'The Tetris Murders' Delves Into Mystery Behind Horrific 1998 Murder Case

Sandra Brown's suspicions began to stack up after she first encountered what would come to be known as "The Tetris Murders" in September 1998. For the Palo Alto PD Crime Scene Investigator, the strange blood spatter, lack of fingerprints and rumored Russian mafia involvement raised one red flag after the next.

Now, the puzzling crime is the subject of The Tetris Murders, a three-part docuseries premiering Monday on ID and available to stream on Discovery+. Brown, who has since retired, stars in the gripping new show and told Newsweek that the case has stuck with her in the years since.

"Our medical examiners ruled that the deaths were double homicide-suicide; they ruled that Vladimir Pokhilko killed his family and then killed himself," Brown told Newsweek. "I didn't believe it then, and I know I don't believe it now."

The Tetris Murders tells the riveting story of a Russian family discovered slain in Palo Alto, California. The case was initially ruled a murder-suicide, but some investigators—Brown chief among them—have questioned the official narrative surrounding the killings.

Vladimir Pokhilko, who was a co-developer of the world-famous Tetris video game, had moved to the sleepy Silicon Valley neighborhood from Russia along with his yoga-instructor wife and adolescent son. Although the immigrant tried to find success in America, he fell upon hard times when his new business began to fail.

Some theorized that financial desperation pushed Pokhilko to snap and that he murdered his family before turning a knife on himself. But those who knew the man have long maintained that he was innocent.

Brown told Newsweek that during filming, she felt "vindicated" following an interaction with one of the show's producers. She recalled getting handed a bombshell report, one that she hadn't seen in more than two decades, and being asked to flip to a specific page.

"When I got to that page, what I saw on that page blew me out of my suit," Brown said. "I was so shocked that I even asked the cameraman, 'Are we rolling right now? We're actually rolling?' I looked at the producer and I said, 'I told you! This man did not kill himself.'"

Although the outcome of the investigation will most likely remain the same, Brown hopes that the docuseries can help to redeem Pokhilko's name.

"Hopefully [viewers] will take it into their hearts that Vladimir Pokhilko was not a murderer, that maybe was a victim," she said. Brown later added: "And we can then not vilify Vladimir any longer."

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