Vladimir Pokhilko

Timeline

• September 22 — Vladimir Pokhilko’s body was found lying next to his son's bed with his throat deeply slashed and holding an 8-inch hunting knife.
• September 24, 1998 — Palo Alto community was reeling from the incident as reports described the murders and the belief that Pokhilko killed his family and then himself.
• Wednesday, January 27, 1999 — A newspaper report described Pokhilko’s note, which police believed was written by the person who killed his wife and son before slashing his own throat.

Background

Vladimir Pokhilko (1954 – 1998) was a Russian academic who specialized in human-computer interaction and an entrepreneur. Along with Alexey Pajitnov, he played an active role in the development and marketing of the popular video game Tetris.

Pokhilko and Alexey Pajitnov collaborated after Soviet authorities demanded that Pajitnov sign over all rights to Tetris before the game was published. Pajitnov said he acquiesced to the Soviet demand because he feared reprisals and believed he would have been in prison for sure if he had gone directly to Nintendo; he also said he would have had to be a dissident and possibly been cheated for everything anyway, so he said it was “not worth it.”

During the 10 years the Soviet government brokered deals with Nintendo, Atari and other video-game makers, Pajitnov lost an estimated $40 million in royalties.

Henk Rogers helped found AnimaTek in 1988 and said the company was raising money. Rogers said it was “nothing out of the ordinary” and “nothing that we couldn’t see past the end of.” Rogers later helped broker a large license agreement through Bullet Proof Software, which locked in the rights to sell Tetris to its largest market, the hand-held gaming-device industry. Rogers said: “That was the biggest market for Tetris,” and “That's what made the game huge.”

In 1986, before the game was published, Soviet authorities demanded that Pajitnov sign over all rights to the game. Later, Pokhilko and Pajitnov teamed to create other digital diversions, including El-Fish, a virtual aquarium. Pokhilko saw the mass appeal of the puzzle and convinced Pajitnov it would make a great computer game. Rogers said Pajitnov immigrated to the United States five years earlier with Pokhilko, and Rogers had helped the pair open AnimaTek International Inc., a software development company creating computer-generated terrains and characters for the gaming industry. Pokhilko became president of the company, and Rogers was the chairman and largest stockholder.

At the time of the deaths, Pokhilko faced financial uncertainties and financial difficulties at his San Francisco-based company, AnimaTek.

The offence

Police described a double-murder suicide in which Vladimir Pokhilko murdered his wife Elena Fedotova (38) and their son Peter (12) and then killed himself.

A close family friend called police at 3:30 p.m. after arriving at the family home and failing in repeated attempts to reach the family by phone.

Police said that in the family’s home on the 400 block of Ferne Avenue in southern Palo Alto, Pokhilko killed his family and then himself, and police believed it happened sometime Monday night. Police said Pokhilko hit Fedotova, described as a popular yoga instructor, and Peter, described as a seventh-grader, with a hammer and repeatedly stabbed them with a hunting knife, apparently as they lay sleeping. Police said there was no sign of a struggle, indicating they may have been sleeping when attacked.

Police said Pokhilko then stabbed himself once in the throat with the knife.

Investigation

Police supervised a team of investigators who combed through the bloody scene for clues and researched possible motives for the slayings.

A note was found on the desk in the study of Vladimir Pokhilko’s Palo Alto home. Sgt. Scott Wong of the Palo Alto Police Department said the note read: “I've been eaten alive. Vladimir. Just remember that I am exist. The davil.”

Police did not classify the note as a suicide letter, and Wong said there were different interpretations of what the note meant. Wong said:

• “There are different interpretations of what the note means.”
• “But any interpretation of the person writing the note is that they were under some stress.”

The note was sent to the FBI Crime Lab for analysis.

Palo Alto police spokeswoman Tami Gage said: “It is not a suicide note,” and “We don't even know who wrote the note or how significant it might be.”

Police said they found nothing that contradicted their original belief that the crime was a double-murder suicide. Wong said:

• “We found nothing in our investigation that contradicts our original belief that the crime was a double-murder suicide,”
• “We looked at all possible angles,” and
• “There were no signs of forced entry, nothing was taken as far as we could tell, and there were no signs of a struggle.”

Police said last week they sent a 200-page report on the crime to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office for review. Wong said the response from the district attorney should be in by the end of the week. Wong said the case would be officially closed only when the district attorney made a final determination, and that the district attorney’s office may not agree with the conclusion or may have unanswered questions.

Arrest

No arrest information was provided.

Trial

No trial information was provided.

Sentencing

No sentencing information was provided.

Appeals

No appeals information was provided.

Outcome

Police considered their investigation closed, with the belief that the crime was a double-murder suicide.

A close family friend found Pokhilko’s body on September 22 lying next to his son's bed with his throat deeply slashed and holding an 8-inch hunting knife. The friend also discovered that both Elena Fedotova (38) and their 12-year-old son Peter had been bludgeoned and stabbed to death while apparently sleeping in their beds.

Police said the pajama-clad bodies of Fedotova and Peter were found in their beds by police, and Pokhilko’s body was found in Peter’s room.

Investigators recovered a hammer believed to have been used in the attacks and they found a note.

Aftermath

Flags at Jane Lathrop Stanford Middle School, where Peter was a student, flew at half-staff. During the day, about 40 of his classmates placed a makeshift memorial of poster board in front of the family house, with messages such as “In loving memory of Peter” and covered with signatures of classmates and teachers.