Igor W. Alfimow, homicide detective

Igor W. Alfimow, 62, a retired Philadelphia homicide detective who led the investigation of the Gary Heidnik "house of horrors" case and many others, died of heart failure Wednesday, Jan. 30, at his home in the city's Somerton section.

Mr. Alfimow, who spent 31 years with the Police Department, was known among his colleagues as a determined and disciplined investigator, a fine marksman, and a computer specialist.

"Tenacity was his middle name," said Jerry Kane, a retired homicide inspector. "You don't last in homicide . . . unless you have the right intestinal fortitude."

Mr. Alfimow was the lead investigator in the Heidnik case. From November 1986 to March 1987, Heidnik, 43, tortured and raped six young women in the basement of his home in the Franklinville section. He killed two.

Heidnik was convicted of murder and other crimes. He was executed by injection on July 6, 1999.

Thomas J. Gibbons, a retired Inquirer reporter and former Philadelphia police officer, said Mr. Alfimow was a "crackerjack investigator who solved a lot of big cases."

Gene Dooley, a retired Philadelphia police captain and now police chief in East Whiteland Township, Chester County, described Mr. Alfimow as "a guy who could do everything."

"He was good at the legwork aspects of the job," Dooley said. "He worked in all kinds of weather and all kinds of terrain."

Mr. Alfimow was born on Christmas 1950 in Germany. He moved to Philadelphia with his parents, who were Ukrainian, as a toddler. He was raised in the Logan and Somerton sections.

He graduated from Central High School in 1968, later earning a bachelor's degree in criminology at Temple University. Mr. Alfimow was in the Marine Corps Reserve for 10 years, discharged as a sergeant in 1979.

He married Mary Ann Victor in 1978.

Mr. Alfimow joined the Police Department in 1969 and retired in 2000. He was an accomplished marksman who colleagues said was one of the best pistol shooters in Pennsylvania. He also was a self-taught computer specialist.

His son, Ihor, said Mr. Alfimow "loved hunting deer and small game. He would go hunting with one bullet and he would come back with either the bullet or the deer."

"Everything that he took up, he became very good at. When he got interested in shooting a pistol, he became a champion," Kane said. "He took up computers, and he was so good they brought him inside to work on computers."

Mr. Alfimow also enjoyed spending time with his two grandsons, his son said.

In addition to his wife, son, and grandsons, Mr. Alfimow is survived by a brother. He was preceded in death by a son, Michael, and a daughter, Heather.

A funeral was held Monday, Feb. 4, at St. Stephen Orthodox Cathedral.