1 00:00:06,267 --> 00:00:09,400 Narrator: Up next, he goes to a business meeting 2 00:00:09,444 --> 00:00:10,662 and doesn't come back. 3 00:00:10,706 --> 00:00:12,229 The meeting was normal. 4 00:00:12,273 --> 00:00:14,362 What happened after was not normal. 5 00:00:14,405 --> 00:00:16,929 Narrator: His kidnappers seem capable of anything. 6 00:00:16,973 --> 00:00:19,802 Perez: The man on the other end said, 7 00:00:19,845 --> 00:00:22,674 "If you don't start sending the money, 8 00:00:22,718 --> 00:00:26,156 we are gonna start selling body parts, like his liver." 9 00:00:26,200 --> 00:00:27,853 It was like-- Oh, my God. 10 00:00:27,897 --> 00:00:29,899 I couldn't believe what they were accused of doing. 11 00:00:29,942 --> 00:00:32,858 Narrator: The case leaves a money trail all over the globe. 12 00:00:32,902 --> 00:00:34,164 Follow the money. 13 00:00:34,208 --> 00:00:36,210 - Follow the money. - Follow the money. 14 00:00:36,253 --> 00:00:39,648 Narrator: Ultimately, the money leads detectives to a huge lake-- 15 00:00:39,691 --> 00:00:42,085 a hard place to find evidence. 16 00:00:42,129 --> 00:00:45,436 We're talking about trying to find a needle in a haystack at this point. 17 00:00:45,480 --> 00:00:47,090 Ralston: It's really opened our eyes 18 00:00:47,134 --> 00:00:49,484 to how evil people can be... 19 00:00:49,527 --> 00:00:54,315 and use water as a method of getting rid of the bodies. 20 00:00:54,358 --> 00:01:14,335 ♪ 21 00:01:14,378 --> 00:01:15,945 Narrator: When he was 7 years old, 22 00:01:15,988 --> 00:01:18,165 Alex Umansky and his family 23 00:01:18,208 --> 00:01:20,732 immigrated to the U.S. from Ukraine. 24 00:01:20,776 --> 00:01:23,039 The family settled in Los Angeles. 25 00:01:23,083 --> 00:01:25,302 Like many first-generation immigrants, 26 00:01:25,346 --> 00:01:29,741 Alex embraced America as a land of limitless opportunity. 27 00:01:29,785 --> 00:01:32,396 His parents moved here for a better life, 28 00:01:32,440 --> 00:01:33,789 like all of us. 29 00:01:33,832 --> 00:01:35,225 You know, we-- 30 00:01:35,269 --> 00:01:38,228 The situation in our country wasn't that easy, 31 00:01:38,272 --> 00:01:40,970 and I think all the immigrants are like that. 32 00:01:41,013 --> 00:01:44,495 Dugdale: Alex Umansky was young, good-looking, 33 00:01:44,539 --> 00:01:47,455 vibrant guy who was trying to make his way in this world. 34 00:01:47,498 --> 00:01:49,761 He had started his own business 35 00:01:49,805 --> 00:01:52,068 called Hard Wired Auto Accessories. 36 00:01:52,112 --> 00:01:56,116 They would put in fancy equipment into your car, 37 00:01:56,159 --> 00:01:59,510 such as televisions and cameras. 38 00:01:59,554 --> 00:02:01,382 Narrator: Alex's business took off, 39 00:02:01,425 --> 00:02:05,255 and he soon found love with another Ukrainian immigrant. 40 00:02:05,299 --> 00:02:07,823 Qureshi: I fell in love with his personality. 41 00:02:07,866 --> 00:02:11,522 We got engaged, and we were looking to get married. 42 00:02:11,566 --> 00:02:15,047 I just recently saw a video from our engagement party, 43 00:02:15,091 --> 00:02:17,137 and it was a full house 44 00:02:17,180 --> 00:02:19,661 dancing and singing the whole time. 45 00:02:19,704 --> 00:02:21,576 [ Chuckles ] 46 00:02:21,619 --> 00:02:24,405 Narrator: On the night of December 12, 2001, 47 00:02:24,448 --> 00:02:26,058 Alex got the kind of call 48 00:02:26,102 --> 00:02:28,713 a hard-charging entrepreneur loves. 49 00:02:28,757 --> 00:02:31,934 He had a new client, with deep pockets. 50 00:02:31,977 --> 00:02:34,893 Qureshi: He got a phone call in the evening. 51 00:02:34,937 --> 00:02:36,460 Usually he speaks English. 52 00:02:36,504 --> 00:02:38,114 He spoke Russian, too, 53 00:02:38,158 --> 00:02:41,248 but his Russian was, like, not as good as English. 54 00:02:41,291 --> 00:02:44,120 So he suddenly started speaking Russian, 55 00:02:44,164 --> 00:02:46,166 and it was a good conversation. 56 00:02:46,209 --> 00:02:49,038 He hang up, and he was very excited. 