A little more than three weeks after becoming top cop in Buffalo Grove, Brian Budds and his department were thrust into the national spotlight on the morning of Nov. 30, 2022.
A well-being check at a home on Acacia Terrace brought the discovery of something the new police chief could only describe as “horrific” — the slain bodies of a woman, her two young daughters and her mother-in-law by her estranged husband, who then took his own life.
Budds, who worked many major investigations during his 25-year law enforcement career in Western Springs, soon would realize none could compare to the magnitude of what he and his officers were about to face.
“Even one year later, it’s difficult for me to find the words to describe what and how I was feeling that day,” Budds told the Daily Herald. “But it was a reminder that any given police department on any given day is one call away from encountering a terrible incident like this.”
On the anniversary of the killings, Budds recounted a day he calls surreal and emotional, while praising the focus and professionalism of first responding officers, detectives and evidence technicians who worked to process the scene.
He also backed the way police handled domestic-related calls for service to the Kisliak home over the years, and backed his department’s policies and procedures for how officers and support staff respond to domestic-related situations.
Police formally closed their investigation in March, concluding that Andrei Kisliak, 39, fatally stabbed his wife, Vera, 36, daughters Vivian, 7, and Amilia, 4, and his 67-year-old mother, Lilia Kisliak. All five suffered fatal “sharp force” injuries, authorities said.
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