Schumer, family press Justice to extradite suspected killer

A Long Island family awaits justice in the slaying of Vladimir Tolstykh, whose accused killer today sits in an Australian jail awaiting extradition to Brooklyn where he faces murder and robbery charges.

Tolstykh was beaten to death and robbed of $32,000 when leaving his Brighton Beach store seven years ago. His widow Rita Tolstykh, of Woodmere, has been raising four children and continues to operate the family business, Brighton Bazaar, which is several doors from the garage where her husband was killed in 2009.

“All I ask is to get peace for my kids and my mother-in-law, who lost her only son. I only want peace and justice,” said Rita Tolstykh, who stood next to her 15-year-son, himself holding back tears as his mother spoke to reporters Monday at the Manhattan office of Sen. Chuck Schumer. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he wants to help the family get the federal government to move quickly on the extradition of Abakar Gadiyev.

“He was a hard working man,” Schumer said of Tolstykh. “He was a father running a successful business. He was the American dream.”

Holding a photograph of Tolstykh with his then weeks-old daughter, Schumer said, “She never knew her father. This is the family’s last picture.”

Schumer said he asked Attorney General Loretta Lynch to speed up the extradition case of Gadiyev at a recent Senate hearing.

A tipster reported to police more than two years ago that Gadiyev was participating in boxing competitions in Sydney, Australia. DNA from Gadiyev was matched to DNA found on the mask left at the murder scene.

A second accomplice Arsen Bashirov is in Turkmenistan, where government officials say he will be indicted, Schumer said.

Rita Tolstykh said she walks along the sidewalk that passes where her husband was killed everyday when she opens the family store. Her youngest daughter is 7 years old and does gymnastics. “Today I feel like I am not protected,” she said. “I am surrounded by alarms. My husband was a good husband and father . . . a good citizen.”

“This was coldblooded murder,” Schumer said, adding the family has been working with the NYPD and the district attorney in Brooklyn as a team. “The city and state have done their jobs to bring justice. The federal government has not.’’

Schumer said the U.S. has an extradition treaty with Australia and there “should not be a problem.”

“Attorney General Lynch knows the personal story and we don’t want this on the back burner any longer,” Schumer said. “We demand a speedy extradition.”

Lynch’s press office declined to comment on the case.