Bitter Custody Battle Escalates Into "Holiday Death Plunge"

"NEW YORK, NY — A distraught dad threw himself and his 3-year-old son off the roof of a 52-story West Side skyscraper Sunday in a holiday death plunge that apparently stemmed from a custody battle, police said.

"The 35-year-old man, Dmitriy Kanarikov, died after jumping from the Lincoln Square tower at 12:05 p.m. The red-haired tot, Kirill, dressed in Christmas pajamas, died moments later at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital, cops said.

"The shocking tragedy came just three months after Kanarikov, an immigrant from Ukraine, wrote on his Facebook page how he aspired to be an outstanding parent and spouse.

"`I want to be the best dad and husband—nothing is more important to me right now,` Kanarikov wrote.

"His estranged wife, Svetlana Bukharina, boasted on her Facebook page in March, `I have the best husband and son in the world.`

"But apparently their home life imploded in recent months.

"Kanarikov and Bukharina split, and the cherished time he had with Kirill was curbed by a custody fight.

"Their breakup was so fraught with anger that they had to meet in a public place—the NYPD’s 17th Precinct stationhouse—to drop off and pick up their son, a source said.

"Kanarikov picked up Kirill at 10 a.m. Sunday at the designated precinct and was to return him there at 1 p.m., the source said.

"Cops said the bodies landed on the roofs of two different buildings neighboring the South Park Tower at 124 W. 60th St., where Kanarikov tossed his son and jumped to his death.

"The father’s body was found on the roof of a low-rise building at 425 W. 59th St. while the son’s landed atop a four-story building at 445 W. 59th St., police said."

Read more at the New York Daily News...