Suspect in Arizona murder arrested almost 9 years later

PHOENIX - A man who was on the run for nearly a decade for a brutal murder connected to the Russian mafia, is now in a Valley jail.

"America’s Most Wanted" featured 27-year-old Mikhail Drachev five times for his role in the murder of a police informant in 2001.

The victim, 21-year-old Konstantin Simberg, was on the phone with a police detective when he was abducted.

“He switched over to take a call briefly, and when he switched back, he actually heard a struggle, some yelling take place, screaming,” said Phoenix Police Sgt. Trent Crump at a press conference Tuesday.

Crump said three people held Simberg hostage overnight at a Phoenix apartment, where investigators later found brass knuckles and duct tape.

Simberg’s body was found two days later in the Fossil Creek area, stabbed and burned.

“The reason we believe that he was alive at the time, was because he actually made his way burning down to a creek,” said Crump.

Detectives used cell phone records to link Simberg’s murder to Drachev, along with two other suspects, Dennis Tskoukanov and ASU student Chris Andrews.

Investigators say all three had ties to a Russian-speaking gang, and were part of a crime ring involving a human growth hormone (HGH) scam to the tune of $3 million.

“This was a time period where we believe those that were selling HGH were actually setting up rip-offs of their own materials, so that they could collect the insurance and then turn around and sell it on the street,” said Crump.

Andrews and Tskoukanov were convicted of the crime, but Drachev had been on the run since three years ago, when an informant turned him in. He had been living in Canada under a false identity.

He had been fighting extradition back to the United States until last week, when he was brought back to Phoenix.

It was a victory for investigators, who had been chasing Drachev for so many years.

“When you are bold enough to take one of those people out, especially when they're on the phone with an officer, whether they knew that or not at the time, we took that case very, very personally,” said Crump.

Drachev is charged with murder and kidnapping.