Prosecutors say ex-husband stabbed Bellevue woman 72 times

LOS ANGELES — Prosecutors said a 46-year-old man charged with the murder of his ex-wife in Bellevue stabbed her 72 times.

Bellevue police arrested Aleksandr Polak in Los Angeles Thursday with the help of U.S. Marshals and Los Angeles police.

He was charged with first-degree murder Friday.

Bellevue woman Nataliya Vabishchevich, 35, was found by her co-workers at the 10th Place NE Condos in Bellevue Monday.

She was on the floor of the entryway to her second floor condo.

Court documents said Vabishchevich had been stabbed 72 times in the head, neck, chest and arms.

Friends of Vabishchevich said she lived in fear of her ex-husband.

“She was afraid of her husband all the time. She’d always say, oh, he’s going to kill me,” said Andrey Babiyets who was friends with Vabishchevich for ten years.

Babiyets remembers, “Nataliya said if anything’s going to happen to me, make sure to tell police it’s him,”

Babiyets did talk to police, so did their other friends.

Vabishchevich and Polak have a 14-year-old son together.  Documents said the couple divorced in 2007 and a relative said Vabishchevich would not let Polak see his son.

Vabishchevich worked four days a week for six years at Pure Chiropractic in Bellevue.

Polak is being held in Los Angeles.  King County prosecutors have requested that no bail be allowed in the case, saying he is a major flight risk as he has citizenship in both the U.S. and the Republic of Latvia.

Documents said that within 24 hours of Vabishchevich’s murder, Polak purchased a bus ticket and began to make his way south of the border.

Detectives boarded that bus to San Diego too. When Polak got off the bus in Los Angeles, they arrested him.

Polak arrived in the U.S. on May 8.

Prosecutors say he waited until his 14-year-old son went to school on Monday, then murdered his ex-wife.

KIRO