Russian Cop Plunges From Window After Testifying

A Russian police major plunged to her death not long after testifying against her old boss in a criminal-extortion case, the Moscow Times reports. The body of Yekaterina Mishkina, 37, was caught on security cameras lying near an apartment building in the city of Khabarovsk (Russia.liveaumap.com has a screen capture), where she apparently fell from the fifth floor. Security cameras are said to show her trying to reach the roof, giving up, and going back down a few flights. Unconfirmed reports say Mishkina had testified against an ex-boss who allegedly extorted money from subordinates. Seems the extortion case was opened after the former boss had gone into retirement.

Regional police in Khabarovsk, roughly 5,000 miles east of Moscow, have begun investigating Mishkina's fall—though a spokeswoman said the lead investigator is "on yet another vacation." A Russian news outlet is quoting an anonymous source close to the probe who said officials uncovered a note in Mishkina's purse with a to-do list she'd only partly completed: "This indicates that what happened wasn't spontaneous," the source said. Mishkina was a divorcee with a 14-year-old daughter. Her death comes after at least three Russian health-care workers recently fell from windows amid the coronavirus outbreak, as have two young journalists. (More Russia stories.)