11x02 - Going for Broke

[bunniefuu]

Narrator: it took a russian immigrant just seven years to

Rise from a janitor to one of the most successful stockbrokers

In the united states.

Then he disappeared.

A dog hair, a piece of plastic, and a speck of orange paint were

All that remained in a crime motivated by jealousy and greed.

In the s and 's, people living in the former

Soviet union faced a life of hardship and despair.

Some, like -year-old michael prozumenshikov, wanted

More.

He was leaving a life of deprivation, of long lines for

Food, of crowded buses.

Michael actually grew up in an apartment with seven other

Families living in the same unit.

Narrator: with little to lose, michael and his family

Emigrated to the united states.

At first, michael took a job as a janitor.

He worked hard, perfected his english, and waited for the

Right opportunity.

He grasped at the american dream in all of its incarnations.

He wanted to have material wealth.

He wanted to have recognition for being successful at a

Career.

This is a guy who was really driven, who had goals, and he

Really set out, aggressively, to accomplish them.

Narrator: eventually, michael earned a license as a

Stockbroker, passed a test for securities dealers, and got an

Entry-level position in a minneapolis firm.

When he started out, he asked his fellow russian immigrants

For business, and they responded generously.

Within seven years, michael was earning well over $ million

Annually.

And he liked to make sure everyone knew it.

[ Russian accent ] and, tell you the truth, a lot of people

Didn't like him because he was making such approach.

Like, "oh, I am big-sh*t whatever.

I drive a mercedes."

Big deal.

I drive mercedes, too, but who cares?

Narrator: on january , , michael told his wife he'd

Be working late.

But he never came home.

I said, "michael didn't come home last night."

And my wife turned to me right away, and she said, "I bet he's

Dead."

Narrator: police found michael's car in the parking lot

Of lake minnetonka, just a few blocks from his office.

A police officer actually saw the mercedes park there around

Midnight that evening, also, which was unusual.

It's an isolated beach.

Very cold january evening, and here's this mercedes setting

There at the beach.

Narrator: michael's briefcase was on the front seat.

There was no blood in the car or any sign of v*olence.

Investigators found what appeared to be blood on the

Frozen surface of the lake a few hundred yards away.

But tests on the stain were inconclusive.

Two days passed.

Then a workman at a city compost pile saw a flock of crows

Hovering around some discarded christmas trees.

And I looked in there, and it was quite obvious it was a bent

Section of a human leg all the way up to the hip.

And I just thought, "wow, this guy must have been a pretty big

Guy."

Narrator: investigators also found a human torso.

The head and the hands were missing, so it looked like

Someone was trying to get rid of anything that could be

Identified, as far as identifying the body.

Narrator: but they did find the end of a fingertip.

When police ran the fingerprint, they discovered it matched the

Fingerprint of michael prozumenshikov's

Brokerage license.

Law enforcement theorized that michael may have been targeted

Because he was a russian immigrant, so they urged

Caution.

Then the fbi called me and said, "please do <span tts:fontstyle="italic">not</span>come to the

Funeral."

And I said, "well, why?" "Well, the word is that you were

A friend of his.

Whoever did this could sh**t you at the funeral, so don't come to

The funeral."

And I thought, "wow."

Narrator: investigators took this unusual step because they

Had no idea why michael was m*rder*d.

But they did know he had plenty of enemies.

Narrator: in the search for michael prozumenshikov's k*ller,

Investigators didn't have to look far for suspects.

Although michael made a lot of money for himself as a

Stockbroker, not all of his clients liked the way he did it.

Zina shirl says she gave michael $, but told him to invest

Only in stocks that she chose.

I came to him, and I said, "this is the deal.

You do not touch it.

This is whatever I -- you do what I tell you what to do."

He said, "yes."

Narrator: almost immediately, zina realized michael was buying

And selling stocks in her account without her permission.

I had a bill from the company that I owed them almost like

$, Or $, for commission, buying, and selling.

So I went to his company, and I said, "mike, look, this is

Wrong."

Narrator: in the brokerage business, that's called

"Churning the account" -- buying and selling stocks in a

Customer's portfolio for the sole purpose of generating

Commissions.

Other clients allege that michael promised returns of %

A year in order to get their business, a practice that's

Illegal in many states.

Michael -- he crossed a lot of bridges.

He -- I mean...

A lot of illegal things was done.

Narrator: investigators also learned that michael didn't

Always pick good stocks.

For example, he bought shares in texas air for many of his

Clients at $ per share.

In a matter of weeks, it fell to $.

I would say most of the people we had talked to that had

Lost money were really not that upset that michael had

Disappeared or that he had been m*rder*d.

We even had several people that said they wish they could have

Done it.

Narrator: on the night michael was reported missing,

His wife said he called her around :.

