I visited Moscow a few years ago for a My Dark Path research trip so I could finish the mini-series about the Secrets of the Soviets.  Those episodes, like Stalin’s Bunker 42 and Soviet Psychic Spies, are available for My Dark Path Plus subscribers on Patreon. In addition to these stories, I also found other stories that were more contemporary, not only from the dark Soviet era.  Those stories include that of the Chessboard Killer, a serial murderer who killed scores of people around the Bitsevsky Park between 1992 and 2006.

This is the My Dark Path Podcast

For the 21 million people living around Russia’s capital of Moscow, one of the best ways to get away from the commotion of the big city is to visit one of 50 lesoparks.  These ‘suburban areas of mass recreation’, along with more than 700 public gardens - set Moscow apart as one of the more unique and picturesque capitals in the world.  Lesoparks can be described as a hybrid between a city park and an untamed forest, and are an ideal place for Muscovites to enjoy a nature walk, a picnic, or a family outing.  More than 40% of Moscow is made up of forest, parks and gardens making it also one of the greenest of the world’s capitals.  However, a side effect of having so much woodland in such close proximity to a metropolitan area as large as Moscow, is that it makes for the perfect hiding place for serious crimes - such as murder. 

BITSEVSKY PARK AKA BITSA PARK

One of the largest of these parks, located on Moscow’s south side, is Bitsevsky Park, or Bitsa Park for short.  It sprawls across nearly 7 square miles of land, and while there are plenty of outdoor recreational activities available for park visitors, the one thing that is a signature feature in any Russian park are rows of chess tables with men playing chess - rain, snow, or shine.  While women do play and compete in chess, it has historically been a male dominated activity and continues to be so to this day.  

ALEXANDER PICHUSHKIN

Among the men who enjoyed playing chess in Bitsa Park was Alexander Pichushkin.  Born April 9, 1974, he resided in a small, 2 bedroom apartment with his mother, Natalia, a younger half sister, her husband and their child.  In all, it would take Pichushkin 6 minutes to walk from his home to Bitsa Park where he would go, ostensibly, to play chess with one of his comrades.  However, for as many as 14 years, Pichushkin was hiding a very dark secret…and Bitsa Park and its expansive woodlands were helping him do it. 

Hi, I’m MF Thomas, and this is the My Dark Path podcast.  In every episode, we explore the fringes of history, science, and the paranormal.  So, if you geek out over these subjects, you're among friends here at My Dark Path.  See our videos on YouTube, visit mydarkpath.com or find us on Twitter, Instagram and Tiktok.

But no matter how you choose to connect with me and My Dark Path, thank you, so much for listening and choosing to walk the Dark Paths of the world with me.  Let's get started with Episode 49,  The Russian Chessboard Killer.

Part 1

As a child, Pichushkin was, by all accounts, a happy, outgoing and social child.  However, following an accident where he fell off a swing, and when it swung back towards him, the seat struck him in the forehead causing what experts have speculated to be significant damage to Pichushkin’s frontal cortex.  And because a child’s forehead is not developed enough to provide the same level of protection as that of an adult, a seemingly minor bump to the head can lead to severe brain injury and the damage to the frontal cortex and can lead to difficulties with impulse control and an increase in aggressive behavior.  Following this head injury, there was a substantial uptick in the frequency and intensity of Pichuskin’s hostility and impulsivity.  And all of this would lead to him becoming a target of bullying at school, both physical and verbal,  causing Pichushkin to become even more angry and hostile.

