A Russian ballet teacher/choreographer being a cold-heart murderer?
Sounds a little strange but that was the case here in the mid 1990s in this beautiful city in Idaho. Yeah, don't kid yourself: those artsy folks can be real killers. Heck, anyone can, which is one of the points of "City Confidential."
This guy was a real nutcase, a refugee from Russia who told some whopping tales, like the time - supposedly - the KGB came to his house, kidnapped him, dumped him in a forest and leaving him for dead..... all for no reason. So, when he killed his wife here in America he had no problem making up stories. Sadly, to his dying day in prison in 2006, he never admitted his guilt. In the end, he said the Jehovah's Witnesses killed his wife because she married a guy (him) who wasn't of that faith! This guy had problems.
Unfortunately for him, all the evidence - all of it - pointed to nobody else but him. All the fingerprints on the duct tape, bags, vehicle, etc., that were used in transporting the dead body belonged to the accused: Ben Kuzimchev. His wife was named Wanda.
Outside of the family, nobody probably felt worse than the Simplot couple: Jack and Ester, perhaps the wealthiest people in town. Ester, a huge arts fund-raiser for the city, hired and promoted Ben and then, before the murder, had to fire him for incompetence. The Simplots never publicly commented on the Kuzmichov murder.
Credit dogged police work for bringing justice to this case. As the workers in the CSI programs state, "there's nothing like evidence." It also helped that while in jail waiting for the trial, Kuzimchev admitted to a cell-mate that he murdered his wife. He later, of course, said the "snitch" was a liar.
Kuzimchev died in jail a few years ago. He never admitted his guilt. The arts programs in Boise move on.
Sounds a little strange but that was the case here in the mid 1990s in this beautiful city in Idaho. Yeah, don't kid yourself: those artsy folks can be real killers. Heck, anyone can, which is one of the points of "City Confidential."
This guy was a real nutcase, a refugee from Russia who told some whopping tales, like the time - supposedly - the KGB came to his house, kidnapped him, dumped him in a forest and leaving him for dead..... all for no reason. So, when he killed his wife here in America he had no problem making up stories. Sadly, to his dying day in prison in 2006, he never admitted his guilt. In the end, he said the Jehovah's Witnesses killed his wife because she married a guy (him) who wasn't of that faith! This guy had problems.
Unfortunately for him, all the evidence - all of it - pointed to nobody else but him. All the fingerprints on the duct tape, bags, vehicle, etc., that were used in transporting the dead body belonged to the accused: Ben Kuzimchev. His wife was named Wanda.
Outside of the family, nobody probably felt worse than the Simplot couple: Jack and Ester, perhaps the wealthiest people in town. Ester, a huge arts fund-raiser for the city, hired and promoted Ben and then, before the murder, had to fire him for incompetence. The Simplots never publicly commented on the Kuzmichov murder.
Credit dogged police work for bringing justice to this case. As the workers in the CSI programs state, "there's nothing like evidence." It also helped that while in jail waiting for the trial, Kuzimchev admitted to a cell-mate that he murdered his wife. He later, of course, said the "snitch" was a liar.
Kuzimchev died in jail a few years ago. He never admitted his guilt. The arts programs in Boise move on.