The tragedy that unfolded across Florida on February 10, 2026, wasn’t just a headline—it was the systematic dismantling of a family. What began in the early morning hours in Fort Lauderdale ended in a quiet, gated community in Sarasota, leaving six people dead and a community struggling to understand how a man with no prior criminal record could carry out such a calculated spree.
A Trail of Devastation
The violence was split between two coasts, linked by a three-hour drive and a history of a fractured relationship.
The first victims were Larisa Blyudaya, 46, and her 18-year-old son, Ben Azizov, who were killed in their Fort Lauderdale home. Investigators believe Russell Kot, who had been in a relationship with Larisa until late 2025, targeted them first before heading west toward the Gulf Coast.
By 11:00 AM, Kot had reached the Sarasota home of Larisa’s mother. There, he killed the family’s housekeeper, Olga Greinert, and Larisa’s brother, Yaroslav “Stan” Blyudoy. In a chilling detail provided by investigators, Kot didn’t flee after the initial shootings. Instead, he waited in the house for over an hour for the final two family members, Florita Stolyar and Anatoly Ioffe, to return home. Once they arrived, he killed them both before taking his own life.
The Human Toll
Behind the police tape are stories of lives interrupted. The victims represented three generations of one family, along with a woman seeking a fresh start:
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Ben Azizov was a young man just starting his adult life.
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Olga Greinert was a Ukrainian refugee who had fled the horrors of war in her home country, only to find violence in the place she sought as a sanctuary.
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Florita and Anatoly were the pillars of the family, returning to what should have been the safety of their own home.
“A Mobile Arsenal”
The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office described the scene as one of the most horrific they had encountered. Kot didn’t just snap; he arrived prepared for a massacre. When deputies searched his vehicle, they found a “mobile arsenal” consisting of multiple handguns, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, knives, rope, and an axe.
Despite the sheer scale of the planning, those who knew Kot were blindsided. He had no history of mental health interventions or domestic violence reports. To those on the outside, he was simply a man who had recently moved from Illinois and had once been a familiar face at the very home where he committed these acts.
This event serves as a grim reminder of how quickly domestic fractures can escalate into public tragedies. For the neighbors in the Amberlea community and the friends of the Blyudaya family, February 10th will remain a date defined by an incomprehensible loss