57 00:02:49,081 --> 00:02:52,128 Narrator: This new client wanted to spend a lot of money 58 00:02:52,172 --> 00:02:55,958 on a state-of-the-art stereo system for his wife's car. 59 00:02:56,001 --> 00:02:59,222 Qureshi: He said, "The person said money is not an object." 60 00:02:59,266 --> 00:03:01,137 So that's always a good thing for a business. 61 00:03:01,181 --> 00:03:03,226 It was his thing. It was his baby. 62 00:03:03,270 --> 00:03:05,576 This business was his baby. 63 00:03:05,620 --> 00:03:09,493 Narrator: Alex and the caller made plans to meet the next day. 64 00:03:09,537 --> 00:03:12,757 After that meeting, Alex didn't come home 65 00:03:12,801 --> 00:03:14,585 and dropped out of contact. 66 00:03:14,629 --> 00:03:16,892 It's just radio silence. 67 00:03:16,935 --> 00:03:19,547 Um, people are paging him, trying to reach him. 68 00:03:19,590 --> 00:03:21,070 It was very strange for him 69 00:03:21,113 --> 00:03:25,422 to just completely go off the radar. 70 00:03:25,466 --> 00:03:27,119 Qureshi: His two managers started calling me. 71 00:03:27,163 --> 00:03:29,818 They said, "We can't reach him. We can't reach him. 72 00:03:29,861 --> 00:03:31,385 We don't know what happened." 73 00:03:31,428 --> 00:03:34,649 I started calling. We couldn't reach him. 74 00:03:34,692 --> 00:03:37,391 Narrator: Early the next day, Alex's worried father 75 00:03:37,434 --> 00:03:39,958 went to his office to see if he was there. 76 00:03:40,002 --> 00:03:43,048 He wasn't, but something unexpected was. 77 00:03:43,092 --> 00:03:45,268 Dugdale: His father found a fax-- 78 00:03:45,312 --> 00:03:47,966 an invoice from a company they had never heard from 79 00:03:48,010 --> 00:03:52,319 in the amount of $234,628 80 00:03:52,362 --> 00:03:54,756 and demanding the payment of that money. 81 00:03:54,799 --> 00:03:57,454 And at that same time, his brother Michael, 82 00:03:57,498 --> 00:04:00,805 up in San Francisco received a similar fax, 83 00:04:00,849 --> 00:04:04,113 demanding a similar amount of money. 84 00:04:04,156 --> 00:04:06,115 Narrator: A terrified Alex soon called 85 00:04:06,158 --> 00:04:07,943 and said he'd been kidnapped. 86 00:04:07,986 --> 00:04:10,162 The people holding him got on the phone 87 00:04:10,206 --> 00:04:12,904 and left no doubt his life was in danger. 88 00:04:12,948 --> 00:04:15,037 They made a threat to do things like 89 00:04:15,080 --> 00:04:18,475 cut off Alex's fingers if the money wasn't paid, 90 00:04:18,519 --> 00:04:21,173 to sell his body parts, 91 00:04:21,217 --> 00:04:25,874 his kidney, his liver, if the money wasn't paid. 92 00:04:25,917 --> 00:04:28,311 Narrator: Alex's kidnappers ordered his family 93 00:04:28,355 --> 00:04:31,445 to immediately send the ransom money to Dubai, 94 00:04:31,488 --> 00:04:34,361 the largest city in the United Arab Emirates. 95 00:04:34,404 --> 00:04:36,841 Qureshi: I left Ukraine to get away from 96 00:04:36,885 --> 00:04:39,409 all the crime that was happening in '90s. 97 00:04:39,453 --> 00:04:41,324 So we were all in shock 98 00:04:41,368 --> 00:04:44,066 that something like this is happening in L.A. 99 00:04:44,109 --> 00:04:45,850 Narrator: Investigators believed 100 00:04:45,894 --> 00:04:49,027 Alex was being held somewhere in Los Angeles. 101 00:04:49,071 --> 00:04:51,813 The original ransom notes came from Russia. 102 00:04:51,856 --> 00:04:54,511 The kidnappers ordered that the payments be wired 103 00:04:54,555 --> 00:04:56,644 to a British bank in Dubai. 104 00:04:56,687 --> 00:05:00,691 The case had gone global, and time was running short. 105 00:05:00,735 --> 00:05:02,563 Dugdale: Changes it dramatically. 106 00:05:02,606 --> 00:05:04,695 This is not just some local gang of thugs 107 00:05:04,739 --> 00:05:06,958 who grab somebody from the street, 108 00:05:07,002 --> 00:05:10,571 but a group that has tentacles around the world, potentially. 109 00:05:10,614 --> 00:05:12,355 This was gonna take some time 110 00:05:12,399 --> 00:05:14,226 to figure out who these abductors were, 111 00:05:14,270 --> 00:05:16,098 and unfortunately for Alexander Umansky, 112 00:05:16,141 --> 00:05:18,230 time was working against him. 113 00:05:18,274 --> 00:05:24,411 ♪ 114 00:05:29,198 --> 00:05:31,069 Narrator: In phone calls to the Umansky family 115 00:05:31,113 --> 00:05:35,030 recorded by the FBI, Alex Umansky's kidnappers, 116 00:05:35,073 --> 00:05:37,902 all apparently native Russian speakers, 117 00:05:37,946 --> 00:05:40,427 insisted his ransom be paid immediately. 