Mr. Russell was one of the citizens of Sanctuary Hills to be selected as a Vault 111 resident. He made it in time to enter the vault before the nuclear bomb exploded.
As with the other cryogenically frozen occupants of Vault 111, Mr Russell died due to asphyxiation when life support to the cryo pods was switched off, during the Institute's kidnapping of Shaun in 2227.
After leaving Vault 111, his house contains a floor safe beneath a dresser. A terminal belonging to a chem dealer in Sanctuary Hills states that Mr. Russell purchased X-cell at some point, although the dealer suspects that he may have used it on their dogs.[1]
↑Ledger terminal Russell: They still owe me for that last X-Cell delivery. Occurred to me - was it even for them? Because, so help me God, if I find out they're juicing up those dogs, we're going to have words about more than the money. But we're probably beyond words anyway. I know they have a floor safe in there - I've seen it. Master bedroom, under the dresser. Can't be that tough to crack mate.
Edit
