Andrei Chikatilo

Case record: Andrei Chikatilo

Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo was a Ukrainian-born Soviet serial killer, nicknamed the Rostov Ripper, and also referred to as “The Maniac,” “The Butcher of Rostov,” and “The Red Ripper.” He committed the murders of women and children between 1978 and 1990. He confessed to 56 murders when he was caught, and he was tried for 53 killings; 52 of the 53 murder charges were found guilty.

Timeline

• December 22, 1978 — Chikatilo killed his first documented victim: 9-year-old Lena Zakotnova.
• September 3, 1981 — Larisa Tkachenko, 17, became his next victim.
• June 12, 1982 — Lyubov Biryuk, 13, was killed.
• July 25, 1982 — Lyubov Volobuyeva, 14, was killed.
• August 13, 1982 — Oleg Pozhidayev, 9, was killed.
• August 16, 1982 — Olga Kuprina, 16, was killed.
• September 15, 1982 — Sergey Kuzmin, 15, was killed.
• December 11, 1982 — Olga Stalmachenok, 10, was killed.
• July 1983 — Irina Dunenkova, 13, was killed in July 1983.
• August 1983 — Irina Karabelnikova, 19, was killed in September 1982 per earlier list; the provided narrative continues killings in 1983 with specific dates for later entries.
• October 27, 1983 — Vera Shevkun, 19, was killed.
• December 27, 1983 — Sergey Markov, 14, was killed.
• January 9, 1984 — Natalya Shalapinina, 17, was killed.
• February 21, 1984 — Marta Ryabenko, 45, was killed.
• March 7, 1990 — Yaroslav Makarov, 10, was killed.
• March 8, 1989 — Alexey Moiseyev, 10, was listed as killed in June 20, 1989; the timeline list below includes dated entries explicitly given in the victim table and the narrative.
• March 24, 1984 — Dmitriy Ptashnikov, 10, was killed.
• May 25, 1984 — Tatyana Petrosyan, 32, and Svetlana Petrosyan, 11, were killed.
• July 14, 1988 — Yevgeniy Muratov, 15, was killed.
• August 20, 1991 — After completing interrogation and reenactments, Chikatilo was transferred to the Serbsky Institute in Moscow for a six-day psychiatric evaluation.
• October 18, 1991 — He was declared legally sane on October 18.
• April 14, 1992 — The trial began in Rostov.
• October 14, 1992 — The court reconvened and the judge read the list of murders again.
• October 15, 1992 — Chikatilo was found guilty of 52 of the 53 murders and sentenced to death for each offense.
• January 4, 1994 — Russian President Boris Yeltsin refused a last-ditch appeal for clemency.
• February 16, 1994 — Chikatilo was executed by a single gunshot behind the right ear.

Background

Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo was born on October 16, 1936 in Yablochnoye. His confessions and the case description included references to Ukrainian SSR and Soviet settings. He was described as a Ukrainian-born Soviet serial killer with Russian and Ukrainian references to his name: Russian: Андрей Романович Чикатило, Ukrainian: Андрій Романович Чикатило, Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo.

He preyed on children and young vagrants and attacks included violent sexual assault, stabbing and slashing, and killing followed by mutilation. He was described as eating intimate parts of victims and as having necrophilia. The characteristics associated with him in the case record included cannibalism, necrophilia, evisceration, and mutilation.

The offence

Chikatilo killed multiple victims, including women, girls, and boys. His first documented victim was 9-year-old Lena Zakotnova on December 22, 1978. The narrative describes him attempting rape, failing to achieve an erection, slashing with a knife, ejaculating during killing, and later dumping the body in a nearby river.

The narrative also described later attacks involving strangling, stabbing, gagging, mutilation of body parts, evisceration, and removal of eyes in many cases. In several cases the narrative described him removing sexual organs and in some cases eating them. Some killings involved dismemberment and hiding remains in a sewer or other locations. The offences were described as occurring between 1978 and 1990.

Investigation

A Moscow police team was sent to Rostov to direct the investigation. Major Mikhail Fetisov was described as leading the investigation and assigning Victor Burakov, a specialist forensic analyst, to head the investigation in the Shakhty area. The investigation initially centered on known sex offenders and mentally ill citizens. The narrative described that interrogation methods of local police solicited false confessions from prisoners, leaving Burakov sceptical of the majority of those “confessions.”

Progress was described as slow, partly because not all victims’ bodies had been discovered and the true body count was unknown to the police.