118 00:05:40,470 --> 00:05:41,906 Perez: We were trying to be able 119 00:05:41,950 --> 00:05:44,866 to locate the kidnappers, of course, on the phone. 120 00:05:44,909 --> 00:05:48,870 There were no GPS's back then in 2001 in these cellphones. 121 00:05:48,913 --> 00:05:52,177 [ Speaking Russian ] 122 00:06:00,969 --> 00:06:02,710 People see TV shows, and they're like, 123 00:06:02,753 --> 00:06:05,408 "Well, you can trace the phone calls and things like that." 124 00:06:05,452 --> 00:06:08,411 Not so simple when you have calls of very short duration 125 00:06:08,455 --> 00:06:11,675 happening on phones that are prepaid cellphones 126 00:06:11,719 --> 00:06:13,851 that somebody is getting in a fictitious name 127 00:06:13,895 --> 00:06:16,680 with a fictitious address. 128 00:06:16,724 --> 00:06:19,117 Narrator: The Umansky family didn't have the kind of money 129 00:06:19,161 --> 00:06:21,206 Alex's kidnappers demanded, 130 00:06:21,250 --> 00:06:24,601 but they quickly rounded up part of the ransom payment. 131 00:06:24,645 --> 00:06:27,561 They wired $90,000 to Dubai 132 00:06:27,604 --> 00:06:29,476 with a promise that more was coming. 133 00:06:29,519 --> 00:06:33,262 We also were constantly asking for proof of life, 134 00:06:33,305 --> 00:06:35,830 so he was getting on the phone on and off, 135 00:06:35,873 --> 00:06:37,222 and he was alive. 136 00:06:37,266 --> 00:06:39,529 Narrator: That wasn't the only good news. 137 00:06:39,573 --> 00:06:42,358 Someone, apparently one of the kidnappers, 138 00:06:42,402 --> 00:06:44,316 had used Alex's debit card 139 00:06:44,360 --> 00:06:48,190 less than 24 hours after he went missing. 140 00:06:48,233 --> 00:06:51,454 A surveillance camera captured this image of the man. 141 00:06:51,498 --> 00:06:54,457 He put his hand on his nose 142 00:06:54,501 --> 00:06:56,459 or covering his face a little bit 143 00:06:56,503 --> 00:06:58,635 because he knew he was being photographed 144 00:06:58,679 --> 00:07:00,811 while he withdrew the money. 145 00:07:00,855 --> 00:07:04,641 In the background, you can see a light-colored SUV. 146 00:07:04,685 --> 00:07:07,601 Narrator: The make of this white SUV was identified, 147 00:07:07,644 --> 00:07:09,124 but the surveillance camera 148 00:07:09,167 --> 00:07:11,735 did not capture the license plate. 149 00:07:11,779 --> 00:07:14,172 The problem was that there were thousands of vehicles 150 00:07:14,216 --> 00:07:18,568 just like this one in the Greater Los Angeles area. 151 00:07:18,612 --> 00:07:21,049 Investigators were racing against the clock 152 00:07:21,092 --> 00:07:23,617 to find Alex before he was killed. 153 00:07:23,660 --> 00:07:26,576 And now they got another surprise break. 154 00:07:26,620 --> 00:07:28,622 Alex's Umansky's father saw something 155 00:07:28,665 --> 00:07:30,841 on a West Hollywood telephone pole-- 156 00:07:30,885 --> 00:07:33,975 something he normally might not have noticed. 157 00:07:34,018 --> 00:07:37,674 It was a poster about a woman who'd recently disappeared. 158 00:07:37,718 --> 00:07:40,851 Ruven, Alex's dad, sees her "missing" posters 159 00:07:40,895 --> 00:07:42,810 around West Hollywood and thinks, 160 00:07:42,853 --> 00:07:47,031 "Strange that two Russian-- you know, Russians are missing." 161 00:07:47,075 --> 00:07:50,470 And he forwards that information to the FBI. 162 00:07:50,513 --> 00:07:53,168 Narrator: 39-year-old Rita Pekler went missing 163 00:07:53,211 --> 00:07:56,519 one week before Alex Umansky disappeared. 164 00:07:56,563 --> 00:07:59,870 Rita was a Russian national, another immigrant to America 165 00:07:59,914 --> 00:08:03,308 with deep ties to the post-Soviet émigré communities 166 00:08:03,352 --> 00:08:05,180 in Southern California. 