Published March 26 2015
SEATTLE -- The suspect in a 2013 slaying in Bellevue pleaded guilty Wednesday, March 25, to first-degree murder in King County Superior Court. Aleksandr Polak faces a recommended sentence of 25 years in prison. He will be sentenced on May 1 at 1 p.m. at the King County courthouse.
On June 17, 2013, Nataliya Vabishchevich was found stabbed to death in her Bellevue condo. Polak, a suspect in the case, fled the area shortly after his interview with detectives, and was followed to Los Angeles by numerous undercover Bellevue officers until criminal charges could be filed in Washington.
The three-state surveillance was a key factor in the successful resolution of this case. Other major factors included the efforts of numerous officers and detectives at and around the crime scene, the extensive work of the State Patrol Crime Lab forensic scientists and the expertise of the King County Medical Examiners Office.
Detective Jerry Johnson, the lead investigator in this case, stated: "The teamwork needed to successfully complete these types of investigations has always been outstanding in our organization, and I am grateful for that. I wish to give an additional thank you to detectives Steve Hoover, Jenny Robertson and Lt. Dave Sellers, along with Jessica Berliner of the King County Prosecutor's Office, for the special efforts they gave to the investigation."