Raleigh man suspected in wife's death was found less than 24 hours later in Wilmington

A man suspected of killing his wife, who was found dead in a Raleigh hotel Sunday morning, was arrested in Wilmington later that day with a stolen credit card, according to police.

Mark Sergei Brichikov, 35, who lives on Goode Street near downtown Raleigh, was taken into custody around 10 p.m. Sunday, the Wilmington Police Department said on its Facebook page.

Authorities in Wake County had alerted police in Wilmington that "Brichikov was in the Wilmington area using a stolen credit card," police said.

Nadia Natasha Brichikov, 48, was found dead at the Knights Inn hotel at 3804 New Bern Ave. at about 4:42 a.m. Sunday.

A hotel employee called 911 after he was told that someone was lying on the floor of a second-floor room and the door of the unit was open.

"I'm not sure if the person is alive or dead," the employee told the dispatcher. The caller said he had not visited the room and was describing to the dispatcher what he could see through the hotel's surveillance video.

"I don't know," he said when the dispatcher asked if anyone had visited the room. "I'm really scared to go up there."

The employee said the surveillance video could be rewound to show what happened before the victim was found on the floor.

Police immediately deemed the case a homicide but have not said how Nadia Brichikov died.

Wake County District Court Judge Keith Gregory told Mark Brichikov he could face the death penalty, or spend the rest of his life in prison if he is convicted of first-degree murder.

He is being held in the Wake County without bail.

This story was originally published April 23, 2018 at 7:42 PM with the headline "Raleigh man suspected in wife's death was found less than 24 hours later in Wilmington."