167 00:08:05,223 --> 00:08:08,792 Mozingo: How strange it is that two Ukrainian Russians 168 00:08:08,836 --> 00:08:12,535 are missing in this small area of Los Angeles. 169 00:08:12,579 --> 00:08:14,406 Dugdale: For Rita Pekler, it was a mystery 170 00:08:14,450 --> 00:08:16,321 since no money had been demanded. 171 00:08:16,365 --> 00:08:18,280 Why was she kidnapped? 172 00:08:18,323 --> 00:08:20,891 And what is the connection between Pekler and Umansky, 173 00:08:20,935 --> 00:08:23,198 two people who had seemingly never met each other 174 00:08:23,241 --> 00:08:25,461 before in their lives? 175 00:08:25,505 --> 00:08:27,768 Narrator: Investigators soon learned of more immigrants 176 00:08:27,811 --> 00:08:29,726 who had apparently been kidnapped. 177 00:08:29,770 --> 00:08:32,207 DeWitt: The FBI learned that two additional 178 00:08:32,250 --> 00:08:36,559 Russian-speaking individuals had been kidnapped. 179 00:08:36,603 --> 00:08:40,607 One of them was George Safiev. The other was Nick Kharabadze. 180 00:08:40,650 --> 00:08:44,872 Nick and George had started a movie production company. 181 00:08:44,915 --> 00:08:48,310 Narrator: This film company was based in the Los Angeles area, 182 00:08:48,353 --> 00:08:50,355 the last place these producing partners 183 00:08:50,399 --> 00:08:52,619 were seen before they disappeared. 184 00:08:52,662 --> 00:08:55,970 And there was a direct connection to Rita Pekler. 185 00:08:56,013 --> 00:08:58,363 She took care of the business side of their company. 186 00:08:58,407 --> 00:09:00,801 Rita Pekler was actually their accountant. 187 00:09:00,844 --> 00:09:04,021 DeWitt: Now they had four potential victims, 188 00:09:04,065 --> 00:09:08,678 all from the Russian community or from the former Soviet Union, 189 00:09:08,722 --> 00:09:11,289 who seemed to have some dealings 190 00:09:11,333 --> 00:09:13,422 with Russian-speaking individuals 191 00:09:13,465 --> 00:09:15,816 shortly before their disappearance. 192 00:09:15,859 --> 00:09:18,993 Narrator: So many questions and so few answers, 193 00:09:19,036 --> 00:09:21,299 but for now, priority number one 194 00:09:21,343 --> 00:09:25,303 was to locate the victims and hopefully find them alive. 195 00:09:25,347 --> 00:09:30,874 ♪ 196 00:09:35,531 --> 00:09:37,054 Narrator: When four people from Greater Los Angeles 197 00:09:37,098 --> 00:09:39,753 were kidnapped, investigators from the U.S. 198 00:09:39,796 --> 00:09:42,451 and all over the world were on the case, 199 00:09:42,494 --> 00:09:44,975 and all of them came to the same conclusion 200 00:09:45,019 --> 00:09:47,761 on the best way to find the kidnappers. 201 00:09:47,804 --> 00:09:51,895 One of the most important parts of the investigative process 202 00:09:51,939 --> 00:09:54,811 in this case involved, um, 203 00:09:54,855 --> 00:09:58,162 the good old adage of "follow the money." 204 00:09:58,206 --> 00:10:00,904 Perez: What was unusual about this kidnapping for me, 205 00:10:00,948 --> 00:10:03,124 and probably anybody, 206 00:10:03,167 --> 00:10:06,954 is that we had overseas transfers of money requested. 207 00:10:06,997 --> 00:10:08,651 The agents have no leads, 208 00:10:08,695 --> 00:10:11,132 but one big one is, "follow the money." 209 00:10:11,175 --> 00:10:13,656 Narrator: Across the globe, the vast majority 210 00:10:13,700 --> 00:10:17,094 of financial transfers are handled electronically. 211 00:10:17,138 --> 00:10:19,923 The system is designed, for obvious reasons, 212 00:10:19,967 --> 00:10:21,621 to leave a record. 213 00:10:21,664 --> 00:10:24,624 But some countries have notoriously opaque oversight 214 00:10:24,667 --> 00:10:26,451 on these transactions. 215 00:10:26,495 --> 00:10:29,541 The kidnappers apparently hoped this would be the case 216 00:10:29,585 --> 00:10:33,154 with the United Arab Emirates, the UAE. 217 00:10:33,197 --> 00:10:36,853 When this came along, everything was uncharted territory. 218 00:10:36,897 --> 00:10:38,812 We have no treaty with the UAE. 219 00:10:38,855 --> 00:10:41,075 Narrator: But law enforcement in the UAE 220 00:10:41,118 --> 00:10:43,904 proved eager to help the investigation. 