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No bail for man charged in deaths of Medford couple found murdered in Boston storage unit

SOMERVILLE, Mass. — The man charged in connection with the deaths of two married Medford men who were found fatally stabbed in a storage unit in Boston has been ordered held without bail.

Leonid Volkov, 37, of Medford, was arraigned Tuesday in Somerville District Court on a charge of murder and larceny from a building in the deaths of Pavel Vekshin, 28, and Kiryl Schukin, 37, both also of Medford.

Volkov appeared before a judge wearing a gray “Jurassic Park” shirt. A not-guilty plea was entered on his behalf.

Vekshin and Schukin were last seen at the end of March and were reported missing by friends and coworkers on Sunday, April 9, Prosecutor Ceara Mahoney told the court. Their bodies were found in rubber bins inside a unit at the iStorage facility on North Beacon Street in Boston’s Brighton section last week.

Schukin’s body had been dismembered and investigators found portions of his body scattered inside three storage bins, according to Mahoney. Both of the victims are said to have suffered numerous sharp force injuries.

Paperwork and personal items belonging to the victims were also found in the storage unit, in addition to trash bags, gloves, cleaning products, a blood-stained shower curtain and rug, bloody rags, and dismemberment tools, Mahoney said.

Investigators believe Volkov used the name of one of the victims to rent the storage unit.

“My understanding is they were friends,” said Defense Attorney Debra DeWitt. “They’d known each other for a period of time.”

Prosecutors suggest that friendship went sour over the issue of a lease. Mahoney, the prosecutor, said for the past year, Schukin served as a guarantor of Volkov’s lease for an apartment in Medford. That made him responsible for rent payments if Volkov defaulted.

Apparently, he did.

“Mr. Schukin had recently learned that Mr. Volkov was in arrears on his rent payments,” Mahoney said.

Because of that, Schukin informed Volkov he would no longer act as guarantor. Mahoney said the lease expired last month and eviction proceedings had begun for the Volkov family, which includes his wife and their two children.

Schukin was seen conversing with Volkov inside the cab of a rented U-Haul truck on March 29, days before he was reported missing, investigators said.

“The defendant admitted that he picked up Mr. Schukin in his U-Haul and drove Mr. Schukin to the area near his apartment,” Mahoney said. The ostensible reason for that meeting: to discuss the lease. Volkov claims he brought Schukin back to his Locust Street apartment later that night.

That was on March 29th -- the last time Schukin was seen alive.

After Vekshin and Schukin were reported missing, Volkov was allegedly seen on surveillance video in and around Schukin’s apartment.

“However, Mr. Schukin was not captured on surveillance re-entering the building that evening or thereafter,” Mahoney said.

But surveillance did pick up the U-Haul van that night -- and on several occasions afterwards. It also captured a person dressed in black entering and re-entering the victims’ Locust Street apartment -- and carrying out items such as clothing, garbage bags and a pair of electric scooters.

Investigators believe Volkov was using the truck to transport items from the victims’ apartment to the storage facility.

“Credit card records for the victims showed numerous purchases made at businesses throughout eastern Massachusetts in the time frame the victims were missing and believed to be deceased,” said Mahoney. Receipts from those purchased were said to be found in the storage unit.

At some of those locations the same U-Haul van was spotted, as well, she said.

DeWitt said much of the state’s evidence is circumstantial.

“Would it surprise someone that they did know each other and they were friends and that he was in and out of the apartment,” she said. “I think we all go in and out of our friends’ apartments on a regular basis so that doesn’t surprise me at all.”

Volkov was arrested without incident in North Attleboro on Saturday.

The deaths of Vekshin and Schukin remain under investigation, and prosecutors say additional charges are forthcoming.

Volkov is due back in court on May 19.

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