Newly released police records following the conclusion of a Buffalo Grove murder-suicide investigation show that Andrei Kisliak made a desperate push to get money in the days leading up to Nov. 30, when investigators discovered — and have since concluded — that he killed his wife, daughters and mother before taking his own life.
Authorities believe that Kisliak, 39, carried out the killings with a large knife they found “protruding from his chest,” and autopsies by the Lake County coroner’s office showed “sharp force injuries” caused the deaths of Vera, 36, Vivian, 7, Amilia, 4, and Lilia Kisliak, 67.
Police reports detail how Andrei Kisliak visited “several car dealerships in the area” attempting to sell some or all of his four BMWs in the days before Nov. 30, though no transactions were completed, and that the divorce attorney for Vera Kisliak told investigators that Andrei Kisliak owed about $450,000 in mortgage payments on their Acacia Terrace home.
Neighbors and associates told police that Andrei Kisliak, “often participated in risky behavior,” and some told police that he brought prostitutes into their home, and would smoke marijuana or drink alcohol before driving. They added, according to police reports, that he was often seen speeding on residential roads with “little regard” for pedestrians.
Administrators and staff at Ivy Hall Elementary School, where Vivian Kisliak was a student, told police in a Dec. 13 interview that there was an incident when the child, “spoke about being afraid to go home because her dad (Andrei Kisliak) would hit her.”
A school staff member recalled to investigators that Andrei Kisliak was once referred to as a “bad man” by a family member whose name was redacted.
The school did not report the case to the Illinois Department of Child and Family Services, according to the police report. Ivy Hall Elementary School officials did not immediately return a request for comment on Friday.
A former business colleague told investigators that Andrei Kisliak called on Nov. 25 with appliance units to sell “dirt cheap,” said he was in dire need of money and was “getting out of the business,” a police report shows.
The former associate informed investigators that Andrei Kisliak had contacted another business associate between 40 and 50 times between Nov. 25 and Nov. 29, hours before the killings occurred, in desperate attempts to raise funds.
The man, who explained he worked with Sub Zero and Wolf appliances, said he went to the family’s Buffalo Grove home on Nov. 25 and was prepared to send Andrei Kisliak money over Zelle to purchase some of the appliance items. Before finalizing the deal, though, the person told investigators Andrei Kisliak started to “freak out” and began crying before he asked for more money and also offered to sell his vehicles.
He first asked for $30,000, the person told investigators, and then asked for more money after he had gone inside to fetch the vehicle titles. The man asked Andrei Kisliak at one point during their interaction if he could use the bathroom inside, and was told he could not go inside the house. The man told police no transactions were ever completed that night, and he ultimately left.
Formerly a tennis coach at a Bannockburn club until the COVID-19 pandemic hit, police reports show that Andrei Kisliak began rehabilitating and selling refrigerator parts and “had no other known sources of income” as unpaid bills piled up as a contentious divorce played out.
Andrei Kisliak reportedly “begged Vera to end the divorce proceedings” in the days leading up to Nov. 30, reports show. He appeared “very calm, which was unusual behavior for him,” in court proceedings the day prior to the killings.
In the Nov. 29 court hearing, the two agreed to sell their home and split the proceeds, Vera was granted custody of their children and, according to police records, the judge “stated she was happy to see an agreement” reached.
According to a Lake County Major Crime Task Force report, Vera’s attorney, Steve Bogdanov, told investigators that Vera Kisliak was in his office during that hearing, held via Zoom, and that Andrei Kisliak was in the home.
Bogdanov has previously declined to comment about the case, and his name is redacted from the police reports, though court records confirm he was representing Vera Kisliak throughout the divorce.
Bogdanov told investigators that the judge on Nov. 29, “commended Andrei and Vera because they were communicating, and they expressed the desire to co-parent.”
When investigators asked about the terms of a settlement the two were progressing toward, he told them he could not disclose that information, nor the allegations Vera Kisliak had made about her estranged husband that prompted her to secure an order of protection against him.
Earlier that month, Lake County Judge Marnie Slavin had issued a stern warning that “strongly advised against” an arrangement to drop the order of protection, allowing Andrei Kisliak to return home, which was requested by both parties.
That arrangement required the two stay in their respective bedrooms, outlined a shared parenting schedule and did not allow them to enter the other party’s bedroom. Andrei Kisliak was not allowed to take Vivian from school “for any reason,” and could not remove Amilia from school before noon “on the days he has parenting time.”
Police reports show that on Dec. 1, the owner of Excalibur Auto Sales in Palatine went to the Buffalo Grove police department to share that he and an employee had interacted with Andrei, who was “desperate” to sell them some of his BMW vehicles on Nov. 29. The owner told investigators the vehicles were not in good condition and he declined the buy them.
Investigators also heard from the owner of Palatine Toyota, who reported that Andrei had visited the dealership and asked for $14,000 for his 2009 BMW Alpine, and that he was “normal and polite” after he was eventually turned down.
The former business associate also told investigators about a Nov. 28 interaction between Andrei Kisliak and a receptionist at Midwest Parts in Addison, which carries Sub Zero and Wolf appliance parts. He said Andrei Kisliak returned multiple refrigerator parts and informed the receptionist he planned on “getting out of the business.”
The morning of Nov. 30, first-responders located Lilia Kisliak on the first floor of the Acacia Terrace home and found Andrei deceased in an upstairs hallway, with Vera and her daughters in the “immediate vicinity.” All of the family members had “numerous wounds, later determined to be sharp force trauma, visible on their persons.”
According to Buffalo Grove police Officer Ashley Krozel’s report, no one answered the door after police arrived at the house and observed several vehicles in the driveway.
Police made significant efforts to contact either Andrei and Vera Kisliak, reached out to the schools in which they believed the Kisliak children were enrolled and called a few area hospitals before they forced entry into the family’s Acacia Terrace home.
After witnessing “an unknown dark substance” when peering through a first floor window, Buffalo Grove police Officer Derek Hawkins used a ladder and “observed more of a similar dark substance” in the house on the second story, “as well as a motionless body.”
While police were at the home, the Northwest Central emergency dispatch center attempted to “ping” both Vera and Andrei Kisliak’s cellphones, revealing Vera’s phone to be within a 2,000-meter radius, possibly in the home, and that Andrei’s phone may have been turned off.
Police were first alerted to the situation by a call from a co-worker of Vera’s who said she was aware Vera was “in the middle of a contentious divorce,” and that Andrei had been “violent in the past.”
“ (Vera) is really good about texting if she’s going to be late or, you know, calling in,” the co-worker told a dispatcher. “She’s really good about responding. It’s not normal behavior.”
In a release, Buffalo Grove Police Chief Brian Budds said, “This tragedy has been felt by the (Kisliaks’) family, friends and neighbors, as well as our officers and support staff who knew them. I want to encourage the public to take note and share the important resources available to assist anyone experiencing domestic violence including but not limited to the National Domestic Violence Hotline (800-799-7233), A Safe Place (800-600-7233) and WINGS (847-221-5680) as well as our own Buffalo Grove police social services (847-459-2560.”
Budds previously declined requests to comment about the case, or how the department handles domestic violence cases.
