Buffalo Grove police, village officials mum on ‘ongoing criminal’ probe following Kisliak family murder-suicide

Months after the apparent murder-suicide of a family of five in their Buffalo Grove home, believed to have been committed by a 39-year-old man with a long history of interactions with police, officials say they are investigating but will not disclose what is being probed.

“I’m disappointed that Buffalo Grove is not candid and forthcoming about the situation surrounding the Kisliaks,” neighbor Baron Harmon wrote in a text to Pioneer Press. “It makes a bad situation worse. I hoped for a high-ranking Village of Buffalo Grove member to come out to the funeral and give some words of comfort.”

As neighbors and friends grieved the December loss of Vera Kisliak, her daughters, Vivian and Amilia, and the girls’ grandmother, Lilia Kisliak, they shared anecdotes about frequently seeing police at the family’s home on Acacia Terrace in the summer, and how Vera Kisliak was scared her husband would harm her.

Andrei Kisliak had numerous run-ins with the Buffalo Grove police in the years before he allegedly murdered his family and took his own life, including a domestic battery arrest in 2011. Court records show he and Vera met in Minsk, Belarus in 2013 before getting married and moving to Buffalo Grove.

On July 11, 2022, Vera Kisliak made the first of what would be nine calls to Buffalo Grove police and made the last one on Sept. 30 — when she told dispatchers that her husband was at their home, in violation of an order of protection.

Since a news conference Dec. 1, police Chief Brian Budds has not publicly commented on how the department handled the Kisliak’s situation or its approach to investigating and responding to domestic violence — despite requests from Pioneer Press.

Budds was named chief on Nov. 7, three weeks before the Kisliaks were found dead in their home.

On Jan. 3 , the village of Buffalo Grove denied a Pioneer Press public records request seeking written communications from Budds referencing the case, claiming the “disclosure would obstruct an ongoing criminal investigation by the agency that is the recipient of the request.”

The department has not disclosed what is being investigated at this point, but has routinely used the claim to deny Pioneer Press Freedom of Information Act requests. Village officials did, however, release a number of reports on Dec. 28 following a letter from lawyers of the Chicago Tribune, which owns Pioneer Press, requesting them to do so.

Harmon said he has not stopped wondering why Budds and other village officials, who oversee a town of more than 40,000, have not weighed in on how the village can better respond to domestic violence calls.

Neither village nor police officials responded to repeated requests for comment for this report.

It is unclear if law enforcement was aware of a public Instagram social media account that appears to have belonged to Andrei Kisliak, where hundreds of posts, including video of police officers responding to calls at the house, were uploaded in the summer and fall.

A pinned Instagram Story post from late August or early September appears to show Andrei Kisliak posing with a large knife in the parking lot outside a restaurant in Deerfield.

The batch of records released on Dec. 28 show that Vera and another woman, who asked to be referred to only as Diana, both called the police on Aug. 24 and Andrei was eventually located at the restaurant with the couple’s children.

In December, Diana told Pioneer Press that she believed the Buffalo Grove police officers who handled her call felt Vera was “over-exaggerating” her concerns about her husband’s actions.

She said she worried the responding officers would not make a report to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services for a potential investigation into the family, though a Buffalo Grove spokesperson said the police department referred the Kisliaks to “social services and/or other relevant agencies” after the Aug. 24 call and after four other calls in 2022.

A DCFS spokesman confirmed that it was contacted by the Buffalo Grove Police Department on July 20 and Aug. 24, “and in both reports noted no concerns of abuse or neglect.”

“DCFS has no history of involvement or investigation of any of the members of this household,” DCFS spokesman Bill McCaffrey wrote in an email to Pioneer Press.

A video posted to the Instagram account on Aug. 24 appears to show Andrei Kisliak flashing a pistol in front of his camera while playing music. It now has nearly 7,500 views. Police records state he turned in a Desert Eagle pistol two months later.

Many of the videos on the Instagram account express contempt for Vera, including one where Andrei held up a sign that had Vera’s name on it and was accompanied by middle finger emojis.

There were also seemingly disturbing Ring home security videos on the social media account, including ones capturing police officers respond to calls to the Kisliak home.

Other posts on the account include photos of Amilia and Vivian Kisliak, and photos and Instagram Story posts tagging Vera’s lawyer’s firm.

Harmon told Pioneer Press in late December that he is considering starting an organization to improve awareness of domestic violence and responses to it. Part of the motivation to do so stems from his frustration with the government response to the Kisliak family’s situation.

“For the kind of money we’re paying for these policemen, they should be doing something other than hiding from you,” he said.

People experiencing domestic violence in Lake County can call 847-249-4450 to reach the 24/7 hotline operated by A Safe Place in Zion. The National Domestic Violence hotline can be reached at 800-799-7233.