Philadelphia woman may have been killed after argument over son's 2004 death while hiking in California
Philadelphia police are investigating a connection between a missing woman found wrapped in plastic and her son's fatal hiking trip in California 20 years ago.
Lola Karabaeva, 61, was found on Wednesday in the closet of a home on the 9000 block of Diplomat Place in the Bustleton section of Philadelphia.
Her husband, Vladimir Lushevskiy, was initially taken in custody on charges of abuse of a corpse but his charges were later upgraded Friday.
According to the Philadelphia DA's office, Lushevskiy now faces charges of homicide, strangulation, tampering with evidence and obstruction.
Police said investigators are examining whether Lushevskiy may have killed Karabaeva in an argument about their son's disappearance and death while hiking in California over 20 years ago.
Law enforcement sources said detectives are also looking into whether Lushevskiy killed Karabaeva on their late son's birthday, which was Oct. 12.
Karabaeva was last seen on Oct. 12.
Eugene Lushevskiy was 19 years old and taking a gap year after high school when he went hiking on Mount Baldy in Claremont, California, according to archived reports from CBS News Los Angeles.
Eugene never came down from the mountain. He was missing for several years with no trace except for a camcorder, found in his backpack, that showed views of snowcapped mountains and trees and talking to a ski lift operator about heading to a campsite.
The footage also showed Lushevskiy filming a campfire built overnight on the mountain.
Still, a body was not found until years later.
In 2010, teams from West Valley Search and Rescue were dropped onto the mountain summit by helicopter, a written report from the search and rescue teams of the San Bernadino County, California Sheriff's Office said. The teams spent an afternoon searching hazardous terrain for human remains and found several possible pieces of evidence.
The following year, evidence from that search was identified to be the remains of Lushevskiy, the report said.
