Connecticut Family Tragedy Shocks Plainville Community as Authorities Investigate

A quiet Friday afternoon in a small Connecticut town ended with SWAT trucks rolling onto residential driveways, a gunshot echoing from inside a house, and neighbors frozen on their front lawns, wondering what was happening next door.

In Plainville, Connecticut, on March 27, 2026, police responded to a 911 call about a man threatening to do the worst possible thing. What officers found when they finally entered that Milford Street home that evening is almost too hard to comprehend, but unfortunately, it has happened before.

When the Calls Started Coming In

Just before 4 p.m. that day, a woman called 911 with a message that stopped dispatchers cold. Her brother, she told them, had just confessed to doing something awful to his girlfriend and their four-year-old daughter and said he was going to hurt himself next.

Officers from the Plainville Police Department reached the home quickly. They established a secure boundary around the property and attempted to communicate with the man inside.

He wasn't responding.

A SWAT team was brought in, and a negotiator eventually reached him by phone, spending close to two hours trying to convince him to give himself up.

He refused.

With no path forward, officers had to make a choice. "The decision was made to deploy pepper gas within the home," Plainville Police Chief Christopher Vanghele said at a press briefing the following day.

Moments after the gas was released, a single gunshot rang out from inside. The man had shot himself in the head. He was rushed to a nearby hospital but was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.

A Neighborhood Turned Upside Down

For Tom, a neighbor who has lived on Milford Street for nearly 50 years, the afternoon arrived without any warning.

"Half an hour later, a big SWAT truck parked on my driveway, the big box truck. Six guys came into my backyard, looking over the fence, [they] climbed over the fence, top of the roof," he told reporters. He had lived next door to this family for months and barely knew them.

Another neighbor, Tim Sunderland, watched the scene unfold with equal disbelief. He had no idea there were children inside. "I didn't know there were two little girls," he said.

When law enforcement entered the residence, they found three bodies, each with gunshot wounds. Chief Vanghele identified the victims as 31-year-old Felisha Matthews and her two daughters, four-year-old Ava King and 12-year-old Mileena Matthews. Mileena was Felisha's child from an earlier relationship.

The 27-year-old suspect, Patrick King, killed all three victims before he committed suicide.

A Love Story With a Devastating End

Patrick and Felisha had been together for over seven years, having met at an auto parts store back in 2018. On social media, they looked like a couple that had weathered a lot together and come out stronger for it.

Just last August, Felisha shared an anniversary tribute that read like a letter to someone she planned to grow old with.

She wrote that the two had "built a life full of love, chaos, growth, and so many second chances," and called what they shared "real, rare, and ours." She closed with, "I love you, babe. Always have, always will."

Patrick had publicly called her his "soulmate" in posts of his own.

The family had only moved into the Milford Street home this January. Chief Vanghele noted that Patrick was "very new to this community" and that police had never once been called to the address before that Friday.

The weapon used in the killings appears to have been legally registered to him, and he held a valid carry permit. Several other firearms were also recovered inside the home.

The Girls Their Neighbors Will Never Forget

Mileena, 12, attended the Middle School of Plainville, where she was remembered by those who knew her as a girl who always had a smile to offer.

Her classmate and neighbor Niko shared a bus stop with her, trading hellos and goodbyes before and after school. "She wasn't at school too much; she was absent like two or three times a week," he said.

When the police vehicles started appearing on his street that Friday, he was simply confused. "I heard that she was home or she wasn't. It started with a bunch of cars, and then it was a SWAT truck in our driveway," he explained.

The school announced it would make counseling resources available to students the following Monday.

Little Ava, just four years old, had her own circle too. Her mother, Felisha, had become close friends with a woman named Miranda Berger after the two met while both were pregnant. Their daughters, Ava and Bailey, were born just two weeks apart and had spent their short lives playing together.

Berger told reporters she had first met Felisha through Patrick, who was originally from Bristol, and that she knew he had struggled with his mental health.

Bristol police had previously responded to a mental health medical call involving him. Still, she never imagined he was capable of this level of violence.

"I think that at the end of the day, I wish mental health services were available more in the world," she said.

A Town Left Searching for Why

Chief Vanghele did not mince words at the Saturday briefing:

"This is an active investigation and currently there is no information as to the motive of the killer. This is a very dark day for the town of Plainville and for Connecticut."

Plainville Town Manager Mike Paulhus stood beside him, equally lost for an explanation. "I'm not sure we'll ever understand what transpired," he said, adding that while the community is resilient and will come together, "it is a dark day and a dark hour at this moment."

