A Bustleton woman’s body was found wrapped in plastic and hidden in her closet behind a fake wall, police say

A missing 61-year-old woman from Northeast Philadelphia was found dead this week — her body concealed behind a fake wall inside her own home, according to police.

Lola Karabaeva, of the 9000 block of Diplomat Place in Bustleton, was found by officers Wednesday morning behind a piece of wood inside a coat closet and wrapped in trash bags, according to sources familiar with the case who asked for anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.

Deputy Commissioner Frank Vanore said police were awaiting Karabaeva’s cause of death as detectives continued gathering evidence to learn what may have happened to her.

Still, Karabaeva’s husband, Vladimir Lushevskiy, 65, was taken into custody in New Jersey on Wednesday, hours after police found Karabaeva’s body, and sources said he was expected to face charges including abuse of a corpse.

Vanore said detectives were also investigating the possibility that Lushevskiy killed his wife because of an argument over their son’s death in California nearly 20 years ago.

In that episode, in 2004, 19-year-old Evgeniy Lushevskiy went missing while on vacation with his parents after going hiking by himself near Mount Baldy. His backpack was found near the summit shortly after his disappearance, but it took six years for authorities to find and then identify his remains.

Sources familiar with Karabaeva’s death said this week her husband may have come to believe that she was responsible for the incident in some fashion, although it was not clear how or why.

Officers initially responded to Karabaeva’s home a little after midnight Sunday morning following a missing-person report. Officers with the 7th District interviewed a friend who said Karabaeva had stopped responding to phone calls or texts shortly after returning from a monthlong vacation, sources said. On Monday, police published a request for the public’s assistance in locating the woman.

Investigators with Northeast Detectives searched the residence but reported no findings. Later, they returned with a crime scene unit but again failed to locate Karabaeva. On a third visit, sources said, a dark stain near a foyer closet, believed to be dried blood, led police to remove a wooden board in the rear of the closet.

There, they found Karabaeva’s body, which had had been wrapped in black trash bags sealed with duct tape and tied with rope to the board, which was meant to appear as a false closet wall.

Lushevskiy was not at the home, but police found him across the Delaware River in New Jersey at a Red Carpet Inn, where he was taken into custody. He had not been extradited to Philadelphia as of Thursday morning.

Police are still gathering evidence, Vanore said, including video from nearby households.