Yale Staffer Missing For Months Found Dead In Long Island: Police
NEW HAVEN, CT —The body of Anton Sovetov, a Yale University employee who had been missing since early February, was found on the Long Island shoreline on Saturday, according to Yale Chief of Police Ronnell Higgins.
Sovetov's cause of death is under investigation by the Suffolk County Medical Examiner’s Office, per a news release. And both the Yale and New Haven police departments are assisting Suffolk County police in the continuing investigation of Sovetov’s disappearance.
“We will continue to do all we can in the face of this terrible tragedy,” Higgins said.
Sovetov, 44, a graphic designer in the Yale Office of Public Affairs & Communications, was last in touch with university colleagues on Friday, Feb. 4. A security camera recorded him leaving the Elm City Market on Chapel Street and walking toward his nearby apartment shortly before 6 p.m. on the following day. Police were notified that he was missing on Feb. 9.
In the nearly three months since, Yale officers had been investigating Sovetov’s disappearance with assistance from the New Haven Police Department Investigative Services Unit and other state and local authorities.
Sovetov, originally from St. Petersburg, Russia, came to New Haven to study art at the Yale School of Art, He earned his Master's of Fine Art in 2016. According to his obituary, he was a video game and science fiction enthusiast, or “gamer,” and produced a graphic design thesis called “Game is not over.”
According to his obituary, though he often spoke about Russia and his mother who lives in St. Petersburg, he "left little doubt that he wished to remain in the United States, and was in the process of seeking a Green Card."
Sovetov joined the University's communication staff and over the course of five years, "shaped visual messaging" for Yale offices, initiatives, celebrations, and programs. Of note was his work on Yale's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to his obituary, he produced a series of large-format public health posters for campus bulletin boards that managed to strike a friendly tone as they urged people in booming capital letters to “WEAR A MASK” and “WASH YOUR HANDS.”
He also designed a series of posters with athletics and performing arts themes — “Keep Covid Down / Boola Boola!” and “The show may have stopped, but the mask must go on.”
His Facebook photos appear to show he was well-traveled with images from the Mount Haystack Trail in Vermont, and Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado.
“We mourn Anton’s loss,” said Vice President for Communications Nate Nickerson. “Anton was a wonderful, devoted colleague with uncommon talent. His work honored and added to Yale’s legacy of exceptional graphic design. We will miss him dearly.”
Read Yale’s full obituary for Sovetov here.
Anyone with information that could aid the investigation into Sovetov’s death should contact Yale Police at 203-432-4400, Suffolk County police at 631-853-5555, New Haven Police at 203-946-6316, or send an anonymous text tip through the LiveSafe app.
Members of the Yale community who are feeling affected by this tragedy are encouraged to use the resources available to them. For Yale College and graduate students more information is available at the Yale Mental Health & Counseling site. Information for members of the Yale University staff and faculty can be found at Yale Health. The Yale Chaplain’s Office is available to all members of the community.
Yale Staffer Missing For Months Found Dead In Long Island: Police originally appeared on the New Haven Patch
