An American Episcopal priest fulfilling a lifelong dream of working in Russia was found stabbed to death in his Moscow apartment August 24.

Russian authorities said the Rev. Steve Charles Malcom, 49, had been dead for almost a week when his body was discovered. A spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy would not give a possible motive for the killing, but said that audio and video equipment was missing from Malcom's apartment.

Malcom had lived in Russia for three years as an English instructor and tutor. He had spent the month of July teaching in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, some 2,600 miles east of Moscow. His brother-in-law, Rob Prillaman, indicated that Russia's uncertain economy had forced Malcom to take the temporary part-time position at Irkutsk.

During a June visit to the family home in Cozad, Nebraska, Prillaman said Malcom never indicated any fear for his personal safety. When family members asked why he wanted to return to Moscow, Malcom answered, "Just remember, that's where I want to be."

In his homily at Malcom's funeral, Nebraska Bishop James Krotz told of visiting a nursing home in Nebraska City with Malcom. "The people pressed on from every side to speak with Steve and touch him," Krotz recalled. "As we walked down the hall, doors would open and wheelchairs would roll and hands would reach out.

"They pressed on from every side, the lame, the halt, the lonely, and also the young, the healthy, the staff. And Steve had a word, a touch for each and all. To walk down that hallway with Steve was to know what it must have been like to walk with Jesus through the crowds of his homeland. Walking down that hallway with Steve was one of the richest, most humbling moments of my 27 years of ministry."

Malcom was born December 21, ...