NEW footage has revealed the chilling last moments of a Florida father who was stabbed and strangled to death before his body was dumped in a New York river by his new girlfriend’s jealous ex.
Charles Butler, 56, disappeared from his girlfriend’s Brooklyn apartment in September 2012 never to be seen alive again.
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His story is due to be featured in the new documentary series, Final Moments, which airs on Oxygen on Sunday at 7pm ET.
In an exclusive clip obtained by The Sun, the father-of-three is seen beaming in a self-recorded video giving his family a tour of his “new hood” on the streets of New York just days before his gruesome death.
Butler, who ran a successful business back in the Sunshine State, would frequently visit the Big Apple to spend time with his daughter who was living in Manhattan’s Upper East Side neighborhood at the time.
During one such trip in 2012, he met Anna Lioznov and the pair quickly started dating, discussing plans to move in together and get married in the near future – but there would be no exchanging of vows.
FINAL MOVEMENTS
On September 18, 2012, Butler had been staying overnight at Lioznov’s apartment where she was seen leaving the premises at 7.40am the following morning.
Just four minutes later, a car belonging to her ex-husband, Mikhail Chernyaev, was caught on surveillance tape pulling into the garage.
Butler was never seen alive again after that moment.
Later that day, Butler’s daughter received a strange text in broken English from her father’s number.
Lioznov also received a text from Butler’s phone, containing a brief and bizarre break-up message which read: “Forget about me. I’m going back to Florida.”
Butler’s children told Oxygen they immediately knew something was wrong with their father and contacted the NYPD.
However, because there were no signs of foul play, the investigation was for weeks treated as a missing persons case.
That would change when a decomposed body was found by a fisherman in a remote area outside Port Jervis, NY.
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BODY ‘THROWN OFF CLIFF’
Using a sketch constructed from the skeleton, a single useable fingertip print and DNA analysis, the body was positively identified as Butler’s in May 2013.
Police were able to determine that he’d been stabbed multiple times, suffocated, and strangled before being thrown off a cliff.
By this time, Chernyaev was back together with Lioznov having swooped in to comfort her – and sleep with her – the night after Butler’s untimely disappearance.
He was taken into custody and initially gave investigators a false alibi and said Butler’s death was caused by an accidental fall. He later conceded to killing his love-rival but claimed to have done so in self-defense.
During his trial, prosecutors said that Butler was killed inside Lioznov’s apartment after Chernyaev found him sleeping in his ex-wife’s bed.
Driven by jealousy, he stabbed Butler in the back and strangled him to death. He then drove 90 miles to Port Jervis and dumped Butler’s body in the Delaware River.
For his part, he denied having anything to do with the killing, telling the court that he had been “framed” by police, and was “sympathizing for the whole family.”
“Now I know police liars,” he said. “It seems impossible, I know, but I had nothing to do with the crime. As a Russian, I am seen as an enemy of the American people.”
The court was unmoved by Chernyaev’s protestations of innocence and he was found guilty of Butler’s murder.
Final Moments, which is executive produced by Dick Wolf, premiers Sunday on Sunday, April 3rd at 7pm ET/PT with two back-to-back episodes on Oxygen.
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