Forensic evidence mounted with each body. Police were convinced the killer had blood type AB based on semen samples collected from crime scenes. Samples of identical grey hair were also retrieved.

In 1984, police efforts increased drastically and involved massive surveillance operations that canvassed local transport hubs. Chikatilo was arrested for behaving suspiciously at a bus station but avoided suspicion on murder charges because his blood type did not match the suspect profile. He was imprisoned for 3 months for minor outstanding offences.

The narrative included an explanation that Chikatilo’s actual blood type was type A, while fluids suggested type AB because he was described as a “non-secretors” whose blood type cannot be inferred without a blood sample. The narrative contrasted this with later sophisticated DNA techniques.

The narrative described psychiatrist Alexandr Bukhanovsky refining the profile of the killer as a “necro-sadist,” and placing the killer’s age as between 45 and 50. Burakov also interviewed Anatoly Slivko shortly before Slivko’s execution in an attempt to gain insight.

The investigation was described as expanding across railway stations and involving undercover officers and a plan to saturate stations with visible uniformed police presence while using undercover patrols at smaller stations.

A special procurator, Issa Kostoyev, was appointed to supervise the investigation. Investigators were described as using psychological profiling and other investigative steps including reviewing known offenders and consulting professionals.

Arrest

Chikatilo was arrested on 20th November 1990 following suspicious behaviour. He initially refused to confess to any of the killings. The narrative described questioning that involved allowing Bukhanovski to talk to Chikatilo under a scientific context.

Police found evidence during arrest and custody-related steps. After formal questioning began on 21 November, interrogation was performed by Issa Kostoyev. Chikatilo was held in a cell inside KGB headquarters in Rostov with a police informer instructed to elicit information.

During custody-related procedures, a strip-search revealed a flesh wound on one of Chikatilo’s fingers, and medical examiners concluded it was from a human bite. The narrative also described that a folding knife was found in his belongings.

Chikatilo’s confession and the subsequent discovery of previously undiscovered bodies were described as critical in establishing the number of murders and linking him to victims.

Confession and psychiatric evaluation

On November 29, at the request of Burakov and Fetisov, Bukhanovsky was invited to assist in questioning. Bukhanovsky read extracts from his 65-page psychological profile to Chikatilo. Within two hours, Chikatilo confessed to 36 murders that police had linked to the killer, while denying two additional murders that were initially linked.

On November 30, Chikatilo was formally charged with each of these 36 murders committed between June 1982 and November 1990. The narrative described that Chikatilo also confessed to a further 20 killings not connected to the case.

In December 1990, Chikatilo led police to the body of Alexey Khobotov and later led investigators to bodies of two other victims he had confessed to killing.

Three of the 56 victims Chikatilo confessed to could not be found or identified. He was charged with killing 53 women and children between 1978 and 1990.

Psychiatric evaluation occurred after interrogation and reenactments. On August 20, 1991 he was transferred to the Serbsky Institute in Moscow for a six-day psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he was mentally competent to stand trial. He was analyzed by senior psychiatrist Dr. Andrei Tkachenko, who declared him legally sane on October 18.

Trial

Chikatilo stood trial on April 14, 1992. He was held in an iron cage designed to keep him apart from the relatives of many victims.

He was referred to in the media as “The Maniac.” The narrative described his behaviour in court, including singing and talking gibberish. It also described an episode where he dropped his trousers and waved his genitals at the assembled crowd. The judge was described as overruling the defense lawyer and bias was described as clear.

The trial lasted until August, and the verdict was not announced until two months later. On October 15, he was found guilty on 52 of the 53 murder charges and sentenced to death for each of the murders.

Judge Leonid Akhobzyanov made the following speech upon passing final sentence:

"Taking into consideration the monstrous crimes he committed, this court has no alternative but to impose the only sentence that he deserves. I therefore sentence him to death"

The narrative also included an event during the sentencing stage in which a brother of Lyudmila Alekseyeva threw a heavy chunk of metal at Chikatilo, hitting him in the chest, and the incident prevented immediate arrest.

After the verdict, Chikatilo kicked his bench across his cage and began shouting abuse. He was offered a final chance to make a speech in response but remained silent.

Appeals

Chikatilo’s appeal centered around the claim that the psychiatric evaluation which found him fit to stand trial was biased. This was described as unsuccessful, and 16 months later he was executed.

The narrative included a last-ditch clemency attempt that was refused by Russian President Boris Yeltsin on January 4, 1994.

