Vladimir Pokhilko

Born in Moscow on April 7, 1954, he graduated from the Faculty of Psychology at Moscow State University in 1982. He was a junior researcher at the I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University.

A friend of Tetris creator Alexey Pajitnov, he was the first clinical psychologist to conduct experiments using the game.^[2] He played an important role in the subsequent development and marketing of the game, and a 1999 article in the Forbes magazine credited him for "co-inventing the seminal videogame Tetris".^[3]

In 1989, he and Pajitnov founded the 3D software technology company AnimaTek in Moscow.^[4] While attempting to create software for INTEC (a company they started) that would be made for "people's souls", they developed the idea for El-Fish.^{[citation needed]}

After suffering financial difficulties at his software company, AnimaTek, Pokhilko murdered his wife, Elena Fedotova (38) and their son, Peter (12), by bludgeoning and stabbing them both to death. He then committed suicide by slitting his own throat.^[5] Shortly before his death, Pokhilko penned a note. The police initially did not release the content of the note, saying that it was not a suicide note and that they didn't know who authored it.^[6] They later determined it was a suicide note and published the content of the note in 1999; it read:^[7]

"I've been eaten alive. Vladimir. Just remember that I am exist. The davil. [sic]"

• Vladimir Pokhilko seminar abstract and bio on the Stanford University Human-Computer Interaction website.
• The Tetris Murders documentary suggesting Vladimir Pokhilko did not commit the murder-suicide.