Four charged in murder of Somerton woman

Officials believe they have solved the brutal slaying Lyudmila Burshteyn, a 57-year-old married mother of two, a Russian immigrant who lived in the Somerton section of Northeast Philadelphia and worked in real estate - and whose body was dumped in rural Burlington County.

They have charged four young men now in custody in South Carolina with her murder. But they also have a lot of questions, including when and where she was killed, and how did her life and that of the accused intersect with such tragic consequences?

It was not immediately clear when Burshteyn was last seen.

Burshteyn went missing Wednesday, after she failed to show up for a lunch date with a friend. At the time, her husband, Alex, 56, a construction contractor, and her son, Ruslan, 33, a defense contractor, were in Russia on separate business trips.

Philadelphia police spokesman Lt. Frank Vanore said Northeast Detectives got a report that Burshteyn was missing about 1:30 a.m. Thursday. The report was made by the friend she was supposed to meet for lunch.

By then, however, her body had already been found.

About 3 p.m. Wednesday, a motorist a narrow dirt road in Mansfield Township that leads through a wooded area to a field of crops spotted the body, investigators said.

Early Thursday morning, a police officer in Summerton, S.C., a small community just west of I-95 and between Charleston and Columbia, pulled over Burshteyn's 2009 Nissan Murano.

Inside, police found blood stains and three handguns, one of which might be the murder weapon, according to Joel Bewley of the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office, and arrested Marcus S. White, 18, of 7901 Henry Ave.; Damion D. Williams, 27, of 922 Mascher St.; Robby R. Willis, 26, of 5133 Marion St.; and a 17-year-old whose name authorities would not release because he is a juvenile.

Earlier today, the Burlington County Prosecutor's Office charged all four - who last night were in South Carolina awaiting extradition - with felony murder.

An 18-year-old woman and a 16-year-old girl from the Philadelphia area were also inside the victim's Nissan Murano, but they have not been charged in the killing, Bewley said.

Investigators were trying to piece together the circumstances surrounding the killing, Bewley said. It's not clear whether the suspects knew Burshteyn, or how she came into contact with her killers.

"That's one component that's still under investigation," Bewley said. "There's a lot of them."

Late this afternoon at the Burshteyn's brick twin on the 400 block of Larkspur Street, her family expressed contempt for her killers.

"She loved her children and her family," Ruslan said. Ruslan, who returned from Russia today.

Then he expressed disgust that "Earth holds a place for people who hurt my mom."

"We're all trying to be strong," said Burshteyn's daughter, Marina, 27. "She'll be missed by many."

Her children said she had a real-estate management business and enjoyed gardening.

"That was her biggest hobby," Marina said.

The family immigrated to the United States 13 years ago, Ruslan said, and initially lived in Los Angeles, before relocating to Philadelphia 61/2 years ago.

According to Philadelphia court records, one of the suspects, White, had recently been released from jail after spending three months in custody in lieu of $25,000 bail on assault and robbery charges.

On April 21, White and four others allegedly accosted a man - White allegedly struck him with a 2-by-4 - and robbed him of $15 and a cell phone.

Court records say the charges against White and his four alleged accomplices were withdrawn by the assistant district attorney at a preliminary hearing on July 13 and White was released from custody.

Harry Calvin Wade III, the court-appointed lawyer who represented White in the hearing, said that he was only retained for that case and had not been in contact with White.

"I didn't even know he was arrested," Wade said.

The court records do not indicated why the charges were withdrawn, but in Philadelphia this often occurs when the victim decides not to cooperate with the prosecutor, decides not to press charges, or simply fails to appear for the hearing.

Neither Williams nor Willis appears to have any adult arrests or convictions, according to state court records.

Some members of the group stopped in South Carolina still face charges for additional offenses noticed when the Nissan Murano was stopped, police said, including open-container violations. Everyone except the 16-year-old is expected to be charged with weapons offenses and with being in possession of a stolen vehicle.