Break up leads to Fort Lauderdale-Sarasota murder suicide leaving 7 dead including shooter as Russell ‘Russ’ Kot kills his former girlfriend, her son and then travels to her family’s Sarasota home to kill other family members with arsenal of weapons after leaving suicide note.
Florida authorities have provided a timeline and new additional notes leading up to a tragedy that left 7 individuals dead (including the shooter) at two different locations at the hands of a 51-year-old man who had recently broken up with one of the victims, a 46-year old female victim.
The tragedy unfolded Tuesday, first at a home in the 500 block of Northeast 15th Avenue in Fort Lauderdale‘s Victoria Park neighborhood, where 46-year-old Larisa Blyudaya and her son, 18-year-old Ben Azizov, were found murdered, Fort Lauderdale Police said.
Authorities later determined that the double homicide was the act of 51-year-old Fort Lauderdale man, Russell ‘Russ’ Kot after the 46-year-old victim breaking up with the Kot late last year.
Bad break up sets up chain of events and retribution
Officers had responded to the home for a well-being check, according to a 911 call released Friday, a person believed to be Blyudaya’s daughter is heard asking for police to check on her mother, NBC6 reported.
‘I need the police to come right now to come check at my mom’s house in Fort Lauderdale,’ a female caller says. ‘There’s somebody that is like, whatever, an admirer of hers that…’
Kot is believed to have then traveled to a home in Amberlea, Sarasota County where he murdered four more people before killing himself, authorities said. It would be revealed Friday that the victims were linked to the Fort Lauderdale double homicide.
The Sarasota victims were identified as 49-year-old Olga Greinert, 66-year-old Florita Stolyar, 61-year-old Anatoly Ioffe, and 39-year-old Yaroslav ‘Stan’ Blyudoy.
Officials stated Florita Stolyar being the mother of Blyudoy who he had been romantically involved with until their recent split.
Why Kot had chosen to kill the Sarasota victims had yet to be necessarily understood.
Shooter immerses self in family
Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office officials said Friday that Kot had relocated from Illinois to Fort Lauderdale last year and was living with Blyudoy until the end of 2025, when the two separated. A regard of the shooter’s Facebook page revealed Kot originally hailing from Belgrade, Serbia.
Kot had previously either stayed at the Sarasota home or cared for the family’s animals in the months leading up to Tuesday’s incident, and had met Olga Greinert, the family’s housekeeper, at least once at the residence, authorities said.
After killing Olga Greinert and Yaroslav Blyudoy, Florita Stolyar’s son, Kot sent a suicidal text message to members of his family, authorities said.
He then remained at the Sarasota home until Florita and her husband, Anatoly Ioffe, returned home. Upon their arrival, both were shot and killed, and Kot then shot himself, authorities said.
Arsenal of weapons and multiple gunshot wounds implied deep enmity towards victims
In one of the 911 calls released Friday, a caller appears to be asking for a wellness check on Kot.
The sheriff’s office said authorities searched Kot’s vehicle and found two handguns, ammunition, five knives, rope, tape, and an axe, in addition to the two handguns he was carrying when he entered the Sarasota home.
More than 20 shell casings were found in the home and the victims were each shot multiple times, authorities said. The degree of multiple gunshot wounds his victims suffered along with weapons on his person implied a deep avarice, malice and enmity towards his victims. How or why the victims came to be gruesomely targeted continued to be the focus of investigations.
Kot’s phone records didn’t reveal a ‘triggering event’ before the shootings involving Larisa Blyudaya or any member of her family, officials said.
Investigators seek to determine motive as victims remembered
Investigators are still trying to determine a motive for the crimes.
In a statement Thursday, the victims’ family members called the horrific crime a ‘devastating loss.’
‘Our family and loved ones are facing an unimaginable loss and are still in deep shock and grief. At the same time, we are currently navigating urgent and overwhelming practical matters, including legal, financial, and administrative processes, while trying to support one another through this,’ the statement read, in part. ‘We are deeply grateful for the outpouring of messages, kindness, and concern. Please know that your support truly means more than we can express.’
A GoFundme ‘honoring the lives of the Stolyar, Blyudoy, Azizov and Ioffe families as of Friday night had amassed over $104K.