LIVING WITH GRANDPA & LEARNING TO PLAY CHESS

Recognizing that her son was struggling in regular public school, Natasha felt a school for children with special needs and learning disabilities might be better suited for him.  He stayed there until around the time he was in lower secondary school.  The Russian education system is divided into 3 parts totaling 11 years.  Primary education are grades 1-4 with students between the ages of 7 and 10; lower secondary are grades 5-9 with students ages 11 to 15; and upper secondary are grades 11 and 12 with students ages 17 to 18.  It was during the time Pichushkin was in the secondary level, he was removed from the special needs school by his maternal grandfather who insisted his grandson was very intelligent and felt the school was unnecessarily centered on working effectively through disabilities instead of focusing on academic excellence.  He believed his grandson to be gifted with natural talents that were not being cultivated, and if he didn’t take action, those innate abilities would never flourish.  Pichushkin’s grandfather also feared that he was not being encouraged to participate in any type of extracurricular activities at home either, so it was decided that he would also go live with his grandfather, in addition to being placed back into regular school.  This is when Pichushkin learned to play chess - the centuries old game, whose origins can be traced back to the southwest regions of Europe.  Once his grandfather believed his grandson had demonstrated a mastery of the game, he began taking Pichushskin to play chess in outdoor exhibition games at nearby Bitsa Park, often pitting him against opponents who had been playing for many decades.  As Pichushkin developed into quite an exceptional chess player, what this also did was it provided a place for him to redirect all of his hostility and aggression.  He put it all towards dominating his competitors, while his passion for the game grew more fierce with every checkmate.

GRANDPA’S DEATH & ADDICTION TO ALCOHOL

Even though Pichushkin had been placed back into the mainstream public school system, it did nothing to curb the bullying, as it was still an ongoing problem while he made his way through the remainder of his lower and upper secondary school years.  Despite that, things, for a while, generally seemed to be going well for Pichushkin as he continued to gain a measure of self-confidence while under the tutelage of his grandfather.  That all would change when his grandfather passed away prior to him finishing school.  Pichushkin had no other choice but to move back home with his mother.  And because his grandfather had prioritized intellectual and educational pursuits outside the confines of school, believing his grandson had potential and ability far beyond the reach of any institution, school had been placed on the back burner.  Going back to mom’s meant going back to school…and the long days of vanquishing his elderly chess opponents in Bitsa Park were, for the most part, over.  He was going to have to settle on playing chess in his spare time. Making things worse - due to his inability to cope with the devastating loss of his grandfather, Pichushkin turned to drinking - vodka, of course - to which he would be addicted for many years to come.

BEHAVIOR TAKES A DARK TURN

Losing his grandfather at such a pivotal time in Pichushkin’s life would have a tremendous impact on him.  He became dependent on alcohol to cope with his grief and numb the pain.  But he also used it to help placate the ongoing and overwhelming feelings of unrelenting aggression and rage.  He took up playing chess at home, as well as the occasional game in Bitsa Park, but this led to him drinking vodka along with the older men he’d been playing against.  And while the legal age to drink in Russia is 18, it can cost you a few rubles or so if you are cited for drinking in public.  But just like those players have tricks and strategies up their sleeves when it comes to getting around a chess board, the same can be said for getting around those drinking in public laws.  While the men Pichuskin played against tended to allow the vodka to not only cloud their thinking, but also their game, it had little to no impact on Pichushkin’s ability to play at his best, enabling him to categorically dominate anyone sitting across the board from him. 

THE LATE 2005 DISCOVERY OF BODIES

On Saturday October 15, 2005, the body of 31 year old Nikolai Vorobyov was discovered in Bitsa Park.  He had been bludgeoned in the head and an empty vodka bottle had been shoved into the open wound.  A month later, on November 16, another body was found in Bitsa Park; it was that of 68 year old Nikolai Zakharchenko and he suffered the same blunt force injuries to his head as well (this particular victim will end up becoming a turning point in this narrative; we’ll circle back to this later on).  Two weeks later, on November 28, yet another victim turned up in Bitsa park - 73 year old Vladimir Dudukin; and another a week later - 72 year old Nikolai Koryagin.  By the day after Christmas of 2005, Moscow authorities had a total of 7 bodies on their hands, as two more victims were discovered - 64 year old Boris Grishan and 51 year old Alexander Lyovochkin.  All had been bludgeoned in the head from behind and all of them had either a vodka bottle or a stick shoved into the gaping wounds - a signature of what investigators were now coming to realize was a serial killer. 

