Florida Cross-State Murder Spree Leaves 6 Dead: Larisa Blyudaya, Son Ben Azizov, and Four Sarasota Victims Olga Greinert, Florita Stolyar, Anatoly Ioffe, Yaroslav Blyudoy Identified; Suspected Gunman Russell Kot Found Dead from Self-Inflicted Wound.

The 200-Mile Trail of Terror: How a Fort Lauderdale Wellness Check Unraveled a Quadruple Homicide 200 Miles Away

It began as a routine wellness check in one of Fort Lauderdale’s most picturesque neighborhoods and ended with law enforcement cordoning off a gated community in Sarasota County, six innocent people dead, and a suspected gunman lying among his victims. The Feb. 10, 2026, tragedy that connected Florida’s east coast to its Gulf shore has left two cities grappling with a question that may never be fully answered: what drives a 51-year-old man with no known history of violence to systematically execute six individuals, including a former romantic partner and her teenage son?

Part I: The Discovery in Victoria Park

At approximately 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 10, officers from the Fort Lauderdale Police Department arrived at a residence in the 500 block of Northeast 15th Avenue. The upscale Victoria Park neighborhood, known for its tree-lined streets and historic homes, seemed an unlikely setting for the scene that awaited them.

Inside, investigators discovered the bodies of 46-year-old Larisa Blyudaya and her 18-year-old son, Ben Azizov. Both had died from gunshot wounds. The residence showed no immediate signs of forced entry, suggesting the victims may have known their attacker .

A neighbor, Mark Scinna, later recounted a chilling encounter to CBS News Miami. “Yesterday morning, I was loading my tools in my vehicle, and I saw a guy come running around here, and he went to the driveway and hit the keypad on the garage door, and the door went up, and I just didn’t think anything of it,” Scinna said. It was only when he received a call at 3 p.m. revealing the day’s horrific events that he began connecting the dots: “Man, I hope that wasn’t the guy I saw” .

That man, authorities would later confirm, was 51-year-old Russell Kot.

Part II: The Sarasota Nightmare Unfolds

Even as Fort Lauderdale detectives processed the double homicide scene, events were already unfolding 200 miles northwest in Sarasota County—events that would reveal the scope of the day’s violence.

Shortly before 12:30 p.m., Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office dispatchers received a 911 call that would become the centerpiece of their investigation. A neighbor in the Amberlea neighborhood, a gated community near Proctor and McIntosh Roads, reported that a man had been shot in front of a residence.

The 911 audio, later obtained by Fox 13, captured the neighbor’s desperation: “I don’t know. I heard a loud boom earlier, and I thought somebody dropped something, and then I just walked outside and my neighbor Tony is lying on the ground, his house is open and there’s blood all over his stomach” .

Deputies arrived within minutes to find neighbors performing CPR on the victim, later identified as 61-year-old Anatoly Ioffe, the homeowner. Despite emergency efforts, Ioffe was pronounced dead shortly thereafter. The neighbor’s frantic call contained another critical detail: Ioffe’s wife might still be inside the residence .

Fearing for her safety, deputies entered the home. What they discovered defied comprehension. Inside were four additional victims—two men and two women—all deceased from gunshot wounds. Among the dead was the suspected gunman himself: Russell Kot, dead from what investigators determined to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound .

The Sarasota victims were subsequently identified as:

· Olga Greinert, 49
· Florita Stolyar, 66 (or 67, according to some reports)
· Anatoly Ioffe, 61
· Yaroslav Blyudoy, 39

Part III: Connecting the Dots

As the scale of the tragedy became apparent, investigators from both jurisdictions began comparing notes. The breakthrough came when Fort Lauderdale police, already investigating the Blyudaya-Azizov homicides, recognized a potential connection.

Detectives noted that Kot’s vehicle had been captured on traffic cameras traveling northbound through Punta Gorda—directly en route from Fort Lauderdale to Sarasota—following the timing of the first murders and preceding the second .

Working with Amberlea Homeowners Association representatives and neighbors, Sarasota detectives obtained security footage that painted a damning timeline. Kot’s vehicle entered the gated community at approximately 11:01 a.m. Moments later, the sound of multiple gunshots was captured on a neighbor’s Ring camera .

Approximately 37 minutes later, Anatoly Ioffe was seen on video entering the neighborhood in his own vehicle. As he approached his front door, he was confronted and shot. No other individuals were observed entering or exiting the residence until deputies arrived on scene .

“There is blood everywhere. I don’t see any weapons,” the 911 caller had said—a statement that now carried even greater weight given the four additional bodies inside .

Part IV: The Victims—Lives Interrupted

Behind the statistical grimness of “six deceased” were individual human beings, each with their own stories, relationships, and futures that were violently extinguished.

Larisa Blyudaya, 46, was remembered by those who knew her as a devoted mother whose world revolved around her children. Joe Askerberg, property manager of the Fort Lauderdale residence, described her as “always cheerful” with a consistently positive demeanor . Her relationship with Kot—described by investigators as a “romantic relationship” that had since ended—appears to have been the thread that unraveled everything.

Ben Azizov, 18, was on the cusp of adulthood. Family friends described him as a young man whose life was just beginning, though the exact circumstances of his death alongside his mother remain under investigation . The fundraiser established for surviving relatives noted that Ben was a “cherished child” whose loss leaves an unfillable void.

Yaroslav “Stan” Blyudoy, 39, bore a surname suggesting familial connection to Larisa. Described as a “cherished son and fiancé,” his presence among the Sarasota victims establishes a link between the two crime scenes that investigators are still working to fully map . He was in the prime of his life, engaged to be married, and deeply embedded in his community.