221 00:10:43,947 --> 00:10:49,083 That turned out later to be a very critical link 222 00:10:49,126 --> 00:10:53,870 in helping the FBI to determine who the kidnappers were. 223 00:10:53,914 --> 00:10:56,481 Narrator: The FBI and UAE investigators 224 00:10:56,525 --> 00:10:58,614 were able to target the Dubai bank 225 00:10:58,658 --> 00:11:00,485 where the ransom payments were sent, 226 00:11:00,529 --> 00:11:02,444 and they arrested two Russian nationals 227 00:11:02,487 --> 00:11:04,054 who picked up those payments. 228 00:11:04,098 --> 00:11:06,100 Perez: It turns out they didn't know 229 00:11:06,143 --> 00:11:08,711 anything about the ransom proceeds. 230 00:11:08,755 --> 00:11:13,411 There were basically pawns doing a service for somebody else, 231 00:11:13,455 --> 00:11:17,067 but that was their compartmentalized role. 232 00:11:17,111 --> 00:11:20,505 Narrator: These men immediately cooperated with investigators 233 00:11:20,549 --> 00:11:22,725 and turned over all documentation 234 00:11:22,769 --> 00:11:25,859 related to their instructions to pick up the money. 235 00:11:25,902 --> 00:11:27,687 Investigators soon discovered 236 00:11:27,730 --> 00:11:30,733 the ultimate destination for the ransom payments. 237 00:11:30,777 --> 00:11:33,127 [ Clicking ] 238 00:11:33,170 --> 00:11:36,652 Mozingo: That money all came back to Los Angeles 239 00:11:36,696 --> 00:11:39,568 to a small business on a little strip 240 00:11:39,611 --> 00:11:41,570 of Ventura Boulevard in the Valley, 241 00:11:41,613 --> 00:11:46,140 an aquarium store named Designed Water World. 242 00:11:46,183 --> 00:11:49,186 Dugdale: Designed Water World turns out to be a business 243 00:11:49,230 --> 00:11:53,103 that was owned by Iouri Mikhel and Jurijus Kadamovas. 244 00:11:53,147 --> 00:11:56,672 Iouri Mikhel was from Moscow. 245 00:11:56,716 --> 00:11:59,066 He did have a criminal history there. 246 00:11:59,109 --> 00:12:03,244 Jurijus Kadamovas was a former citizen of Lithuania 247 00:12:03,287 --> 00:12:06,029 who had no criminal history in the United States 248 00:12:06,073 --> 00:12:08,466 but was another person who appeared 249 00:12:08,510 --> 00:12:10,817 to live beyond his means. 250 00:12:10,860 --> 00:12:13,123 Mozingo: They owned houses throughout the area. 251 00:12:13,167 --> 00:12:15,125 Mikhel lived in Encino 252 00:12:15,169 --> 00:12:18,346 in a really beautiful house in the Hills. 253 00:12:18,389 --> 00:12:20,435 So it really started to raise questions 254 00:12:20,478 --> 00:12:23,568 about who these two people really were. 255 00:12:23,612 --> 00:12:25,266 Narrator: The pair's phones were tapped, 256 00:12:25,309 --> 00:12:28,312 and all their business interests were surveilled. 257 00:12:28,356 --> 00:12:30,880 This turned up an interesting potential clue 258 00:12:30,924 --> 00:12:33,578 in the person of an apparent employee, 259 00:12:33,622 --> 00:12:35,493 Ainar Altmanis, 260 00:12:35,537 --> 00:12:38,148 himself an immigrant from the former Soviet Union. 261 00:12:38,192 --> 00:12:40,324 Dugdale: When they followed Mr. Altmanis around for days, 262 00:12:40,368 --> 00:12:43,066 he was driving a white Lincoln Navigator, 263 00:12:43,110 --> 00:12:45,808 which appeared to be the car 264 00:12:45,852 --> 00:12:49,638 that was captured in the ATM surveillance video 265 00:12:49,681 --> 00:12:51,945 connected to the Umansky kidnapping. 266 00:12:51,988 --> 00:12:54,774 Narrator: Was this man Ainar Altmanis 267 00:12:54,817 --> 00:12:56,819 or one of his employers? 268 00:12:56,863 --> 00:12:58,995 It was impossible to say. 269 00:12:59,039 --> 00:13:02,477 But with the kidnap victims' lives possibly in the balance 270 00:13:02,520 --> 00:13:04,392 and plenty of potential evidence, 271 00:13:04,435 --> 00:13:07,743 authorities searched all of the alleged kidnappers' businesses 272 00:13:07,787 --> 00:13:10,746 and uncovered a treasure trove of evidence. 273 00:13:10,790 --> 00:13:14,054 They executed 19 search warrants that day 274 00:13:14,097 --> 00:13:17,187 where they collected all kinds of evidence-- 275 00:13:17,231 --> 00:13:19,233 guns, silencers... 276 00:13:19,276 --> 00:13:22,627 Dimedrol that was used to sedate the victims... 