Accused Murderer Mikhail Chernyaev Allegedly Texted From Victim’s Phone To Cover Up Killing

A Brighton Beach man accused of killing his ex-girlfriend’s new beau and dumping his body upstate texted using the victim’s phone to cover up his death, prosecutors say.

Mikhail Chernyaev, 48, confessed to killing Charles Butler, 56, during a police interview in May 2013, after Butler took up with his ex-girlfriend, Anna Lioznov, 49, according to reports at the time. Butler’s body was found upstate in Port Jervis on October 15, but wasn’t identified for several months.

At trial this week, prosecutors said Chernyaev sent texts to the woman using the victim’s phone, breaking off the relationship so that Chernyaev could get back in bed with his former flame.

The New York Post reports:

Just forget about me,” Chernyaev texted Lioznov from the dead man’s phone, prosecutor Melissa Carvajal said in her opening statement.

When Lioznov texted back asking if they were still going to California together as planned, the killer texted her, “I just gotta get back to work. I’m going back to Florida,” Carvajal said.

Chernyaev and Lioznov resumed their relationship during the eight months between the body’s discovery and Chernyaev’s arrest.