New documentary probes grisly theory Moscow mobsters framed Tetris co-creator trends now
Former Palo Alto police officers have suggested the Tetris co-founder who supposedly killed his wife and 12-year-old son before stabbing himself to death in 1998 was actually killed by the Russian mafia.
A new three-part documentary series called The Tetris Murders examines the mysterious death of Russian academic and computer scientist Vladimir Pokhilko, 44, his wife Yelena Fedotova, 38, and their son Peter, 12.
All three were found dead in their Palo Alto home on September 22, 1998.
His wife and son had been bludgeoned to death with two different hammers before being stabbed, meanwhile Pokhilko had one severe stab wound to his neck.
The documentary speculates that given Pokhilko's connection with the Soviet Union and the lucrative video game Tetris he may have been murdered by the Russian mafia, who wanted a share of the game's profits.
Vladimir Pokhilko (pictured), 44, was found dead in his Palo Alto home alongside his wife and son, who had been bludgeoned to death with hammers
Peter Pokhilko, 12, was discovered in his bed bludgeoned to death in his pajamas
Pokhilko's wife Yelena Fedotova, 38, was a successful yoga instructor in the Soviet Union
Pokhilko was in a business partnership with the creator of Tetris and had set up a 3D software studio in California
Crime scene investigator Sandra Brown who worked for Palo Alto police said in the new documentary that the case, which was determined to be a straight-forward murder-suicide at the time, has always aroused suspicion.
Left at the scene was a note allegedly written by Pokhilko, which reads: 'I've been eaten alive - Vladimir. Just remember that I am exist - The Davil'.
There have been numerous doubts that Pokhilko actually wrote the note. His friend Grigoriy Shapirshteyn said that he wasn't a religious man and therefore wouldn't have made reference to the devil.
Brown also suggested that the note was strange because it was written in the third person and not in proper English.
'I always felt that we didn't get a clear answer to this crime from day one,' she told Fox News Digital.
She added: 'I did not think that Vladimir Pokhilko killed his family. I remember walking into that room when I slid past the sliding doors, which were already opened.
'And I looked at Vladimir laying on the ground, and I looked at the blood splatter on the door. I looked at the knife in his hand and I said to myself, 'There's no way this man cut his own throat.''
Left at the scene was a note supposedly written by Pokhilko, which reads: 'I've been eaten alive - Vladimir. Just remember that I am exist - The Davil'
A photo taken in the families apartment in Russia taken in around 1991. Pokhilko (left) is holding Peter as a baby
