Irina Malezhik, a 47-year-old federal court translator, disappeared from her Brooklyn apartment building in the autumn of 2007. Surveillance footage recorded her leaving the lobby of her Corbin Place building on October 15, wearing a dark jacket and carrying a makeup bag; that was the last confirmed sighting. Her absence went unreported until a friend raised concerns on November 8, and police found her personal belongings and identification still in the apartment.

The investigation uncovered apparent identity theft tied to a couple, Dmitriy and Julia Yakovlev: four checks bearing a forged signature were deposited into the Yakovlevs’ joint account the day after Irina was last seen, and a credit card obtained in her name was used to buy thousands of dollars of luxury goods, including matching watches. Irina had told others she feared a man she knew as Dmitriy. The Yakovlevs were later connected to other disappearances and a 2006 murder; investigators searching the Yakovlevs’ basement found items belonging to Viktor Alekseyev and a pair of underwear with Irina’s DNA. Dmitriy Yakovlev was charged in March 2010 with the murders of Irina Malezhik and Viktor Alekseyev; he was convicted and sentenced to thirty years and later died in prison. Irina’s body has never been found.

Did anyone who knew Irina or lived near Corbin Place in 2007 notice anything unusual in the weeks after October 15?