Tattoo artist Drexyll Tolstoy’s missing belongings mystery and strange Venmo activity as mom snubs ‘incompetent’ cops
THE discovery of a missing tattoo artist’s body has prompted more questions than answers as authorities are dubbed “incompetent police officers”.
Drexyll Tolstoy, 26, was reported to have disappeared without a trace last year and an urgent search has been launched – but his remains were found just steps from where he worked this week.
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“How was he found right there? He was there all the time,” his mother Kellie Tolstoy said.
“He’s been there for six months.”
Police reportedly told Tolstoy that their son was found behind the 17-story commercial building that houses the tattoo shop where Drexyll worked.
“It shouldn’t take six months to find someone hundreds of yards from their disappearance,” Tolstoy wrote in an update on the family’s GoFundMe page, which had raised money to help cover the cost of the search.
The mother also claimed that the New York City Police Department missed important information during the investigation, going so far as to call the officers “incompetent.”
“The NYPD is appallingly incompetent and incredibly rude,” she wrote.
Police and family members had been searching for months without doing much since Tolstoy was spotted leaving his workplace on security camera footage on September 25, The Daily Beast reported.
The tattoo artist was officially reported missing the following day.
Tolstoy said an NYPD captain told her a body found just before noon Monday was her son, but the cause of death has yet to be determined by the coroner.
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS
The mother said she asked police several questions about her son’s death and claims a captain told her: “Why are you asking all these questions? You know it won’t bring your son back.”
She claims the captain also asked her not to call again.
According to Tolstoy, suspicious activity was found in a Venmo app owned by Drexyll.
The account was allegedly emptied on March 7th.
She also asked where the phone, hooded sweatshirt and groceries her son was seen carrying on surveillance video were found.
“We want to know – where’s his phone? Where’s his hoodie he was wearing?” she asked.
Drexyll’s girlfriend of 10 years, Kristin Gonzalez, said he was planning to see the film Bullet Train at 9 p.m. on September 25, but police said that film was not showing at the time.
His mother said the last time she spoke to her son was around 9.30pm when she called to check how he was adjusting to his new psychiatric medication.
Drexyll was treated for depression for about five years, she said.
The man told his mother he “can’t go back” to his Upper West Side apartment where he lived with Gonzalez.
“The whole thing was a bad dream,” the heartbroken mother said.
“In a way, I know in my heart that he’s not suffering, wherever he is. That brought me some peace. … I’m glad I know he’s not suffering out there right now.”
When reached for comment Monday, the NYPD told The US Sun:
At approximately 11:53 a.m. on Monday, April 3, 2023, police responded to an 911 call from a provisioned man at 39 West 32 Street within the boundaries of the Midtown South Precinct.
“Upon arrival, officers observed an unconscious 27-year-old man with injuries that indicated he had fallen from an elevated position. EMS responded and transported the cared for male deceased to the scene.
“The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) will determine the cause of death.”
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