{"id":153450,"date":"2026-02-12T20:21:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T20:21:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/153450\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T20:21:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T20:21:08","slug":"russell-kot-identified-in-florida-killings-that-left-seven-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/153450\/","title":{"rendered":"Russell Kot identified in Florida killings that left seven dead"},"content":{"rendered":"

Authorities have identified the victims and suspect in a series of killings that left seven people dead across two Florida cities on Tuesday, Us Weekly<\/a> reports.<\/p>\n

Russell Kot, 51, of Fort Lauderdale, killed four people inside a Sarasota home before taking his own life, according to the Sarasota County Sheriff\u2019s Office. Kot is also suspected of fatally shooting two people in Fort Lauderdale earlier that day.<\/p>\n

Deputies responded to a home on Fallcrest Circle in a gated Sarasota community around 12:30 p.m. after receiving a shooting report, according to KPTV<\/a>. A neighbor was performing CPR on a man in the front yard when officers arrived. That victim was later pronounced dead.<\/p>\n

Inside the residence, deputies found four more bodies and a weapon. Kot was among those found dead inside, according to Gulf Coast News Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Sarasota victims were identified as Olga Greinert, 49, Florita Stolyar, 66, Anatoly Ioffe, 61, and Yaroslav Blyudoy, 39, Us Weekly said.<\/p>\n

The investigation connected deputies with the Fort Lauderdale Police Department, which was working a separate double homicide from the same day. Kot is suspected of killing Larisa Blyudaya, 46, and Ben Azivov, 18, in Fort Lauderdale, Us Weekly reports.<\/p>\n

Kot was previously in a romantic relationship with Blyudaya, who was connected to the Sarasota victims, according to the sheriff\u2019s office. The motive for the Sarasota killings remains unknown.<\/p>\n

Ring camera footage helped investigators establish a timeline, Us Weekly noted. The video showed Kot\u2019s vehicle entering the Sarasota neighborhood at 11:01 a.m. The same vehicle had been spotted earlier traveling north through Punta Gorda. About 37 minutes after the suspect\u2019s arrival, the male victim later found on the lawn was captured on camera entering the neighborhood, approaching the front door and being shot.<\/p>\n

A sheriff\u2019s office spokesperson confirmed the investigation involved multiple people and that all individuals appear to be accounted for.<\/p>\n

One resident told KPTV they were \u201ca little in shock\u201d over the incident. \u201cJust people dying \u2026 it\u2019s horrible,\u201d the resident said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Authorities have identified the victims and suspect in a series of killings that left seven people dead across…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":153451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250],"class_list":{"0":"post-153450","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fort-lauderdale","8":"tag-fort-lauderdale","9":"tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","10":"tag-fort-lauderdale-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/153451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}