The Exposer- Exposing Online Predators Who Prey on Vulnerable Adults- Expose Yours: EXPOSER@37.COM

Woman turns in fugitive lover
By CHRIS DOUCETTE

TORONTO, Canada - A five-year hunt for a man accused of killing a police informant in Phoenix ended in Toronto's west end this weekend thanks to a "courageous" young woman who turned in her boyfriend.

Mikhail Drachev, 24, who has been on the run since the "horrific" slaying of Konstantin Simberg in December 2001, was arrested by police Friday in the Rexdale apartment the pair had been sharing for more than five years.

"About a week ago, he decided to come clean and give her his real name because they were thinking about marriage," Staff-Sgt. Paul MacIntyre said yesterday. "She Googled his name and learned he was in fact on America's Most Wanted."

The fugitive's girlfriend, whose name was not released, was initially "conflicted," MacIntyre said. Although it took her a week to tell police, she eventually "did the right thing" and should be commended, he said.

"She was with this fellow for a long time, and obviously they were very close," MacIntyre said. "The fact that she came in to a (police) station and told us who he was, I think, showed tremendous courage on her behalf."

Drachev and two other men are accused of attacking Simberg, 21, while he was on the phone with a cop. He was stabbed in the back, doused with gas and set ablaze.

It's now believed Drachev fled Arizona to Ottawa, where the couple met. They moved here about five years ago.

Drachev must have known police were coming for him because when officers arrived at their apartment they found he had barricaded himself in by piling furniture against the door, MacIntyre said.

Police also found a climber's rope tied to the balcony.

Drachev remains in the custody of the Canada Border Services Agency and it's expected he will be turned over to U.S. authorities.

MacIntyre said he didn't know if the woman is standing by her man or walking away.

"If she wants to continue the relationship, I would guess she'll have to move down south," he said.

from Canoe.Ca