[presidentcarter]

So this guy went missing a few days ago and was found (today I think) frozen dead in a forested area. Apparently he and his brother and a girl were picked up from a popular weekday late night bar by a gipsy (unofficial, unmarked) cab driver. The driver offered them beers to celebrate his "birthday" which were drugged and caused the two brothers to pass out (the girl with them didn't accept the drink). They were then robbed and tossed out into the snow well north of Moscow above the "ring road". The girl saved one guy but the other one died (likely of hypothermia).

Hits really close to home...I didn't know the guy, but I suspect we had mutual friends. I have also lived near where he was found and have been to the club where he was picked up by the robbers.

This is the biggest risk in Moscow - foreign "gipsy" cab drivers. I had a few minor complications with these gipsy drivers in my early days in Moscow. One grabbed all the cash out of my hand as I was preparing to pay him (wasn't a lot, but it was an eye opening moment nonetheless). I had a friend who was robbed by them several times and I refused to take these cars after I lived there a while and learned about the dangers associated with them. Gipsy cab drivers are typically from the stan countries (I think the one in this case was from Azerbaijan).

Reminder to stay vigilant and look out for each other.

https://themoscowtimes.com/news/help-mis...rson-56569

https://themoscowtimes.com/news/body-of-...scow-56570

http://www.mk.ru/incident/2016/12/18/otr...-roda.html

http://www.mk.ru/incident/2016/12/18/ust...taksi.html