277 00:13:22,671 --> 00:13:26,718 bank records that tied back to the many money transfers 278 00:13:26,762 --> 00:13:29,460 of the ransom proceeds that were later traced. 279 00:13:29,504 --> 00:13:32,159 Narrator: Iouri Mikhel, Jurijus Kadamovas, 280 00:13:32,202 --> 00:13:34,770 Ainar Altmanis, and one more member 281 00:13:34,814 --> 00:13:38,252 of the suspected kidnap gang were arrested. 282 00:13:38,295 --> 00:13:40,384 Investigators were all but convinced 283 00:13:40,428 --> 00:13:42,560 the kidnap victims had been killed, 284 00:13:42,604 --> 00:13:44,867 but if the bodies couldn't be found, 285 00:13:44,911 --> 00:13:46,913 proving murder would not be easy. 286 00:13:46,956 --> 00:13:49,741 DeWitt: They had very, very compelling evidence, 287 00:13:49,785 --> 00:13:51,352 but they did not have the bodies. 288 00:13:51,395 --> 00:13:55,051 It wouldn't be optimal to try a case involving a murder 289 00:13:55,095 --> 00:13:56,705 if you don't have the body. 290 00:13:56,748 --> 00:14:02,580 ♪ 291 00:14:07,194 --> 00:14:09,849 Narrator: In February of 2002, four men in Los Angeles 292 00:14:09,892 --> 00:14:11,546 were arrested for the kidnapping 293 00:14:11,589 --> 00:14:14,375 of a group of immigrants from Eastern Europe. 294 00:14:14,418 --> 00:14:18,118 One of these men, 42-year-old Ainar Altmanis, 295 00:14:18,161 --> 00:14:20,337 wanted to make a deal with prosecutors. 296 00:14:20,381 --> 00:14:22,818 Dugdale: So Altmanis came in to be interviewed, 297 00:14:22,862 --> 00:14:24,689 and the very first question 298 00:14:24,733 --> 00:14:27,867 that he was asked by the agents was, 299 00:14:27,910 --> 00:14:31,131 "Where are the victims? What happened to the victims?" 300 00:14:31,174 --> 00:14:34,569 And he slammed his hands down on the table, 301 00:14:34,612 --> 00:14:37,485 and he said he knew everything. 302 00:14:37,528 --> 00:14:40,401 And he said, "They're gone. They're all gone." 303 00:14:40,444 --> 00:14:42,969 Narrator: Altmanis said the victims' bodies had been dumped 304 00:14:43,012 --> 00:14:44,840 in the New Melones reservoir 305 00:14:44,884 --> 00:14:48,583 about 350 miles north of Los Angeles. 306 00:14:48,626 --> 00:14:53,283 You're looking at one of the larger reservoirs in California, 307 00:14:53,327 --> 00:14:55,459 and it's 300 feet deep. 308 00:14:55,503 --> 00:14:57,722 It still strikes you as trying to find 309 00:14:57,766 --> 00:15:01,204 a needle in a haystack to find four human beings 310 00:15:01,248 --> 00:15:05,252 at the bottom of a reservoir that big and that deep. 311 00:15:05,295 --> 00:15:07,645 DeWitt: He led them to the locations 312 00:15:07,689 --> 00:15:09,299 where the bodies were dumped. 313 00:15:09,343 --> 00:15:12,085 The bodies were driven up to Northern California, 314 00:15:12,128 --> 00:15:15,349 and they were dumped off of one of two different bridges 315 00:15:15,392 --> 00:15:18,308 with weights tied around their bodies. 316 00:15:18,352 --> 00:15:20,789 Narrator: There are all sorts of forensic disciplines, 317 00:15:20,832 --> 00:15:22,660 but very few people are expert 318 00:15:22,704 --> 00:15:25,968 at finding corpses in large bodies of water. 319 00:15:26,012 --> 00:15:29,015 The Ralstons-- Gene and his wife, Sandy-- 320 00:15:29,058 --> 00:15:30,712 had been at it for decades. 321 00:15:30,755 --> 00:15:32,627 Since we started using this equipment 322 00:15:32,670 --> 00:15:34,150 in August of 2000, 323 00:15:34,194 --> 00:15:39,199 we have found 127 victims underwater. 324 00:15:39,242 --> 00:15:41,418 Narrator: All of the people found by the Ralstons 325 00:15:41,462 --> 00:15:43,159 were drowning victims. 326 00:15:43,203 --> 00:15:46,554 But whether the victims died through accident or murder, 327 00:15:46,597 --> 00:15:48,686 the technology is the same. 328 00:15:48,730 --> 00:15:51,341 It allows investigators to use sound 329 00:15:51,385 --> 00:15:53,474 to see in deep water, 330 00:15:53,517 --> 00:15:56,477 in places sunlight can't penetrate. 331 00:15:56,520 --> 00:15:59,175 The equipment is called side-scan sonar. 