Mikhail Sergatiouk

By Linda Trischitta, Susan Stocker and Ariel Barkhurst

CORAL SPRINGS — In the midst of a search for a homicide suspect that began Saturday night, Coral Springs Police discovered a male body Monday morning, 15-feet off of Sample Road, east of that city’s high school.

“It’s him,” Coral Springs Police Lt. Joe McHugh said about Mikhail Sergatiouk, 60, whose home is about two miles from where his body was found.

The final cause of death is pending the result of an investigation by the Broward County Medical Examiner but McHugh said it appears Sergatiouk died from a self-inflicted wound from a sawed-off, double barrel shotgun that was found partially beneath his body.

Sergatiouk was first identified as a homicide suspect by Port St. Lucie police and was sought in the slaying of Aleksandr Gorback, 43, who was found shot to death Saturday night on the kitchen floor of a home on Portage Avenue in Port St. Lucie on the Treasure Coast, according to Sun Sentinel news partner WPTV-Ch. 5.

Aleksandr Gorback

McHugh said a daughter of Sergatiouk called 911 Sunday night at 7:15 p.m. when he arrived at their home on the 8600 block of Forrest Hill Boulevard. She made the call, the officer said, because she knew her father was wanted for murder.

That 911 tape will likely be turned over to Port St. Lucie Police for their investigation, he said.

“Our case will be closed as soon as the medical examiner’s office makes their ruling,” McHugh said.

After the 911 call came in to police Sunday, McHugh said a perimeter was set up around Sergatiouk’s house and a helicopter from the Broward Sheriff’s Office flew above the area, looking for him.

“There’s always a time delay from receiving calls,” McHugh said. “He fled from the rear of their home and broke through the perimeter. We can assume the wooded area north of where his body was located is where he spent the night. That is where his bicycle was found, as well as a cleared out area where we believe he was sleeping.”

Police estimate Sergatiouk’s time of death was right before his body was discovered at 8:30 a.m. Monday.

“Thank God there was no school today, because kids use the sidewalk where his body was found,” McHugh said. Schools were closed Monday for the Presidents Day holiday.

Port St. Lucie police spokesman Tom Nichols described Gorbach as a local businessman.

Florida Department of State records show the two men were managers of an inactive corporation founded in 2007 called Bauer Comfort USA LLC, which was based out of Gorbach’s Port St. Lucie home. The business was dissolved in 2011.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 20th, 2012 at 7:04 am and is filed under Crime, Port St. Lucie. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.