He said he was with a client and was working late.

She also said michael asked her for his supervisor's home

Telephone number.

In phone calls to his wife that night, he spoke russian,

Which she considered unusual.

Michael did not like to speak russian in front of american

Clients.

He considered it rude.

He would only speak russian in front of some other russian.

She just assumed that whoever he was with was some other russian.

Narrator: later, michael called his boss at home with an

Unusual request.

He was asking for money -- $, that he said he needed

To raise for a client that night.

This, of course, put everyone on their guard because, to get a

Call from a broker at night seeking $, is highly

Unusual.

Narrator: michael said his client was leaving town early

The next day and needed the money immediately.

Naturally, michael's boss said no.

He just said, "it's not that we're unwilling to come up with

The $,, but we certainly aren't gonna be able to come up

With it tonight."

Narrator: and michael's boss said that he made a strange

Reference to a boat.

What he said was, "didn't you tell me that your father gave

You $, to buy a boat -- to help you buy a boat?"

Well, his supervisor hadn't told him anything like that.

And his supervisor later concluded, and later told the

Police, that he suspected that michael was trying to send an

Alarm of some kind by reminding him of a conversation that had

Never happened.

Narrator: the medical examiner believes that michael

Was k*lled later that night.

It's difficult to be precise, but because he wasn't completely

Frozen, I didn't think he'd been out there longer.

Narrator: police found michael's torso, his legs, and a

Piece of his finger.

On the tarp with the torso, investigators found a single

Black hair.

It was very fine and had kind of a crimped appearance to it

That was not indicative of a human hair.

Narrator: microscopic examination revealed it was a

Dog hair.

The medulla, or central core of animal hairs, can help identify

The breed.

In this case, analysts determined the hair was from a

Bernese mountain dog, which is tricolored and usually very

Large.

The only other evidence at the scene was on the gate that led

To the garbage dump.

It looked as if a car had hit it to force it open.

There was some brownish paint transfers on the gate at the

Compost site from the gate being pushed open by a car.

Narrator: and there was a small plastic fragment that

Looked like a piece of the car's bumper.

A witness told police that he saw michael's black

Mercedes-benz in the lake parking lot next to a small,

Brown vehicle similar in color to the piece of bumper found at

The compost site.

He also stated that the car possibly could have been a

Mazda .

It looked consistent with a mazda .

Narrator: this narrowed the list of suspects considerably.

They were looking for someone driving a brown mazda, who had a

Bernese mountain dog, and was one of michael's clients.

Narrator: while investigating the m*rder of stockbroker

Michael prozumenshikov, investigators learned he had

Many disgruntled customers.

He had also been soliciting investors to build a resort in

Reno, nevada, to be managed by a company called "omni financial."

Quite a bit of money that investors put into this scheme.

And it ended up that actually the address for omni financial

Was in the middle of the desert.

It was an old, deserted, shabby motel, vacant -- is really what

The address was where this resort was supposed to be.

Narrator: the investment was a scam, and this created even

More unhappy customers.

Authorities believe that money was probably the motive

For michael prozumenshikov's m*rder.

Narrator: news of michael prozumenshikov's m*rder

Generated a number of potential leads, including one from

Employees of a local car wash.

They said they had an odd encounter with a customer the

Morning after michael's body was found.

A customer requested we get some hunting blood out of his

Trunk, which got us thinking a little bit -- little, you know,

Little strange.

Narrator: they said it was a brown mazda, and they gave

Police the license number -- pnn .

The car was registered to zachary persitz, a -year-old

Russian émigré who worked as a dam inspector for the state of

Minnesota.

He was a friend of michael's.

When he first met michael, he was more established than

Michael was, and then michael got into the brokerage

Business, and michael's earnings eclipsed those of zachary.

They didn't know each other in the old country.

Their wives were friends.

Narrator: persitz was married, had two children, and

Was well known and respected within the russian immigrant

Community.

Very nice, very musical...

Very intelligent.

I remember zachary's a good artist.

This guy was the greatest guy in the world.

He wouldn't hurt a flea.

If you interviewed them, they'd say he was a great neighbor,

Kept to himself, never bothered anybody.

Narrator: but persitz and michael were more than just

Friends.

Michael was persitz's financial advisor.

Their relationship was rocky at best.

Investigators discovered that persitz gave michael $, to

Invest, but there were more losses than profits.

At some point, persitz discovered his stock portfolio

Was worth less than $,.

For the most part, they weren't investments that were

Suitable for a guy that invested every nickel he had with

Michael.

Narrator: when questioned by police, persitz denied any

Involvement in michael's m*rder, and he willingly took a

Lie-detector test arranged by his lawyer.