LEAD INVESTIGATOR ANDREI SUPRUNEKO ASSIGNED TO THE CASE

This series of murders was assigned to one of Russia’s most experienced homicide investigators, Andrei Suprunenko who, by then, had been with Russia’s Ministry of the Interior (their equivalent to the FBI) for several years.  And soon, the word of a serial killer at work in Bitsa Park began to spread across Moscow, local journalists started reporting on the news, and they began referring to the yet to be identified killer as the “Bitsa Maniac”.  Muscovites grew very concerned that there was a killer amongst them, and that he seemed to be operating in one of the most popular recreation spots.  Soon, people became too afraid to go there.  By the end of 2005, going into early 2006, Moscow investigators had very little to go on in the way of any evidence or leads pointing them in the direction of potential suspects.  They gathered from the crime scenes anything they thought might yield potential clues, but turned up not a single fingerprint or anything other trace evidence, leading investigators to believe they were dealing with someone who was experienced, careful, and thorough.   

MOSCOW’S LEADING FORENSICS EXPERT PROF. VLADIMIR VORONTSOV

Investigators turned to one of Moscow’s leading scientists, Professor Vladimir Vorontsov, who had more than 4 decades of experience in the field of forensics, for help in examining the victims, their wounds, and the evidence gathered from the scenes.  Professor Voronstove found that all the victims of the Bitsa Maniac had been killed in a similar manner - with numerous blows to the head, with most of these massive injuries being to the back and side of the head and to the face.  While he was unable to uncover anything useful in the way of forensic evidence, Professor Vorontsov was able to determine, based on the tool mark impressions left in the skulls of some of the victims, that the weapon most likely used in the bludgeoning was a hammer.   As significant as that piece of information was for the investigation, it did not bring Senior Investigator Suprunenko any closer to the identity of the killer. There were no witnesses, nobody saw or heard anything, no one had any idea where this killer was from, where he lived, or most importantly when he would strike next.  It was as if he was chasing a ghost.

THE LOCAL SANATORIUM

Because there was so little information about this Bitsa Maniac, people began speculating with their own theories about who might be responsible for these murders.  And there was at least one of those theories that piqued the interest of investigators.  It had them wondering if their perpetrator was living at a place where one might just find a serial killer - a nearby sanatorium adjacent to Bitsa Park.  It was not uncommon for some of the more trusted patients to be allowed outside in order to go for walks in the park.  So, it was thought that perhaps the killer was a patient at the sanatorium who may have been given day-release privileges, then used that opportunity to escape from the facility and was hiding somewhere in Bitsa Park, laying in wait for unsuspecting passersby to attack and kill.  Several individuals came under suspicion.  Investigators interviewed them and eventually everyone they spoke to was cleared as having anything to do with the Bitsa Park killings.  So, the sanatorium theory was set aside. 

VICTIMOLOGY

Investigators then put together a profile of their victims and in doing so, what they discovered was intriguing.  The killer appeared to be targeting a certain victim “type”.  They were primarily middle-aged men who may not necessarily have anyone immediate in their lives that would be particularly alarmed if they suddenly went missing, thereby eliminating the chances of them being reported as such to police.  This would enable the killer to hinder the investigation by putting a measure of time and distance between himself and his crimes.  This meant that the killer was somewhat familiar or acquainted with his victims, their lifestyles, their families, and if anyone would go looking or even care if they suddenly vanished. 

AN ARREST IS MADE

Investigators were stumped when it came to what the motive may have been behind these killings, and because the victims were all men, they thought perhaps they were looking for a female killer.  So authorities put together a large-scale stake out at Bitsa Park that involved approximately 200 members of law enforcement.  If anyone was spotted acting suspicious, they would be stopped and questioned by police.  But due the sheer vastness of Bitsa Park, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.  And before long, it started to feel like it was the police who were the ones terrorizing innocent park-goers.  In late February, police were posted up at key points in the park when a couple of officers noticed a woman that they became suspicious of because she was walking so quickly through the thick brush.  When officers asked her to stop, she refused and kept going.  They gave chase and when they caught up to her, a struggle ensued, and it soon became apparent that they were tussling with a transgender woman - AND she had a hammer concealed in her handbag. 

