Police Find Body of Kidnapped American

COX NEWS SERVICEA four-month search for an American businessman, believed kidnapped by St. Petersburg gangsters, ended Wednesday when police identified his corpse found in the woods near the city. The victim was named by St. Petersburg police as Mark Aulov, 31, of New York City. A police spokesman said the slain American had been the St. Petersburg representative of Biont Corp., adding that his work involved "delivery of goods to Russia and dealing with real estate.""He was kidnapped for the purpose of extortion," said Fiarit Safin, the police spokesman. He added: "At present, the killer has not been found. The investigation is continuing." There have been no arrests.Police are inquiring into whether Aulov perhaps unknowingly got caught up in a business deal with one of St. Petersburg's crime syndicates that have grown rich on shady commerce through the port city. Records showed the Russian-speaking Aulov was born in the former Soviet republic Kyrgyzstan, on the Chinese border, and later moved to the United States and obtained U.S. citizenship. An official of the U.S. Consulate in St. Petersburg said Aulov's family in the United States has been notified of the death.Aulov was kidnapped March 2 but the case was kept secret at the insistence of the man's family, a source close to the case said. It was unclear whether the family received a specific extortion demand, and if so, whether any ransom was paid. Russian police recovered a body from a forest near the village of Toksovo, 24 kilometers north of St. Petersburg, on March 21, but the search for Aulov continued.Russian forensic tests established only in the last few days that it was the missing Aulov. Police refused to specify how the American died.Investigators said the victim was lured out of his St. Petersburg office by unidentified Russian business acquaintances."As far as we can tell, he initially left voluntarily with the people who took him," said one source familiar with the case. "But then it turned into a kidnapping en route."The victim's driver has told police that he followed for some distance in a second automobile. He had expected to drive the American home after what he believed to be a routine business encounter.But some minutes later, according to Aulov's driver, the car carrying the American suddenly stopped and some Russian toughs jumped out. The driver said the Russians threatened him with firearms and told him to "get lost." He turned back, and the American was not seen alive after that.Investigators said the driver waited for his boss to return, then reported his disappearance to St. Petersburg authorities.Diplomats from the U.S. Consulate in St. Petersburg joined the inquiry after being notified by police. Consular officers were called to the city morgue several times to check unidentified corpses before the American was found.St. Petersburg recorded a murder rate of 18 per 100,000 population, far lower than many American cities. However, there is widespread agreement that the city, which will hold the Goodwill Games next month, is experiencing a rise in crime in the post-Soviet turmoil.