332 00:15:59,219 --> 00:16:03,005 It uses sound to generate images of things, 333 00:16:03,049 --> 00:16:05,486 much like medical ultrasound 334 00:16:05,529 --> 00:16:08,271 in that it casts a beam of sound out, 335 00:16:08,315 --> 00:16:11,013 and then it listens for the return reflection. 336 00:16:11,057 --> 00:16:14,538 Anything that's on the bottom will have a shadow behind it 337 00:16:14,582 --> 00:16:17,889 because the transducer housing the system 338 00:16:17,933 --> 00:16:22,590 is towed about 10 to 15 feet off of the bottom. 339 00:16:22,633 --> 00:16:24,287 Narrator: A device called a towfish 340 00:16:24,331 --> 00:16:26,681 is dragged below the waterline. 341 00:16:26,724 --> 00:16:30,859 It sends out a sound signal that bounces back to a monitor, 342 00:16:30,902 --> 00:16:34,906 creating accurate images of the bottom of a body of water. 343 00:16:34,950 --> 00:16:36,996 If a human body is on the bottom, 344 00:16:37,039 --> 00:16:38,519 it "reads" differently 345 00:16:38,562 --> 00:16:41,043 than things that would normally be down there. 346 00:16:41,087 --> 00:16:45,352 Ralston: Side-scan sonar enables us to see things with sound 347 00:16:45,395 --> 00:16:47,919 that you could not see by light. 348 00:16:47,963 --> 00:16:49,530 Generally, the object you're searching for 349 00:16:49,573 --> 00:16:51,140 has a higher density, 350 00:16:51,184 --> 00:16:55,753 therefore a greater intensity of return signal. 351 00:16:55,797 --> 00:16:59,757 The more dense the object is, the greater the reflectivity. 352 00:16:59,801 --> 00:17:01,846 Narrator: The recovery team went to the spots 353 00:17:01,890 --> 00:17:04,545 Ainar Altmanis said the bodies were dumped-- 354 00:17:04,588 --> 00:17:07,243 two bridges that span the reservoir. 355 00:17:07,287 --> 00:17:09,680 The Ralstons, with a lot of experience 356 00:17:09,724 --> 00:17:12,466 reading these images, immediately recognized 357 00:17:12,509 --> 00:17:15,643 four anomalous shapes on the bottom of the reservoir. 358 00:17:15,686 --> 00:17:17,819 They told police these were human bodies. 359 00:17:17,862 --> 00:17:20,169 Dugdale: The bodies were ultimately recovered 360 00:17:20,213 --> 00:17:22,911 through a submersible device with a hook. 361 00:17:22,954 --> 00:17:25,087 Narrator: This image was later identified 362 00:17:25,131 --> 00:17:27,394 as the body of George Safiev. 363 00:17:27,437 --> 00:17:30,875 Close by was the body of Nick Kharabadze. 364 00:17:30,919 --> 00:17:34,053 Rita Pekler's body was found under another bridge. 365 00:17:34,096 --> 00:17:36,533 ♪ 366 00:17:36,577 --> 00:17:39,797 The last body to be brought up from the bottom of the reservoir 367 00:17:39,841 --> 00:17:42,061 was Alex Umansky's. 368 00:17:42,104 --> 00:17:45,281 Qureshi: They absolutely destroyed his parents' life. 369 00:17:45,325 --> 00:17:50,765 What they've done to their son, they completely destroyed them. 370 00:17:50,808 --> 00:17:53,289 They could never recover from this. 371 00:17:53,333 --> 00:17:55,987 They're different people from that time on. 372 00:17:56,031 --> 00:17:58,033 I think he deserves to be remembered. 373 00:17:58,077 --> 00:18:00,166 That's how good he was. 374 00:18:00,209 --> 00:18:03,125 ♪ 375 00:18:03,169 --> 00:18:05,127 Narrator: Authorities ultimately learned 376 00:18:05,171 --> 00:18:07,129 of a fifth kidnap victim. 377 00:18:07,173 --> 00:18:11,133 58 year-old real-estate developer Meyer Muscatel 378 00:18:11,177 --> 00:18:13,179 had been kidnapped in October. 379 00:18:13,222 --> 00:18:15,659 His body was found by a fisherman 380 00:18:15,703 --> 00:18:18,836 at the reservoir months earlier. 381 00:18:18,880 --> 00:18:20,577 Why had these five people been targeted? 382 00:18:20,621 --> 00:18:23,014 Dugdale: Their families would be the least likely to report 383 00:18:23,058 --> 00:18:24,929 their kidnapping to law enforcement. 