Former Russian Spies' Montclair Home Soon Up for Sale

The Montclair home that until three years ago served as the headquarters for two Russians spies will soon be up for sale.  

The two-story home at 31 Marquette Road is the former home of Cynthia and Richard Murphy, whose real names are Lyeia and Vladimir Guryev, and their two young children, aged 9 and 11. That was until 2010 when the two were uncovered as spies and arrested by U.S. law enforcement officials. 

The home has sat vacant since the two agents of the Russian Federation were deported in 2010 with eight other secret agents in exchange for four U.S. operatives held in Russia.

Taped on the front door of the home are court documents and warnings, including one that reads “United States Marshal No Trespassing."

However, the home is expected to be on the market by the end of April, according to Lynzey Donahue, spokesperson for the U.S. Marshals Service.  

“We are offering it for sale in the next few weeks,” said Donahue.  

Found on a slow suburban street next to homes with well-manicured lawns, nearby resident Melissa Shepen said the upkeep on the vacant home has been spotty since she moved into the neighborhood in 2011. 

"It hasn’t been great and there's the no tresspassing signs," said Shepen. 

While the grass is occasionally cut, the lawn tends to become overgrown and an eyesore for much of the neighborhood, the Daily News reported. Last week, the yard was littered with unraked leaves and showed signs of disrepair, which the newspaper reported has caused residents headaches for years.  

The property is a far cry from how it looked three years ago, when neighbors said it was meticulously maintained by the couple they knew as the "Murphys."

Marquette Road is located in a neighborhood known locally as "Fieldstone," which backs into a 16-acre wildlife preserve on the Clifton border. 

"If there is an ‘Ozzie and Harriet’ road in Montclair, it’s Marquette," Real estate agent Roberta Baldwin told NJ.com in 2010. "You couldn’t get more normal. You couldn’t find anything more quiet and demure."

The couple's double-life came to an abrupt end on a warm summer night in late June 2010, when FBI agents swarmed into the leafy neighborhood, arrested the couple and led their two young daughters away.

A new FX series, "The Americans" is said to be inspired by the accused Russian spies living in Montclair. 

On Tuesday, the front lawn of the former agents’ home was well maintained and spring flower shoots could be seen breaking the soil in a small garden in the front yard. Donahue said that crews were at the home this week doing lawn repairs. 

No taxes have been paid on the home since the spies were captured in 2010. The federal government will pay any delinquent real estate taxes on the property up until it was seized by U.S. officials once the home is sold, said Donahue.