Father of woman found dead in trash chute says she was targeted by a hitman
Wrongful death case alleges that Lara Prychodko’s estranged husband was ‘financially motivated’ to pay for her death
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Your support makes all the difference.The father of a woman found dead at the bottom of a trash chute in Manhattan has claimed that a hitman targeted her.
In a wrongful death claim filed with Manhattan‘s supreme court on Tuesday, Nicholas Prychodko wrote that a hitman was sent to strangle his daughter, Lara Prychodko, in July 2018.
The 48-year-old’s body was found at the bottom of a trash chute belonging to a New York City apartment block where she lived, and a medical examiner afterwards ruled that the death was as an accident, with no signs of foul play, NBC News reported.
The findings have long been disputed by Prychodko’s father who alleged on Tuesday that her estranged husband was behind a hitman that carried-out the death.
The lawsuit claims that Prychodko’s estranged husband David Schlachet hired a hitman to “strangle” her, and dispose of the body in the trash suit of the apartment block.
It said Mr Schlachet was “financially motivated” and that they were both involved in an “acrimonious” divorce worth several million dollars in financial assets.
Mr Schlachet, the lawsuit, adds, had a construction firm that went bankrupt two years before Prychodko’s death. According to the Post, no criminal charges have ever been brought against him in connection to his former wide’s death.
The lawsuit seeks damages “in an amount to be determined at trial” and the disqualification of Mr Schlachet as a beneficiary of Prychodko’s estate, the Post reported.
Mr Prychodko said to NBC in 2019 that he “very quickly became convinced that there was only one plausible explanation for what took place. And that’s homicide,” following a ruling by Dr Michael Baden, a former medical examiner.
Dr Baden’s report in July 2019 suggested that Prychodko “may have died because of homicidal ligature strangulation and was then placed in the garbage chute,” following a review of autopsy notes, lab tests, photos and x-rays.
The report also stated that the strangulation “may also explain why there was little bleeding from the lacerated viscera and torn blood vessels noted at autopsy.”
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