My investigator and cocounsel had developed a suspicion that

He hadn't done this, and so I called a polygrapher...

And had zachary tell them that he hadn't done it.

And he passed.

Narrator: and forensic testing could not determine the

Origin of the blood in persitz's trunk.

At the time, dna testing wasn't as sophisticated as it is today.

Back then, the dna testing procedures required dna to be

What's called high molecular weight.

We needed dna that hadn't gone through any degradation

Processes at all.

Narrator: but investigators did find some suspicious damage

To perstiz's car.

It had damage to the front right end.

The paint was scraped, and the bumper was broken.

The scratches on the bumper had what appeared to be tiny specks

Of orange paint, which were removed with a small probe.

The samples that we're talking about are perhaps the

Size of a period or a small dot with a pencil.

So we're talking microscopic-sized chips of

Paint.

Narrator: the paint sample was compared to the paint from

The broken gate using a process called a solubility analysis.

Chemical solubility tests are a series of reagents, solvents,

Or reagents that may cause color reactions or cause it to

Dissolve or swell or do something -- a color change.

And if they are similar, that means that the paints could have

Had a common source.

Narrator: the test showed that the paint on perstiz's

Bumper could have come from the gate, but the sample was too

Small to be conclusive.

But the piece of broken bumper found near the gate was of more

Value.

The forensic analysis revealed it could only have come from one

Source.

It was just a perfect match.

They were unevenly cracked, so the odds of the pieces that they

Recovered from the compost site being a perfect, even match to

Zachary's car -- the odds of coming from some other source

Were...

So amazing that they just said, "this had to have come from

Zachary's car."

Narrator: and investigators learned that persitz owned a dog

With long black hair, which proved to be microscopically

Similar to the single dog hair found with michael's body.

Finally investigators sprayed the inside of persitz's car with

Luminol.

It revealed evidence of a g*nsh*t.

It looked like stars.

There were hundreds of spots on the roof of the headliner of the

Car, which would have been consistent with the

High-velocity mist if someone gets sh*t in the head.

Narrator: this indicated that michael was sitting in the

Driver's seat of persitz's car when he was k*lled.

[ g*nsh*t ] investigators found a receipt in

Persitz's office for a pair of handcuffs that could have been

Used in the abduction.

I mean, they had the receipt.

They had the guy that he bought them from.

Narrator: zachary persitz was arrested and charged with

First-degree m*rder.

Even his lawyer acknowledged the strength of the prosecution's

Case.

Trying this case was like being a human punching bag.

Narrator: prosecutors believed that zachary persitz

Was enraged by the way his friend michael prozumenshikov

Handled his money.

He watched his $, dwindle to less than $,.

He came upon hard times.

He was not gonna be able to pay the tuition for private school.

He was not gonna be able to make his mortgage payments.

And that's where the dynamics of zachary persitz began to change.

He was unable to stand the pressure of seeing all of his

Dreams vanish.

Narrator: at the same time, zachary persitz saw that michael

Was living quite well on the commissions generated from all

The stock transactions.

Zachary's wife oftentimes would compare their lifestyle to

Michael's lifestyle, saying things like, "michael has a big

House.

Why don't we have a big house?

Michael has a mercedes.

Why don't we have a mercedes?" And on and on.

Narrator: prosecutors believed persitz wanted revenge.

The evidence suggests persitz set up a meeting with michael

After work.

They met in the parking lot at lake minnetonka.

Once there, persitz threatened michael with a g*n and demanded

His money back with interest.

So michael called his boss at home, asking him for $,.

But his boss refused.

[ Dial tone ]

Persitz handcuffed michael to the steering wheel of his car

And ordered michael to drive to a deserted location...

And then k*lled him.

[ g*nsh*t ] persitz put michael's body in

The trunk and drove to the compost site about miles

Away.

Persitz broke through the gate with the car's bumper, leaving a

Small piece behind.

After dismembering michael's body, persitz wrapped the torso

In a tarp.

Unbeknownst to him, a single black hair from his pet dog was

On the tarp.

The rest of michael's body and the g*n have never been

Recovered.

He thought he could pull off this homicide and not get caught

'Cause he had it all planned out, and he didn't realize how

Tough it is to hide trace evidence, forensic evidence.

It's always gonna be there.

Narrator: zachary persitz pled not guilty by reason of

Insanity.

The jury, however, rejected that and found him guilty of

First-degree m*rder.

He was sentenced to life in prison.

For michael prozumenshikov, the american dream had turned into a

Tragedy.

But the trail of evidence left no doubt who was responsible.

The forensic evidence was the case.

The investigators did an overwhelming and professional

Job.

The old expression is, "if

You think you know how to commit

The perfect crime, there are

Ways to [bleep] it up.

And you're a genius if you can

Figure out of them."