Anatoly Ioffe, 61, was simply doing what countless homeowners do every day: returning to his residence. That he walked toward his own front door and was met with deadly force has left neighbors particularly shaken. He was remembered as a “steady and caring presence” whose home was a gathering place for family and friends .

Florita Stolyar, 66, was the oldest victim, described as a “devoted wife and mother.” Her death alongside her husband has orphaned adult children and left a void in a marriage that had spanned decades .

Olga Greinert, 49, rounded out the Sarasota victim list. While her exact relationship to the other victims remains publicly unclear, her presence at the Ioffe residence suggests family or close friendship ties that were severed in a matter of minutes .

Part V: Russell Kot—The Man Behind the Violence

Perhaps the most unsettling aspect of this tragedy is the portrait emerging of Russell Kot himself. The 51-year-old Fort Lauderdale resident was, by all available accounts, an unremarkable figure in his community.

According to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, Kot had “no known documented mental health crises or past history of violence” associated with his name . Neighbors and acquaintances have not come forward with stories of erratic behavior, threatening statements, or warning signs that might have foreshadowed Feb. 10.

The sole identified connection is his previous romantic involvement with Larisa Blyudaya. Beyond that, investigators have stated that “the connection between the other victims in Sarasota County is still unknown” .

This lack of clear motive has proven particularly difficult for grieving families. “He didn’t seem off or anything,” one neighbor who encountered Kot in mundane circumstances had said—a refrain hauntingly similar to statements made by neighbors in countless other mass shooting investigations .

Kot’s decision to take his own life among his Sarasota victims means that many questions will remain forever unanswered.

Part VI: The Investigation—What We Know and What Remains Unknown

As of Feb. 11, 2026, the investigation remains active, with homicide detectives from both jurisdictions collaborating on evidence analysis and timeline reconstruction.

Confirmed Facts:

· Kot traveled from Fort Lauderdale to Sarasota on the morning of Feb. 10
· He was captured on traffic cameras in Punta Gorda, establishing the northbound route
· His vehicle entered Amberlea at 11:01 a.m.
· Gunfire was recorded shortly thereafter
· Ioffe arrived home at approximately 11:38 a.m. and was shot immediately
· Kot was among the four deceased inside the residence
· His death was self-inflicted

Outstanding Questions:

· What was Kot’s relationship to the Sarasota victims?
· How long had he planned this sequence of violence?
· Did any communication occur between Kot and victims before the shootings?
· Were all Sarasota victims targeted, or were some collateral?
· What precisely motivated the attacks?

Matt Binkley of the Sarasota Sheriff’s Office has emphasized that authorities have accounted for “all persons” involved in the incident and that there exists “no threat to the public” .

Part VII: Community Response and Mourning

In both Fort Lauderdale and Sarasota, communities are processing grief through public statements, private memorials, and fundraising efforts.

A GoFundMe campaign established for surviving relatives has provided a window into the human toll. “They were not just names in a headline,” the fundraiser reads. “They were loving parents, devoted family members, cherished children, and dear friends. Their loss leaves an unfillable space in the hearts of everyone who knew them” .

The fundraiser further clarified that five of the six victims were related, though officials have not publicly detailed the exact familial connections. This suggests that the violence was not random but specifically directed at an extended family network spanning two geographic locations .

Vanessa Epperson, an Amberlea resident, captured the sentiment of her shaken community: “It makes you really think. I just feel bad for the families. I feel really bad” .

Part VIII: Broader Context and Reflection

The Feb. 10, 2026, shootings represent a particularly complex entry in Florida’s tragic history of mass violence. Unlike incidents confined to single locations, this cross-state spree required planning, travel, and the navigation of multiple secure environments—including a gated community.

While the investigation continues, early reporting suggests this incident bears hallmarks of domestic violence escalation, albeit on an unprecedented geographic scale. The connection between Kot and Blyudaya—a former romantic relationship—places this tragedy within the broader category of intimate partner violence, which disproportionately accounts for homicides of women.

Yet the inclusion of four additional victims in a separate city, three of whom were male, complicates this narrative. The death of 18-year-old Ben Azizov alongside his mother raises particularly painful questions about whether he was a specific target or whether he simply was present when Kot arrived.

Part IX: Conclusion

As the sun sets on both Fort Lauderdale’s Victoria Park and Sarasota’s Amberlea neighborhood, the residents of these communities face the difficult work of healing. For the families of Larisa Blyudaya, Ben Azizov, Olga Greinert, Florita Stolyar, Anatoly Ioffe, and Yaroslav Blyudoy, that healing will be shaped by the knowledge that six of their loved ones were taken in a single day by a man who then escaped accountability through suicide.

The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office and Fort Lauderdale Police Department continue to investigate. Anyone with information regarding the case, Kot’s activities in the days leading up to Feb. 10, or the relationships among the involved parties is urged to contact law enforcement.

In the absence of complete answers, those who remain are left with memories, photographs, and the knowledge that Feb. 10, 2026, will forever mark a before and after in their lives. The fundraiser for surviving relatives perhaps expressed it best: “Their loss leaves an unfillable space in the hearts of everyone who knew them.”

For the broader public, this tragedy serves as a somber reminder that violence does not always respect jurisdictional boundaries, and that the end of a relationship—even one concluded without documented incident—does not always guarantee safety for those who once loved.

This article is based on information available as of Feb. 11, 2026, from the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office, Fort Lauderdale Police Department, and official statements provided to CBS News, Fox 13, and the Herald-Tribune. The investigation remains ongoing.