Police are working to unravel the mystery of an apparent murder-suicide involving a gorgeous Russian model and one of her boyfriends – found naked in bed yesterday in her posh apartment.
Elena Drill, a 27-year- old model and researcher for the investment firm Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, and the man had been dead for several days, cops said.
The man was identified by a police source early today as Thomas Jorha, 43, who lived in a luxury building at 10 East End Ave.
The source described him as “an Albanian con man,” but did not give details.
He said the two had known each other about a month.
Police were called by a neighbor who complained about the smell. When they got to the scene, cops found the two naked bodies – in the early stages of decomposition – in bed.
Drill’s 20th-floor luxury apartment was littered with vodka bottles – the remains, neighbors said, of her frequent all-night drinking sessions.
Jorha was found lying on top of the woman – a snub-nose .38 in his hand and a bullet hole in his head.
Drill had been shot twice, cops said, apparently by the boyfriend.
Neighbors at the posh West 56th Street building named the Symphony provided cops with only more mysteries.
Friends said she also had a Belgian boyfriend who had been dating Drill for six months and frequently flew in from Europe to see her.
“They were great boozers,” said one neighbor. “And they had loud, violent fights.”
But another friend in the building said the Belgian suitor always spoke of wanting to marry Drill.
“He told me how much he loved her and how he wanted to take her back to Belgium with him,” the friend said.
“He wanted to settle down, but she didn’t want to.”
The friend said that the statuesque, buxom Drill was a successful model in her native Russia, appearing on magazine covers and in TV commercials.
She moved to the United States several years ago and continued modeling. In June 1998 she landed a job as a research assistant in the investment-banking department of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter.
“We’re shocked and saddened by the news of her death,” said company spokeswoman Jeanmarie McFadden.
Another neighbor said she often found Drill sunbathing on the rooftop deck of the luxury building, reading books on investment banking.
“She was a really nice, sweet girl,” the neighbor said. “She was always studying.”