When asked if he regretted fatally stabbing his estranged wife, all Vladimir Podnebennyy said was that she shouldn’t have told him she was leaving him to “start a new life with someone else.”
According to the criminal complaint filed by State College police, Podnebennyy lured his wife to his State College residence at 400 Gerald Street on Monday afternoon under the ruse that his car battery had died.
He later told police that she was aware he had car battery problems, and that he wanted to open the hood of her car so that she couldn’t easily drive away and would be forced to speak with him.
She had been living at a shelter in State College for the last three weeks because she feared for her safety, according to police. Podnebennyy said that his intent was to reconcile with his estranged wife, but she declined his attempts.
“She had a knife in her hand and told him to stay away from her,” the criminal complaint said. “Podnebennyy said that she kept the knife in the door of her car to peel fruit. He said that he grabbed the knife from her hand with his left hand and stabbed her in the chest two to three times. She attempted to defend herself by grabbing the blade but was unsuccessful.”
After he stabbed her, Podnebennyy reportedly called his daughter, Olga Igolnijov, who lives in Florida. Igolnijov reported the stabbing to police after she got off the phone with her father, telling them, “My father stabbed my mother. I think he killed her.”
Igolnijov stated that her father told her that he killed her mother. “I have killed your mom. I have killed your mom. I have stabbed your mom,” he told her.
Podnebennyy told police he tried to call his wife “about 200 times” this past weekend with no success, leading to his attempt to speak with her on Monday afternoon.
“When asked if he regretted stabbing his wife, Podnebennyy stated that she shouldn’t have said what she said,” the criminal complaint stated. “He said that he never felt threatened and he easily took the knife from her hand. She never threatened him or pointed the knife at him.”
Police found the victim slumped over the center console of her car with a kitchen knife protruding from her chest. She was transported to the Mount Nittany Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead from multiple stab wounds to the chest and defensive wounds to both hands.
Podnebennyy is being held without bail and has been charged with first and third degree murder, aggravated assault, and possession of an instrument of a crime.
