Olha Abramova was a 60-year-old White woman whose life in Wasilla, Alaska, was cut short in the final hours of 2019. On New Year's Eve, December 31, she was found dead from a gunshot wound in an incident that authorities would later describe as an isolated domestic tragedy.
The investigation began around 4 a.m. that same morning when a man appeared at the Wasilla Police Department. The man, later identified as Denys Abramov, age 38, approached an officer who was in the back of the station with a K9 police dog. He ignored the officer's warning to stay back and advanced toward the building's back door. When officers confronted him, they saw he had his hands in his pockets and what appeared to be fresh blood on them.
Abramov, who had a "thousand-yard stare," ignored several commands to take his hands out of his pockets. When he finally complied, officers realized he was holding a .357 caliber Ruger handgun.
An "obvious language barrier" initially made communication difficult, but a police employee who spoke Russian and Ukrainian was able to translate via speakerphone.
Through the translator, an officer asked Abramov why he had come to the station with a gun at 4 a.m. He replied, “I shot my mom.” He confirmed that she was dead and then requested a lawyer. Based on the information he provided, police searched a neighborhood on Wasilla's north side, in the area of Bogard Road and Dellwood Avenue. Outside a local church, they discovered the body of Olha Abramova. She had died from a single gunshot wound to her chest.
Denys Abramov, confirmed to be Olha's son, was arrested. Investigators later found a Ruger gun case in the bedroom of the apartment the two shared. He was formally charged with second-degree murder as well as two weapons offenses: Misconduct Involving a Weapon in the 4th Degree and Misconduct Involving a Weapon in the 5th Degree.
As of January 2020, Denys Abramov was being held at the Mat-Su Pretrial Facility in Palmer. His bail was set at $150,000 cash as the case against him moved forward.
