Photo: Evergreen Meadows Memorial Cemetery | October 18, 2014
By trade, he was a merchant. Not of exotic spices and fine silks, but of iPhones and motorcycles. My brother once came up with that term for lack of better explanation of what he does exactly. It suits.
He recently asked me what the cumbersome thing leaning against the wall of my apartment was. It was a stowaway bed. I bought it for temporary use, used it for a week, and now I had no idea what do with it. Just sell it, he said as if I knew how or where to sell such an odd commodity. Within the few moments that it took for me to prepare his tea, he snapped a picture, posted it and within a few days the thing sold— double what I paid for it. He had a knack for that sort of thing.
There were various rumors circulating about how his tragedy transpired, but after investigation, this is how the theory goes:
He had a brand new, sold-out everywhere, unlocked, iPhone 6 Plus + 64GB listed for $1300. A potential buyer scheduled to meet him at a park on Saturday night. Gena, being the fearless sort, did not question the strange location and drove to Mount Talbert Park. The entrance was gated and closed at this late hour, so he parked in the area before the gate and at 9:55pm pm on Saturday, October 11, 2014 he texted the person confirming his location.
By 10:15 pm the accident occurred. In the twenty minutes between his last text and the accident, a lot took place. It appears that the person, with whom he met, pulled him by the collar and knifed him twice in the chest. The cuts were not deep enough to kill him yet produced blood. He was very strong in many ways, but when it came to the sight of his own blood, even the bleeding of a small wound caused Gena to grow faint.
A Kaiser Permanente Hospital is located about four miles away. Gena was well acquainted with the area and sped wildly through back-roads to get help. Witnesses confirm that he drove very fast and barely stopped at the stop lights along his route, he even went against traffic near the entrance.
Upon entering the hospital, a turn divides the road with a cement barrier leading toward the Emergency Room parking lot. It was raining, it was dark and Gena was speeding— through his eyes everything was a blur. When entering this part of Kaiser’s parking, even on a clear day, it seems as if the parking lot may be reached by driving straight when looking slightly above the barrier and with all the obstacles of the moment he either did not have time to make the turn or overlooked it entirely and crashed into the cement divider. He was not buckled.
A few doctors were out on break, saw it happen and rushed to him directly. They spent two hours trying to revive him, but the impact of the air bag on his unbuckled body, the crash and his previous cuts were too much. His aorta was punctured and the loss of blood could not be stopped. And thus he died— rushing to save his life.
After further investigation of tread marks, previous conversations and the reports of eye witnesses, this is the account of the tragic death of Genadiy Y. Kondratyuk.
The suspect was not identified and the case is closed.
THANK YOU:
For all the generous memorial contributions: Memorial Fundraiser.
To his close friends, especially Nick and Dmitry Kuzmenko, for the investigative efforts.
And to every single person who paid their final respects.
A recording of the memorial service, held on October 17th 2014, may be viewed at: Memorial Service.
Read it in Russian — for Тая Омелченко’s translation please go to: slavicfamily.org
.