Outcome

Chikatilo was executed by a single gunshot behind the right ear.

The narrative described that he was taken to a soundproofed room in Novocherkassk prison and executed on February 14, 1994 in the narrative, while the status line in this case record specifies execution on February 16, 1994 by a single gunshot behind the right ear.

List of victims (as provided)

1. Lena Zakotnova — F, 9 — December 22, 1978
2. Larisa Tkachenko — F, 17 — September 3, 1981
3. Lyubov Biryuk — F, 13 — June 12, 1982
4. Lyubov Volobuyeva — F, 14 — July 25, 1982
5. Oleg Pozhidayev — M, 9 — August 13, 1982
6. Olga Kuprina — F, 16 — August 16, 1982
7. Irina Karabelnikova — F, 19 — September 1982
8. Sergey Kuzmin — M, 15 — September 15, 1982
9. Olga Stalmachenok — F, 10 — December 11, 1982
10. Laura Sarkisyan — F, 15 — After June 18, 1983
11. Irina Dunenkova — F, 13 — July 1983
12. Lyudmila Kushuba — F, 24 — July 1983
13. Igor Gudkov — M, 7 — August 9, 1983
14. Valentina Chuchulina — F, 22 — After September 19, 1983
15. Unknown woman — F, 18–25 — Summer, 1983
16. Vera Shevkun — F, 19 — October 27, 1983
17. Sergey Markov — M, 14 — December 27, 1983
18. Natalya Shalapinina — F, 17 — January 9, 1984
19. Marta Ryabenko — F, 45 — February 21, 1984
20. Dmitriy Ptashnikov — M, 10 — March 24, 1984
21. Tatyana Petrosyan — F, 32 — May 25, 1984
22. Svetlana Petrosyan — F, 11 — May 25, 1984
23. Yelena Bakulina — F, 22 — June 22, 1984
24. Dmitriy Illarionov — M, 13 — July 10, 1984
25. Anna Lemesheva — F, 19 — July 19, 1984
26. Svetlana Tsana — F, 20 — July 1984
27. Natalya Golosovskaya — F, 16 — August 2, 1984
28. Lyudmila Alekseyeva — F, 17 — August 7, 1984
29. Unknown woman — F, 20–25 — August 8–11, 1984
30. Akmaral Seydaliyeva — F, 12 — August 13, 1984
31. Alexander Chepel — M, 11 — August 28, 1984
32. Irina Luchinskaya — F, 24 — September 6, 1984
33. Natalya Pokhlistova — F, 18 — July 31, 1985
34. Irina Gulyayeva — F, 18 — August 27, 1985
35. Oleg Makarenkov — M, 13 — May 16, 1987
36. Ivan Bilovetskiy — M, 12 — July 29, 1987
37. Yuri Tereshonok — M, 16 — September 15, 1987
38. Unknown woman — F, 18–25 — April 1–4, 1988
39. Alexey Voronko — M, 9 — May 15, 1988
40. Yevgeniy Muratov — M, 15 — July 14, 1988
41. Tatyana Ryzhova — F, 16 — March 8, 1989
42. Alexander Dyakonov — M, 8 — May 11, 1989
43. Alexey Moiseyev — M, 10 — June 20, 1989
44. Helena Varga — F, 19 — August 19, 1989
45. Alexey Khobotov — M, 10 — August 28, 1989
46. Andrei Kravchenko — M, 11 — January 14, 1990
47. Yaroslav Makarov — M, 10 — March 7, 1990
48. Lyubov Zuyeva — F, 31 — April 4, 1990
49. Viktor Petrov — M, 13 — July 28, 1990
50. Ivan Fomin — M, 11 — August 14, 1990
51. Vadim Gromov — M, 16 — October 17, 1990
52. Viktor Tishchenko — M, 16 — October 30, 1990
53. Svetlana Korostik — F, 22 — November 6, 1990

Other details

The narrative described that Chikatilo confessed to “sexual weakness,” and that he also confessed to molesting his pupils during his career as a teacher. It described that he was held in a cage to protect him from relatives who shouted insults and threats.

It included multiple film and book references, including Citizen X (1995) and Evilenko (2004), and bibliography references to books including “The Killer Department” by Robert Cullen, “Hunting the Devil” by Richard Lourie, “The Red Ripper” by Peter Conradi, and “Comrade Slayer: Andrei Chikatilo and his victims” by Mikhail Krivich and Olgert Olgin.