a relationship with a woman who lived in Brooklyn, and things went from bad to worse.

Then on Tuesday, September 18, he spent the night at Brighton Beach with his girlfriend, Anna Lioznov. He never lived again, his children recalled bitterly in “The Last Hour,” which aired on Oxygen on Sunday, July 6.

On the evening of the 18th, Molly texted her father, asking him to arrange a flight for her because she was having trouble with her credit card. The next morning, she found him making no progress. She texted him and he replied with an apology. In it, Molly told the producers, “He called me ‘Honey.’ My dad had a lot of nicknames for me, and ‘Honey’ was never one of them.” She also got misspelled and other odd Word choice confused.

Molly’s concerns grew when she learned that Butler wasn’t showing up at the insurance office where he worked. On Friday, she emailed Lioznov to say Butler slept in her apartment after leaving for work on the 19th. Then, all of a sudden, he texted her that he was breaking up with her and went back to Florida.

That’s not appropriate. Molly knew her father was obsessed with his girlfriend.

Molly reported her father’s disappearance to the NYPD and spoke to two officers who did not believe he was missing. But some say it will “issue a report,” Molly said.

Five days after Butler disappeared, his children hired private investigator Keith Freeman. He found no evidence that Butler had booked an alternate flight and interviewed Lyoznov.

Freeman learned that Leoznov had an ex-husband, Mikhail Cherniaev. The pair have a child and he parked in the yard of their building.

Freeman contacted NYPD detectives, who offered to help Molly. They visited Lioznov’s building and worked to get footage from the surveillance cameras installed there.

Meanwhile, Molly got a call from a friend of her father’s in Florida who said Butler had received a shocking call from Chernyayev a month before his disappearance.

“He basically said, ‘She’s my wife. Stay away from her,’” Molly told the final moments. Threatening call raises suspicions about Butler’s girlfriend’s ex.

On October 4, 16 days after he disappeared, the NYPD received surveillance footage. Butler and Leoznoff were seen entering the building on Tuesday night and Leoznoff was seen leaving her home at 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday. After entering the building on Tuesday, Butler was never seen leaving the building.

Surprisingly, the video shows Chernyaev’s vehicle parked near the apartment building in the early hours of the morning after Leoznov left on Wednesday morning.

“The NYPD believes that Charles had a foul, Mikhail attacked Charles, and the last time he got out of the van Charles’ body was in the van,” Freeman told the producers. “The NYPD is looking for a search warrant specifically for vehicles located in the yard.”

The pieces of the puzzle seemed to fit together, but the investigation was stopped by Superstorm Sandy, which hit New York City in late October 2012. According to the final moments, the storm sank 250,000 cars. One of them belonged to Cherniaev, of which possible evidence has been washed away. The case has stalled as the city recovers from the storm.

Five months into the investigation, Freeman advised Butler’s children to speak to the media about the case. Investigative journalist Christopher Heath arranged for an interview with Lyoznov.

“When I asked about Mikhail, she seemed to deny the idea of ​​Mikhail being involved in any way. She said he didn’t support it,” he told the producer.

When Florida reporter Christopher Heath investigated the story at Keith’s request, another news outlet reported that Leoznoff was back with her ex-husband. Butler’s children suspect she may be trying to protect her ex-husband from getting caught.

The increased media attention appears to be having an impact. Eight months after Butler disappeared, the NYPD interviewed Leoznoff, who agreed to a polygraph test. NYPD investigator Constantine Papadopoulos said the results showed she was telling the truth when she said she believed her ex had nothing to do with the disappearance.

The case hit a wall. But on October 15, 2012, a fisherman found Butler’s decomposing body in upstate New York, court documents show. Police identified the body in May 2013, according to the New York Post.

Cherniayev was invited for an interview. The suspect was calm and collected until detectives showed a map of the area where Butler’s body was found. Chernyayev eventually fell. When questioned by the NYPD, “he admitted that he was in love with Anna and was jealous of everyone she was in a relationship with,” Freeman said. “In his view, he walked into the apartment and confronted Charles about the relationship.”

Chernyaev told investigators that he waited until Lioznov was off work to go to her apartment. The confrontation became fierce. According to a 2016 press release from the Brooklyn prosecutor’s office, Cherniaev grabbed a knife from the kitchen counter and stabbed, strangled him, and then strangled him.

“Mikhail’s explanation was that he was possessed by a demon,” Freeman said.