Felisha, who was also a Bristol native and graduate of Bristol Central High School, went on to earn her medical assistant certification at Tunxis Community College and later worked as a dispatcher in Waterbury.

Her obituary remembers her as a free-spirited, bold, and fiercely devoted mother whose entire world revolved around Mileena and Ava. She was also known for her artistic spirit, her love of animals, and a personality that left a lasting impression on everyone she met.

A public gathering in remembrance of Felisha, Mileena, and Ava is planned for Saturday, April 4, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Plainville Funeral Home on 81 Broad Street.

Funeral services were held privately. The investigation remains open, and Plainville is sitting in grief as this tragedy has no easy explanation. Unfortunately, this kind of situation isn't uncommon.

As previously reported, a routine welfare check in Fort Lauderdale's upscale Victoria Park neighborhood on Tuesday, February 10, 2026, uncovered a scene that would set off a multi-city investigation.

What police found inside a third-floor condo on Northeast 15th Avenue was just the beginning. The real horror was still unfolding 150 miles south.

A Troubling Discovery in Victoria Park, Fort Lauderdale

Officers discovered 46-year-old Larisa Blyudaya and her son, 18-year-old Ben Azizov, both dead inside the residence. The mother and son had been murdered.

But as investigators processed the crime scene in Fort Lauderdale, they had no idea that the killer had already left the city hours earlier. And he wasn't finished.

Gunshots in Amberlea and a Desperate Fight to Save a Life

Around 11 a.m. that same morning in Sarasota County's quiet Amberlea neighborhood, a woman heard a loud boom. She thought someone had dropped something heavy.

She went about her day, not thinking much of it. But roughly 40 minutes later, she stepped outside her front door, and her world tilted.

A man was lying in her neighbor's yard, bleeding heavily. The woman immediately dropped to her knees and began performing CPR.

"I think my neighbor's been shot," she told the 911 dispatcher in the frantic audio later released by authorities. As she pumped his chest, she added: "There's blood all over his stomach."

The man was 61-year-old Anatoly "Tony" Ioffe. Video footage would later reveal he had just arrived home and approached his front door when he was shot. Despite the neighbor's efforts, Tony was pronounced dead shortly after paramedics arrived.

What Deputies Found Inside

When Sarasota County deputies entered the home near Proctor and McIntosh roads, the scene was far worse than anyone expected. Three more bodies lay inside the residence.

Tony's wife, 66-year-old Florita "Rita" Stolyar, had been shot to death. So had their son, 39-year-old Yaroslav "Stan" Blyudoy, and a close family friend, 49-year-old Olga Greinert.

The Killer Revealed

A fifth body was also discovered at the scene, a man who didn't belong to the family. He appeared to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Authorities identified the dead man as 51-year-old Russell Kot of Fort Lauderdale. Video evidence showed his vehicle entering the Amberlea neighborhood at 11:01 a.m.

A neighbor's Ring camera captured the sound of gunfire shortly after. Russell had been inside the home for nearly 40 minutes before Tony arrived and walked straight into an ambush.

The Hidden Connection

As investigators from Fort Lauderdale contacted their counterparts in Sarasota, a chilling pattern emerged. The victims weren't random.

Tony and Rita were Larisa's parents. Stan was her brother. Russell had methodically hunted down and murdered his ex-girlfriend, her teenage son, and then her entire immediate family in another city.

Authorities believe Russell murdered Larisa and her teenage son Ben in Fort Lauderdale first, then drove 150 miles south to Sarasota to hunt down and kill her entire immediate family before turning the gun on himself.

Lives Destroyed in a Senseless Act

The rampage left three people behind to pick up the pieces: Eve, Larisa's daughter and Ben's sister; Eldar, Ben's father; and Leslie, Stan's fiancée.

In one day, Eve lost her mother, brother, grandparents, and uncle. Leslie lost her future husband and his entire family. Eldar lost his teenage son.

A GoFundMe page created for the survivors describes the magnitude of their loss. "They were not just names in a headline," it reads. "They were loving parents, devoted parents, cherished children, and dear friends."

The fundraiser has raised over $80,000 of its $100,000 goal to cover funeral expenses, trauma counseling, and basic living costs as the three survivors try to navigate life after losing everyone.

The Question Everyone's Asking

Russell's motive for targeting an entire family remains a mystery. Why did he drive 150 miles to kill people who, by all accounts, had nothing to do with whatever grievance he held?

A man who rented Russell a condo in Fort Lauderdale told reporters Russell had been living there quietly for two weeks before the murders. Nothing seemed amiss.

The investigation remains active as authorities analyze video footage and witness accounts. Anyone with information is asked to call the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Bureau at 941-861-4900.