Jurijus Kadamovas and the New Melones Reservoir Murders
A Kidnapping Conspiracy Built Around Ransom and Murder
Jurijus Kadamovas was a Lithuanian-born criminal who became one of the central figures in a calculated series of kidnappings and murders committed in California between October 2001 and January 2002. Working closely with Russian-born Iouri Mikhel and several accomplices, Kadamovas targeted people they believed had access to significant amounts of money. The victims were lured into homes or businesses through false offers involving real estate, automobile work, social meetings or business opportunities. Once the victims arrived, they were restrained, questioned about their finances and forced to help the kidnappers obtain money from relatives or business associates.
The conspiracy was not simply an effort to collect ransom. Evidence presented in federal court showed that Kadamovas and Mikhel intended to kill their captives whether or not the demanded money was paid. The victims were held in Kadamovas’s Sherman Oaks residence or at locations connected to the group, where they were handcuffed, bound with plastic restraints and threatened with firearms. Some were drugged with an antihistamine known as Dimedrol before being suffocated or strangled. Their bodies were weighted and transported approximately 300 miles north to New Melones Reservoir, where they were thrown from bridges into deep water.
The Murder of Meyer Muscatel
The first known victim was Meyer Muscatel, a 58-year-old real-estate developer and homebuilder from the Los Angeles area. In October 2001, Mikhel approached Muscatel while pretending to be a businessman interested in purchasing property. Muscatel agreed to accompany him to what he believed was a property connected to a potential transaction. The destination was actually Mikhel’s Encino home, where Kadamovas and accomplice Ainar Altmanis were waiting.
Muscatel was seized as soon as he entered. His legs were secured with plastic ties, his hands were cuffed behind his back and his eyes were covered with duct tape. Mikhel struck him in the head with a pistol while Kadamovas and the others searched his wallet and questioned him about his money. The kidnappers attempted to withdraw funds from his bank account, but the bank froze the account before they could obtain the money.
After deciding Muscatel was no longer financially useful, the men injected him with Dimedrol. He was held against the floor while a plastic bag was placed over his head and his nose was pinched closed. After suffocating him, Kadamovas and Mikhel loaded his body into Kadamovas’s van and drove to New Melones Reservoir. While carrying the body toward the edge of Parrotts Ferry Bridge, they dropped it against a curb and left bloodstains behind. Muscatel’s weighted and bound body was then thrown into the reservoir. It was found floating near the bridge on October 18, 2001, with his hands tied and a plastic bag around his head.
Rita Pekler Used as Bait
In December 2001, Kadamovas and Mikhel turned their attention to wealthy businessman George Safiev. They decided to reach him through Rita Pekler, a 39-year-old accountant and financial adviser who knew Safiev. Kadamovas contacted Pekler and pretended that he needed assistance with a real-estate transaction. She was persuaded to drive him to a property that was actually Kadamovas’s Sherman Oaks home.
Mikhel, Altmanis and Petro Krylov were waiting inside. Pekler was restrained and ordered to contact Safiev and convince him to come to the house. She told her captors that she was pregnant and expressed fear that the drugs or alcohol they threatened to give her could harm her unborn child. Safiev was unavailable and soon left the country, destroying the kidnappers’ immediate plan to capture him through Pekler.
Rather than release her, Kadamovas and Mikhel decided that she had become a liability. Pekler was injected with Dimedrol and strangled. Her body was transported to New Melones Reservoir and thrown from Parrotts Ferry Bridge. She had disappeared in December 2001, and her remains were recovered from the reservoir during the FBI search in March 2002.
The Ransom Abduction of Alexander Umansky
Later in December 2001, the group kidnapped 35-year-old Alexander Umansky, the owner of an automobile electronics business. Krylov, who had previously worked for Umansky, suggested him as a target. Mikhel posed as a customer interested in having audio equipment installed in several vehicles and arranged for Umansky to meet him. On December 13, 2001, Umansky left his business believing he was going to demonstrate or inspect automobile equipment.
Mikhel directed him to Kadamovas’s home, where Kadamovas, Altmanis and Krylov were waiting. Umansky was forced into a chair, handcuffed and bound with plastic ties. The kidnappers took his telephone, wallet and keys before questioning him about his assets. Mikhel and Altmanis later used his debit card at an automated teller machine, where surveillance cameras recorded them.
Umansky was held captive for three days and forced to telephone his brother to beg for ransom money. His family received demands totaling approximately $235,000. After contacting the FBI, the family initially transferred part of the demanded amount in the hope that keeping negotiations active would preserve Umansky’s life. When the kidnappers threatened additional family members, the remainder was sent through accounts connected to an international money-laundering operation.
Payment did not save Umansky. Plastic was forced into or over his mouth, duct tape was wrapped around him and a bag was placed over his head. Kadamovas held him down while Mikhel and Altmanis eventually strangled him with a rope. A weight plate was tied to his body, which remained inside Kadamovas’s van while members of the group stopped at Mikhel’s home and ate dinner. They later drove to New Melones Reservoir and threw Umansky from Parrotts Ferry Bridge. His remains were recovered in March 2002.
