SUNNYVALE – A software engineer turned himself into Sunnyvale police Wednesday, telling them he murdered his wife, and officers responded to discover the couple’s 11-year-old daughter had also been killed.
Leonid Solomonovich Yamburg, 51, was arrested on suspicion of two counts of murder that occurred at a home near Homestead High School, on the 900 block of W. Homestead Road, according to police.
Yamburg showed up at Sunnyvale’s Department of Public Safety headquarters at 2:34 p.m. and, via a phone located outside the lobby because of COVID-19 protocol, he told dispatchers he was there to “admit murder,” police said.
Officers immediately took Yamburg into custody and responded to the home, where his wife, Svetlana Nikitina, 47, and daughter were found dead. Both victims sustained significant head trauma, apparently from earlier in the day, police said; Nikitina was in the garage, the child in the bathroom.
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Nikitina worked the past decade as a resource specialist and therapist for the Franklin-McKinley and Cupertino Union school districts, after obtaining a master’s degree in psychology in Moscow in the late 1990s, according to her Linkedin profile.
“We are so saddened by the tragedy and are working to support our students, staff and community during this very difficult time of tremendous loss. She was very beloved,” said Leslie Mains, an associate superintendent with Cupertino Union School District.
Yamburg worked in the tech industry, police believe. His Linkedin profile lists him as a software engineer for Zultys in Sunnyvale; attempts to reach Zultys were unsuccessful. He claimed to have attended Moscow University of Radio Engineering, Electronics and Automation from 1988-94, and his previous employers were Broadcom, SonicWALL and Linkbit.
Yamburg was booked into the Santa Clara County Main Jail on Thursday morning and is being held without bail. Police said after Yamburg’s initial interaction with officers, he declined further comment and requested a lawyer.
These were Sunnyvale’s first homicides since an August 2020 stabbing, and there have been 19 homicides in the Silicon Valley city since 2010, including Wednesday’s two, as well as a March 2020 shooting.
Sunnyvale police extended sympathy to the victims’ families and friends over the “horrific tragedy.” A team of detectives continues to work the case and the specific cause of death remains under investigation.
Anyone with further information is asked to contact Detective Ben Holt at 408-730-7100, extension 4565.
Staff writer Robert Salonga contributed to this report.
