Sergei Ryakhovsky

Case identification

Sergei Vasilyevich Ryakhovsky (рус. Сергей Василевич Ряховский), also known as “The Hippopotamus” and “The Balashikha Ripper,” was a Russian serial killer and rapist (born in 1963 in Moscow, Russia).

Background

Ryakhovsky was described as six feet six inches tall and weighing 280 lbs, with a thick-necked, heavy-handed and pasty-faced appearance and a hulking posture. He was also described as having a “violent temperament” shown later at trial, despite not resisting during his arrest.

The offence

Between 1988 and 1993, Ryakhovsky killed in and around Moscow at least 19 people aged 14 to 78 years, including 12 men, 4 women and 3 boys. He also assaulted six other victims who survived the attack.

Ryakhovsky’s main modus operandi involved strangulation by rope or by bare hands. Victims were also sometimes stabbed or mutilated using tools, usually a knife, hammer or screwdriver. Mutilation of the bodies was usually focused on the genital area. Almost all of Ryakhovsky’s victims were raped post-mortem.

The source described an escalation in violence in his last victims. In January 1993, Ryakhovsky murdered a 78-year-old man, cut off his head with a hunting knife, and one day later returned to cut off his leg. The next victim, a 65-year-old woman, had her abdomen ruptured by a weak pyrotechnical device. A penultimate victim, a 16-year-old boy, was hung, eviscerated, and then decapitated with a knife. The murders were also connected to an explanation Ryakhovsky gave about motives including a stated impulse to “clean the world of homosexuals and prostitutes,” including murders of a 70-year-old woman and a 78-year-old man he accidentally met in the forest. The source also stated that murders of three homosexuals in Izmailovski Park in 1988 were thoroughly planned. It further stated that the murder of a 45-year-old woman was, according to Ryakhovsky, a result of his sexual urge.

Investigation

During the investigation, Ryakhovsky cooperated with officials and investigators, willingly indicating crime scenes and describing methods of killing.

The source stated that during a routine search of the crime scene area, investigators found a shack with a noose fixed to the ceiling. Considering it part of the preparation for the next murder, investigators decided to make an ambush.

Arrest

On 13 April 1993, Ryakhovsky arrived at the shack and was subsequently arrested by the Militsiya officers. Despite his considerable strength and violent temperament shown later at trial, the source stated Ryakhovsky gave absolutely no resistance. It further stated that after seeing weapons in the hands of officers he became paralyzed with fear.

Trial and verdict

Psychiatrists from the Moscow Serbsky Institute evaluated that Ryakhovsky’s necrophiliac tendencies were caused by a malfunction in his central nervous system, but they also evaluated him as sane, competent for trial, and fully responsible for his actions. After being informed of his diagnosis, Ryakhovsky’s behaviour changed dramatically: the source stated he became obtrusive, stopped his cooperation, began demanding punishment for the experts, and revoked his previous confessions. The source also stated that this may suggest that he planned to avoid the death penalty through an insanity plea.

The prosecution accused Ryakhovsky of killing 19 men and women aged between 14 and 78 up to his arrest in April 1993. The source stated that prosecutors alleged that Ryakhovsky carried out necrophilic acts on his victims and stole their belongings. The source further described that Ryakhovsky initially confessed to most of the charges but later admitted only three murder attempts on elderly women, despite the fact that he had led investigators to the naked and headless body of a young boy he killed.

The source included a described case in January 1993 in which prosecutors said Ryakhovsky killed a 78-year-old man, cut off his head with his hunting knife, and returned a day later to saw off his leg. It also stated that in March of that year he strangled a woman, committed necrophilia, and blew her up with a bomb he put inside her.

Ryakhovsky was sentenced to death by firing squad in July 1995. After hearing the verdict, he said: “I will be back”.

Sentencing

Appeals

After being sentenced, the source stated that local television reported Ryakhovsky intended to file an appeal.

Outcome

In 1996, Russia imposed a moratorium on executions and the sentence was changed to life imprisonment in the maximum-security penal colony IK1.

Ryakhovsky died in prison in 2005 from tuberculosis.

Other details

The source described Ryakhovsky’s nickname “The Hippopotamus” as coming from his thick-necked, heavy-handed and pasty-faced appearance and hulking posture.