Kaspars Petrovs

Overview

Kaspars Petrovs was a convicted serial killer who was sentenced to life in prison by the Riga Regional Court on May 12, 2005 for the murder of thirteen elderly women. Petrovs was a Latvian national, born in 1978, and was the son of a prominent medical doctor. He spent years homeless in Riga.

Timeline

• February 3, 2003 — Kaspars Petrovs was arrested and was initially charged with murders of five women in Riga.
• October 2002 to January 2003 — Petrovs described a four-month killing spree during which he learned patterns about where single elderly women lived in apartment blocks.
• May 3, 2005 — A latvian man accused of murdering 30 elderly women told the court his upbringing was partly to blame; Kaspars Petrovs was on trial in Riga Regional Court for robbing and strangling women and attempting to murder eight others between 2000 and 2003.
• May 12, 2005 — The Riga Regional Court sentenced Petrovs to life in prison for the murder of 13 people; he was also convicted of robbery.
• May 13, 2005 — Reporting described Petrovs as sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of murdering 13 elderly women and of robbery and inflicting serious bodily injury.
• May 19-25, 2005 — Reporting described the life sentence for the murder of 13 people and additional convictions, with an apology to victims’ families in court.

Background

Kaspars Petrovs, born in 1978, was the son of a prominent medical doctor. He had been homeless for several years and spent the last three years living on the streets of Riga.

Petrovs had a previous conviction for theft in 1998.

The offence

Petrovs was convicted for the murder of thirteen elderly women. Investigators said he followed victims home and entered their apartments to rob them, sometimes forcibly and sometimes by disguising himself as a worker with the country’s state-owned natural gas company. Victims were often older women and were described as pensioners. Petrovs said he strangled his victims after gaining entry.

Victim count and charging scope

Petrovs was originally held in connection with murders of five women in February 2003 and later confessed to killing upwards of thirty women while in custody. He was later charged with strangulation murder and robberies of thirty-eight mostly elderly women residents of Riga between 2000 and 2003. Authorities pursued charges in the deaths of thirteen victims due to a lack of forensic evidence.

In relation to trial charges, Petrovs was convicted of murdering 13 people and eight attempted murders, as well as theft and robbery. Another account described that he was also convicted of robbery and inflicting serious bodily injury.

Method and conduct described in court

At trial, Petrovs described how he entered stairways and identified the smaller middle apartments where single elderly women lived. He described presenting himself as a gas company official, washing his hands, taking a towel, and going into the other room to strangle the woman with the towel. He stated he put the victim on the sofa, checked the closet, and found money of approximately 60 lats. He described seeing blood running from the woman’s nose, returning to the kitchen, taking the other two towels, and cleaning the blood. He said he put those towels in a bag, closed the room, and threw away the bag with the towels and a key. He said afterwards he felt terrible and started to vomit, then went to the next stairway and knocked again.

Petrovs said his second intended victim began to scream when he tried to strangle her, so he “chickened out and ran away”.

He also said he had learned from his four-month killing spree that single elderly women often lived in the smaller middle apartment in Latvian housing blocks. He said he presented himself as a gas company official and went into the kitchen.

Survivors and attempted murders

Eight people survived Petrovs’s frenzied attack, and Petrovs was on trial for attempting to murder eight others. Court evidence was expected to include testimony from some women who survived the attacks, carried out with a view to robbing the victims.

Investigation

Petrovs was described as confessing to the killings and fully cooperating with court investigators.

Investigators said Petrovs was held in February 2003 on suspicion of killing five women. They later said he confessed to another 25 killings.

The crimes were discovered through forensic linkage between finger marks and a central file. When police found finger marks in one of the dwellings of a victim, they compared them with the central file. Petrovs had already been seized there because of smaller “Eigentumsdelikte”.

Arrest

Kaspars Petrovs was arrested on 3 February 2003 in Riga. He was initially charged with the murders of five women in Riga, all pensioners and all strangled to death in the space of four months.

Trial

Petrovs stood trial in Riga Regional Court for robbing and strangling women and attempting to murder eight others between 2000 and 2003. During the trial, it was said that Riga Regional Court held that murder could only be proved in 13 of the cases, despite charges involving robbing and strangling 38 women between 2000 and 2003.

Court psychiatrists deemed him sane and able to stand trial.

Petrovs admitted robbing the women but said he strangled them only so they would lose consciousness. He also said he regretted the murders and asked for forgiveness from victims’ families.

Court quotations

Petrovs told the court:

"I understood that I would not be able to earn as much as my family demanded from me. Therefore I turned to crime,¡"

Petrovs also said:

"I can not return the victims to life by words, but I wish they were still alive, that nothing had happened and that I wasn't here. I would rather be sitting on the street, subsisting on bread and water,"

In another quotation, Petrovs stated:

"I wanted only to rob them, not to kill them.¡"

Petrovs told the court:

"All my life I have felt that I am different," Petrovs told the court.

He further said:

"I missed attention and tried to compensate for it with my pranks and mischief. "

And he continued:

"However, (my) family considered my problems to be minor, so I sought consolation in books and created my own world of fantasy, until I could no longer discern fantasy from reality,"

Petrovs said:

"Of course, I did not enjoy doing all this – it was disgusting – but I got carried away and could not stop. I wanted only to rob them, not to kill them."

He said:

During his description of attempted strangulation, Petrovs said he:

"chickened out and ran away"

Kaspars Petrovs apologized to victims’ families in court and asked for their forgiveness.

Sentencing

On May 12, 2005, the Riga Regional Court sentenced Kaspars Petrovs to life in prison. Petrovs was convicted for the murder of 13 people and was also convicted of robbery and, in one account, inflicting serious bodily injury, as well as theft and robbery. Petrovs apologized to victims’ families in court and asked for their forgiveness.

Aftermath

Petrovs was described as apologising and asking for forgiveness in court after his conviction.

He was reported to have collected an estimated 18,000 lats (26,000 euros) in goods and money by robbing victims. Another account described that police numbered the value of stolen things on approximately 35,000 US dollar.

Other details

Petrovs was said to have confessed to the murder of 38 women of retirement age during his trial, while “the actual number of his victims is unknown” in one account.

He was described as having learned patterns about victims’ apartment locations during a “four-month killing spree” lasting from October 2002 to January 2003.

One account described a variant operational description involving posting office or market encounters, gaining confidence by helping carry shopping bags home, and using a towel, leading to victims being put to bed and prepared so that it looked as if they would sleep. The account described stolen items as mostly little cash, canned goods and sometimes also decoration, and said police numbered the value of stolen things at approximately 35,000 US dollar.

A separate name variant, Kaspars Petrows (* 1975), was mentioned as an “assistant” arrested “as of Riga 2003 in Riga,” with claims about killing more than 20 older women, and with details about disguising as a gas worker and using towels. That variant included an additional statement that “The police numbered the value of the stolen things on approximately 35,000 US dollar” and that crimes were discovered when police compared finger marks with the central file.