Kyle Alifom, 20, of Vienna was sentenced last Friday to nearly seven years in federal prison in connection with the death of a 16-year-old McLean girl. The victim was Emylee Lonczak, a McLean High student whose body he hid after she overdosed on heroin.
Charged with tampering with evidence, Alifom was convicted of that offense Feb. 10 in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. A statement of facts filed with his plea made it clear that – not only did he try to prevent anyone from finding Lonczak – he also did nothing to obtain medical help for her while she was still alive.
In that document, he admitted that, on Aug. 21, 2013, he and three other people – two friends plus Lonczak – drove from Virginia into Washington, D.C., to buy heroin. Each of them then used it via injections from separate hypodermic needles, each containing about 30cc of the narcotic.
“Lonczak, who wasn’t a heroin user, was unable to administer the heroin to herself intravenously because she couldn’t find a vein,” the document stated. So the person who’d made the drug buy “injected her.”
They then headed back to Virginia and, during the drive, Alifom and the others noticed Lonczak was unconscious. They dropped off the drug buyer at his home and the other friend dropped off Alifom and Lonczak, who remained unconscious, at Alifom’s home in Vienna.
According to the statement, Alifom and the friend placed Lonczak in a bed in a basement bedroom and the friend left. The following morning, Alifom discovered that Lonczak had died.
The document further states that Alifom “dragged Lonczak’s body through the grass behind his residence to an area of shrubbery behind a neighbor’s house. [He] covered [her] body with an abandoned screen window in an attempt to conceal [it].”
Meanwhile, the teen had been reported missing, Aug. 21, when she failed to return home. Using a bloodhound, Fairfax County police discovered Lonczak's body, Aug. 23, 2013, after the dog tracked her scent to a wooded area. An autopsy and toxicology report confirmed she had a fatal level of heroin in her system and that heroin use had caused her death.
The statement concluded that Alifom’s actions in connection with this tragedy were, “in all respects, knowing and deliberate.” Following his conviction, he returned to court last Friday, May 16, to learn his punishment from Judge Claude M. Hilton. Alifom apologized for what he’d done and Hilton then sentenced him to six years, eight months in prison.
This case was investigated by the Fairfax County police and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael P. Ben’Ary, formerly a commonwealth’s attorney in Fairfax County, was the prosecutor.