On February 11, 2011, the calm of Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn, New York, was shattered when Anna Bulchenko, a 56-year-old woman, was found brutally stabbed inside her home. Police said the violence arrived in the form of Maksim Gelman, a Brooklyn man who, that morning, had already slipped into a frenzy that would stretch across the city and leave multiple families ruined.
Investigators said Gelman’s rampage began just after dawn with a family argument over the use of his mother’s car. The confrontation escalated in their apartment, and police said Gelman killed his stepfather before taking the Lexus and driving to the home of a young woman he knew, Yelena Bulchenko. Around mid-morning, authorities said he entered the Bulchenko residence and fatally stabbed Anna with a kitchen knife, leaving her where she fell.
What happened next carried a chilling patience. Police said Gelman remained at the home for hours, waiting. When Yelena returned later in the day, authorities said she discovered her mother dead in a pool of blood and called 911—only to be forced into a desperate flight as Gelman came after her. Investigators said he chased her outside and stabbed her to death, and friends later described a terrifying pattern of fixation rather than a real relationship, saying he had obsessed over her and frightened her with persistent attention.
From there, the case unfolded like a nightmare spilling from one block to the next. Police said Gelman fled, rear-ended another vehicle, stabbed the driver when confronted, and then stole the wounded man’s car. Authorities said he went on to fatally strike a pedestrian, attacked additional victims during further confrontations and carjackings, and eventually turned up in Manhattan, where passengers recognized him from photos and alerted police. After another attack on a subway rider, officers subdued him at the Times Square subway station; police later reported recovering a bloody knife and additional blades, and Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Gelman’s statements included the chilling remark that “she had to die,” though it wasn’t clear whom he meant.
In the days after Anna Bulchenko’s death, Gelman was held without bail as prosecutors moved forward. Reporting at the time said he faced multiple serious counts, including murder and related violent felonies, and he publicly complained that he had been “set up.” Months later, the case reached a turning point when he unexpectedly pleaded guilty to the 13-count indictment, with no plea deal offered; his lawyer described his mental state as fragile and said medical and psychiatric issues had been closely watched in custody. At sentencing, Gelman received a 200-year prison term in Brooklyn for the spree’s killings and associated crimes, with additional punishment anticipated for the subway attack that capped the manhunt.
As the court record hardened into dates and counts, the human loss remained raw. At a Brooklyn funeral service, friends and neighbors remembered Anna as vibrant and full of warmth, a woman whose presence could brighten a room even after only a brief acquaintance. Investigators also pointed to signs of Gelman’s fixation in the neighborhood—describing a graffiti “shrine” connected to Yelena under the Long Island Rail Road tracks—details that, for mourners, only deepened the sense that Anna’s death was the cruel collateral of an obsession that turned into slaughter.