384 00:18:24,973 --> 00:18:29,717 As one would imagine, there's a deep level of mistrust 385 00:18:29,760 --> 00:18:33,503 in the Soviet Union between the citizenry and the government, 386 00:18:33,547 --> 00:18:35,549 and so if something happened to you, 387 00:18:35,592 --> 00:18:36,898 the government wouldn't be 388 00:18:36,941 --> 00:18:39,205 the first thought in your mind to run to 389 00:18:39,248 --> 00:18:40,858 to ask for help. 390 00:18:40,902 --> 00:18:42,338 Narrator: The kidnappers thought, 391 00:18:42,382 --> 00:18:44,514 incorrectly with some of the victims, 392 00:18:44,558 --> 00:18:47,909 that they all had access to large amounts of cash. 393 00:18:47,952 --> 00:18:49,345 Rita Pekler was targeted 394 00:18:49,389 --> 00:18:52,479 simply to lure her employers into the plot. 395 00:18:52,522 --> 00:18:55,830 The victims were all killed simply for money. 396 00:18:55,873 --> 00:18:59,225 More than one million dollars was ultimately paid out. 397 00:18:59,268 --> 00:19:01,052 Essentially this blood money 398 00:19:01,096 --> 00:19:04,752 was their income, their livelihood. 399 00:19:04,795 --> 00:19:07,189 And that money was then traced-- 400 00:19:07,233 --> 00:19:10,061 laboriously, painstakingly by the FBI 401 00:19:10,105 --> 00:19:13,108 and with the help of special agents from the IRS-- 402 00:19:13,152 --> 00:19:16,633 to the purchase of high-end luxury items 403 00:19:16,677 --> 00:19:20,202 such as payments on a Ferrari, 404 00:19:20,246 --> 00:19:21,899 the purchase of mink coats, 405 00:19:21,943 --> 00:19:25,033 the purchase of cars, the purchase of homes. 406 00:19:25,076 --> 00:19:28,384 Narrator: Prosecutors believe Alex Umansky met the same fate 407 00:19:28,428 --> 00:19:29,907 as the other victims. 408 00:19:29,951 --> 00:19:31,474 He was lured to his death 409 00:19:31,518 --> 00:19:34,390 on the pretense of a normal business meeting. 410 00:19:34,434 --> 00:19:37,219 Soon after he arrived and was subdued, 411 00:19:37,263 --> 00:19:39,221 he was kept alive just long enough 412 00:19:39,265 --> 00:19:42,659 to let his family members know he was in mortal danger. 413 00:19:42,703 --> 00:19:44,618 As soon as some of the money arrived, 414 00:19:44,661 --> 00:19:47,969 he was suffocated with a plastic bag and strangled. 415 00:19:48,012 --> 00:19:49,840 All the bodies were weighted down 416 00:19:49,884 --> 00:19:51,886 and thrown into the reservoir, 417 00:19:51,929 --> 00:19:54,976 the killers thinking the ransom money couldn't be traced 418 00:19:55,019 --> 00:19:57,283 and the bodies never found. 419 00:19:57,326 --> 00:19:59,241 But money leaves a trail... 420 00:19:59,285 --> 00:20:01,591 and, thanks to new technology, 421 00:20:01,635 --> 00:20:05,421 in this case, so did the victims' bodies. 422 00:20:05,465 --> 00:20:09,251 Ainar Altmanis received a sentence of 23 years. 423 00:20:09,295 --> 00:20:13,168 Co-conspirator Petro Krylov got life in prison. 424 00:20:13,212 --> 00:20:16,824 The Ringleaders, Iouri Mikhel and Jurijus Kadamovas, 425 00:20:16,867 --> 00:20:21,176 were found guilty of kidnapping and killing all five victims. 426 00:20:21,220 --> 00:20:24,527 Both men, convinced they'd get rich committing crimes 427 00:20:24,571 --> 00:20:27,138 that couldn't be traced, were sentenced to death. 428 00:20:27,182 --> 00:20:31,491 Those particular death verdicts were the first death verdicts 429 00:20:31,534 --> 00:20:33,710 that had been returned by a jury 430 00:20:33,754 --> 00:20:37,279 in the Central District of California at that time 431 00:20:37,323 --> 00:20:40,195 in over 50 years. 432 00:20:40,239 --> 00:20:42,110 Dugdale: It was critically important 433 00:20:42,153 --> 00:20:43,807 to be able to have that technology 434 00:20:43,851 --> 00:20:45,592 to recover those bodies. 435 00:20:45,635 --> 00:20:47,420 If, at the end of the day, we knew there were bodies 436 00:20:47,463 --> 00:20:50,161 down there but couldn't identify where they were, 437 00:20:50,205 --> 00:20:52,903 couldn't find them, couldn't recover them, 438 00:20:52,947 --> 00:20:55,341 that would have ultimately been very difficult 439 00:20:55,384 --> 00:20:57,212 for the victims' family members to handle, 440 00:20:57,256 --> 00:20:59,301 as well as difficult for our case 441 00:20:59,345 --> 00:21:02,348 and the evidence that we needed to present at our trial.