The Final Double Kidnapping
In January 2002, George Safiev returned to Los Angeles. Kadamovas and Mikhel devised another plan to capture him, this time using his friend and business associate Nick Kharabadze. Kadamovas’s girlfriend, Natalya Solovyeva, contacted Kharabadze and invited him to what she described as a private club. The meeting place was actually Designed Water World, an aquarium business operated by Kadamovas and Mikhel on Ventura Boulevard.
When 29-year-old Kharabadze arrived, members of the group closed the door behind him. Mikhel handcuffed him to a chair and took his keys, wallet and telephone. Under threat, Kharabadze was ordered to call Safiev and persuade him to come to the business. When Safiev arrived, he was surrounded, restrained and robbed of his personal belongings.
Kharabadze and Safiev were transported to Kadamovas’s house and imprisoned for four days. Safiev was forced to call business associate Konstantinos Tezhik and plead for a transfer of $940,000 into a foreign bank account. Kadamovas recorded Safiev’s voice so the recordings could potentially be used to demand additional payments after Safiev was dead. According to testimony, Kadamovas discussed continuing the kidnappings until he had accumulated $50 million, even if the reservoir eventually became filled with bodies.
After confirmation that the $940,000 had arrived, the captives were given vodka and driven to New Melones Reservoir in separate vehicles. Kharabadze and Safiev were suffocated or strangled with plastic bags and tightening restraints. Weights were attached to their bodies before they were thrown into the water. Both men had vanished in January 2002, and their remains were recovered during the reservoir search in March of that year.
Known Victims
- Meyer Muscatel, 58: A Los Angeles-area real-estate developer who was kidnapped and murdered in October 2001. His body was found near Parrotts Ferry Bridge at New Melones Reservoir on October 18, 2001.
- Rita Pekler, 39: An accountant and financial adviser abducted from the Los Angeles area in December 2001 after being used in an unsuccessful attempt to lure George Safiev. She was killed at Kadamovas’s Sherman Oaks home, and her remains were recovered from New Melones Reservoir in March 2002.
- Alexander Umansky, 35: An automobile electronics business owner kidnapped from the Los Angeles area on December 13, 2001. His family paid approximately $235,000, but he was strangled and dumped into New Melones Reservoir. His remains were recovered in March 2002.
- Nick Kharabadze, 29: A Woodland Hills resident and film-industry sound professional who was kidnapped in January 2002 at Designed Water World in the San Fernando Valley. He was used to lure George Safiev, held for four days and murdered at New Melones Reservoir.
- George Safiev, 37: A Beverly Hills businessman kidnapped in January 2002 after being summoned by Kharabadze. His associates transferred $940,000 while he was held at Kadamovas’s home. He was murdered and dumped into New Melones Reservoir, where his remains were recovered in March 2002.
The Investigation and Discovery of the Bodies
The investigation began to expand after Muscatel’s body was found in October 2001 and Umansky’s family contacted the FBI concerning the ransom demands. Agents followed international money transfers, telephone records, automated teller machine transactions and the movements of the suspects. An accomplice, Ainar Altmanis, eventually began cooperating with investigators and provided information that helped authorities locate the remaining victims.
In March 2002, an extensive underwater search was conducted at New Melones Reservoir. Divers and a remotely operated submersible searched water more than 200 feet deep beneath bridges used by the killers. The bodies of Umansky, Safiev, Kharabadze and Pekler were recovered over several days. Cellphone information placed Kadamovas and Mikhel along the route toward the reservoir during critical periods, while blood evidence at Parrotts Ferry Bridge was consistent with the account of Muscatel’s body being dropped against the curb.
Searches of the suspects’ properties uncovered weapons, ransom material and other physical evidence. Investigators also traced ransom funds that had been moved through foreign accounts before reaching accounts controlled by Kadamovas, Mikhel or their aquarium business. The kidnappers had demanded more than $5 million and successfully collected more than $1 million.
Conviction, Death Sentence and Commutation
Kadamovas and Mikhel were tried in federal court because the prosecution relied on the federal Hostage Taking Act, which permits severe punishment when a hostage-taking results in death. Their trial lasted approximately five months and included testimony from cooperating conspirators, relatives of the victims, financial investigators and law-enforcement officers. The evidence described a deliberate system in which affluent victims were identified, deceived, restrained, exploited for ransom and then murdered to prevent them from identifying their captors.
On January 17, 2007, a federal jury found Kadamovas and Mikhel guilty of the charges against them, including hostage taking resulting in death, conspiracy and money laundering. The jury later recommended capital punishment. On March 12, 2007, both men were formally sentenced to death and ordered to forfeit more than $1 million connected to the ransom scheme.
Several accomplices also received federal prison sentences. Petro Krylov was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment without parole. Altmanis pleaded guilty, cooperated with prosecutors and received a lengthy prison term. Solovyeva and Aleksejus Markovskis also pleaded guilty for their roles in luring, guarding or assisting with the hostages.
The United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the convictions and death sentences in 2018, concluding that the evidence against Kadamovas and Mikhel was overwhelming. On December 23, 2024, President Joe Biden commuted their federal death sentences to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. Kadamovas therefore remains permanently imprisoned for his leadership role in a kidnapping enterprise that collected large ransom payments while leaving five victims at the bottom of a California reservoir.
