Viktor I. Polichenko of Indianapolis, 55, was killed February 15 while visiting family in Chelyabinsk, Russia. Polichenko had moved from the central Russian city to Indianapolis in 1983. Here he met and married his wife, Brownsburg native Natalie Walters Polichenko, who survives him along with their two sons Anatoli ("Tony"), 23, and Viktor Jr., 19. Mr. and Mrs. Polichenko had traveled to Chelyabinsk to the home of Polichenko's aunt Irina Kuznetsov because his uncle Alexei had taken gravely ill. Just after dawn on February 15, Viktor and Natalie got into a heated argument. Kuznetsov, speaking through an interpreter, reported that Natalie had accused her husband of cheating on her. "He was outraged that she would accuse him of this," said Kuznetsov. "He said, 'I am innocent. If I am lying, may God send [a] meteor to strike me down where I stand.'" Though hundreds were hurt and many buildings were damaged, Polichenko is the only fatality from the meteor that exploded over Chelyabinsk on February 15.
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