Chances are you’ve probably played Tetris a time or two. However, did you know it’s connected to a crime? That’s what ID’s forthcoming three-part docuseries, The Tetris Murders, will explore. All three parts will premiere Monday, December 5, starting at 9/8c on ID. They’ll also be available to stream the same day on discovery+. Let’s take a closer look at what it’s all about.
Revisiting The Tetris Murders
In the late ‘80s and ‘90s, the puzzle-based video game Tetris exploded across America. Eventually, it took the rest of the world by storm, too. To this day, the iconic game’s popularity endures. People of all ages and backgrounds still play it on their phones or devices.
However, unknown to many, one of the minds behind the game met a tragic, complex, and deadly end. Vladimir Pokhilko helped develop Tetris. On September 22, 1998, police found him dead alongside his wife and their young son in their Palo Alto, California, home.
The Palo Alto Police Department homicide investigators were first on the scene. Now, more than two decades later, they revisit the haunting crime.
Over the course of this gripping three-part docuseries, the investigators unearth new theories and evidence, further unraveling the mystery of this crime. What was once thought to be a murder-suicide in 1998 is now revealed to be something much more sinister. As the investigators revisit the evidence, dark connections to Russia surface.
“While most of us have heard and played Tetris, very few are aware of the brutal crime that took the life of Vladimir Pokhilko, one of the co-developers of this iconic video game, and his family,” said Jason Sarlanis, President of Crime and Investigative Content, Linear and Streaming. “For the first time, The Tetris Murders takes viewers inside the mystery surrounding this grisly murder-suicide. When the very detectives who first investigated this terrible crime discover new evidence decades later, they piece together a crime that could be even more sinister than previously believed and possibly part of an insidious conspiracy reaching all the way behind the Iron Curtain.”
Inside the Doc
When Palo Alto PD CSI Tech Investigator Sandra Brown arrived at the Pokhilko crime scene in 1998, she and many members of her team instantly knew something was amiss. Pokhilko left behind a suicide note to Brown and her team. However, the forensics and the physical evidence didn’t line up with the murder-suicide scenario being proposed.
Just as Brown and her team began to connect the dots, they discovered the FBI had its own interest in Pokhilko and the case, making the mystery even more puzzling.
Decades later, with the grisly crime confirmed a murder-suicide by the FBI and police department, a now-retired Brown revisits the case to re-examine the evidence and the conspiracies surrounding the lead-up to that fateful September night to determine once and for all what really happened to the Pokhilko family.
The Tetris Murders features firsthand interviews with Brown and other members of the Palo Alto PD, as well as incredible archival footage. It provides compelling insight into this shocking crime, as well as a deep and unsettling look at the dark presence of Russian influence in the Pokhilko murders.
For More Info
Investigation Discovery (ID) is the leading crime and justice network on television. It delivers the highest-quality programming to approximately 80 million U.S. households. Viewers can enjoy their favorite shows anytime, anywhere on discovery+, the definitive non-fiction, real-life subscription streaming service.
ID’s true-crime programming is also available via the network’s aggregated TV Everywhere offering, IDGO, where fans can access thousands of episodes from the Discovery family of networks. They can discover even more via the network’s true crime blog, CrimeFeed.
For exclusive articles, videos, and live discussions about The Tetris Murders, fans can also ID on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook using #TheTetrisMurders to join the conversation.
Check-In
When was the last time you played Tetris?
Courtney Mroch is a globe-trotting restless spirit who’s both possessed by wanderlust and the spirit of adventure, and obsessed with true crime, horror, the paranormal, and weird days. Perhaps it has something to do with her genes? She is related to occult royalty, after all. Marie Laveau, the famous Voodoo practitioner of New Orleans, is one of her ancestors. (Yes, really! As explained here.) That could also explain her infatuation with skeletons.
Speaking of mystical, to learn how Courtney channeled her battle with cancer to conjure up this site, check out HJ’s Origin Story.
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This sounds like a fascinating case. If it wasn’t a murder-suicide, then I hope the perpetrators are brought to justice. I last played Tetris about 15 years ago. I wasn’t all that good at it!
Agreed on all counts, Priscilla. Fascinating and I hope justice can be served…or at least Vladimir Pokhilko’s name can be cleared of any wrong doing if there were other factors at play.
And you’re good! I can’t even remember the last time I played Tetris. Only that I had to end up forcing myself NOT to play because I wasn’t any good at it either but I’d find myself consumed playing it! lol