The Man Who Knew Too Much

48 Hours Mystery Reports On Murder Of U.S. Journalist In Moscow

(CBS)  After college, Klebnikov trained to be a U.S. Marine, and entered an officer's candidate school. Klebnikov was offered a commission but turned it down. Then in 1989, he took what would become his dream job - working in New York as a reporter for Forbes magazine.

Klebnikov found his true calling, and his true love - Helen Train, known as Musa. They met in childhood. They were married in 1991 in a traditional Russian ceremony, and eventually had three children.

But just three months after they married, the Soviet Union collapsed, and Klebnikov's attention was lured away to his other great passion: Russia.

Klebnikov started writing about the new Russian robber barons, who were grabbing up factories and businesses, and making billions -- leaving ordinary Russians with virtually nothing.

"He was agonized about how older people had to sell matches in the winter streets under the snow," says his brother, Peter. "How people would have to sell their books and their collections."

Outraged, Klebnikov jumped at the chance in 2004 to move to Moscow and become editor in chief of the new Russian edition of Forbes. There, he met some powerful people in politics and business, and began learning some of their secrets as well. He learned that one secret can hide another, and uncovering the truth would be both difficult, and dangerous.

"Last spring, he received some documents," says Michael Klebnikov. "He said they were very, very serious documents, and he wasn't quite sure what to do with them."