RETRACING HER FOOTSTEPS THROUGH BUSY E. SIDE STREETS

New York Daily News; New York, N.Y.; Mar 7, 2003;

FERNANDA SANTOS DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER;

Svetlana Aronov went from home to nowhere in 15 minutes.

Yesterday, exactly 72 hours after Aronov's bizarre disappearance, a Daily News reporter set out to retrace the last known steps of the doctor's wife through the upscale upper East Side neighborhood where she lived.

The 44-year-old Russian emigre stepped out of her co-op at 1175 York Ave., between 63rd and 64th Sts., at 2:30 p.m. Monday. With the family's cocker spaniel Bim on a leash, she turned north on the west side of York Ave., leaving the Queensboro Bridge behind.

As the reporter began following the same route at 2:30 p.m. yesterday, a couple waited to catch a crosstown bus in front of the building.

The midday traffic moved slowly on York Ave. Throngs of cars inched their way toward the FDR Drive or stopped at one of the four red lights along the stretch Aronov covered Monday afternoon.

The rare-book dealer would have strolled past three apartment buildings and bus stops, a hospital and a hot dog vendor, a pair of surveillance cameras and emergency boxes before she reached the corner of E. 68th St. and York Ave.

That, police said, is where bloodhounds lost her trail and she apparently vanished.

The reporter retracing her steps passed inconspicuously through hundreds of people along Aronov's route - a letter carrier, nurses, two guards and smokers puffing away outside Memorial Sloan- Kettering Cancer Center.

There are newspaper vending machines at the corner of 64th St. and York Ave., facing the side of a six-story brick building that spans the entire block. On each floor, there are 21 windows, and if people inside happened to be looking out at 2:34 p.m. Monday, they likely would have seen Aronov pass by.

Two minutes later, she would have come across a phone booth and an emergency box - attached to a light pole on the southwest corner of E. 65th St.

She could have called for help if she needed it. Surveillance cameras About 150 yards to the north, on a brick wall that surrounds 1233 York Ave., are a pair of surveillance cameras. One of them points north on York Ave., the other points west on E. 66th St.

The cameras must have taped Aronov and Bim about 2:40 p.m., just as the school day ended and students from nearby Public School 183 flooded the sidewalks on York Ave.

Across the street, two guards were in a small booth at the entrance to Rockefeller University. Both were working Monday afternoon, but neither remembered seeing the missing woman or her dog. "It's a busy road," one of the guards told the reporter.

The busiest of the blocks along Aronov's route was the last one she would have walked - the stretch of York Ave. between E. 67th and E. 68th Sts., where Sloan-Kettering is.

If she had moved at the same pace as the reporter, Aronov would have arrived at the south end of the block at 2:43 p.m., then strolled past the bus stop - packed with nurses who ended their eight-hour shifts at 2:30 p.m.

If she looked across York Ave., she would have seen Weill- Cornell Medical Center.

The time was now 2:45 p.m., and the reporter arrived at the end of Aronov's route - the very place where the police bloodhounds lost the missing woman's scent.

.GRAPHIC

.1 Leaving 1175 York Ave. between 63rd and 64th Sts.

.2 Crossing 64th St.

.3 Looking at missing persons poster at 65th St.

.4 Crossing 66th St. at Rockefeller entrance

.5 Surveillance cameras at 66th St.

.6 Across from Sloan-Kettering near 67th St.

.7 Bloodhounds lose scent at 68th St.

[Illustration]
Caption: PHOTOS BY PAT CARROLL DAILY NEWS Daily News reporter Fernanda Santos retraces route of Svetlana Aronov.