At that point, the officers who detained this woman were thinking - this is the killer.  She insisted that she had the hammer with her for protection from the Bitsa Maniac, but it didn’t matter.  She was arrested.  Russia has a long history of unfavorable attitudes and views towards the LBGTQ+ community and what better way to lure men than to present as a woman.  But it was the hammer that had police thinking they had the right person.  The media learned of the arrest and the news quickly spread that the Bitsa Maniac was in custody.  Once investigators began taking a deeper look into this woman’s background, they soon realized that she had a pretty solid alibi, and after about a day, she was released from custody, as it was determined she could not have been the one to have committed these murders. 

THE BODY COUNT RISES

A month later, on March 24, 2006, another body was discovered.  It was that of 24 year old supermarket employee Makhmud Joldoshev.  As the body count continued to rise, the media attention rose along with it, resulting in a great deal of pressure being placed on law enforcement to find this killer as soon as possible; to get him (or her) behind bars before any more bodies turn up in Bitsa Park.  As the demands for answers and an arrest intensified, investigators were becoming increasingly overwhelmed as victims continued to be added to their growing list of dead bodies attributed to the Bitsa Maniac; with this most recent one bringing the count of known victims to 12.  Additional investigators from Moscow’s Department of Homicide and Armed Robbery were assigned to the Bitsa Maniac task force with hopes of bringing an end to the killings before he struck again.

THE KILLER SWITCHES TO TARGETING WOMEN

Then, almost 3 weeks after Makhmud Joldoshev was discovered, the Bitsa Maniac did something unexpected that most serial killers rarely do - he changed his target from men to women.  On April 12, 2006, the body of 48 year old Larissa Kulygina was found in Bitsa Park.  She was also a supermarket worker.  Then, two months after that, on June 14, the body of 36 year old Marina Moskalyeva turned up in the park.  It was because of the nature of their head injuries along with the signature vodka bottle shoved into the gaping wound that investigators knew they were dealing with the same killer.  The body count of known victims had now risen to 14. 

Upon taking a closer look at Marina’s body, investigators discovered what would turn out to be a critical piece of evidence.  Inside the front pocket of the jeans Marina had on, they found a ticket for Moscow’s Metrotram - the light tram system that carries passengers just about anywhere you would need to go in Moscow.  They knew that the entire network of train routes, stations and platforms were all covered by surveillance cameras. Using the timestamp and location of where Marina’s ticket was purchased, investigators conducted an intensive video canvas and poured over hundreds of hours of footage to see if they could find Marina, and more importantly, if there was anyone who was with her. 

VICTIM 14 LEADS TO A BREAK IN THE CASE

In the meantime, after the news broke about a woman’s body being found in Bitsa Park, Marina’s son, Sergei, who had seen the news reports, became concerned.  He wasn’t home when she left the day before, but she left him a note with the name and phone number of the person she had gone for a walk in Bitsa Park with - Sasha Pichushkin, a co-worker of hers at the grocery store.  (Sasha is a common nickname in Russia for people named Alexander or Alexandra).  Sergei tried calling him first.  When Pichushkin answered, he insisted hadn’t seen his mom in at least 2 months.  Sergei immediately knew this was a lie - his mom worked with this man almost every day.  Pichuskin then told Sergei he was busy and abruptly ended the call.  The next call Sergei made was to his dad, who, in turn, contacted the police to report that Marina had failed to come home and his son had some potentially useful information about his mother’s last known whereabouts.  Sergei went down to the station to provide investigators with his statement.  He told them that he and his mother lived together alone and that she had gone out with a man she worked with the day before her body was discovered.  Sergei also provided investigators with the note his mom left for him that had the name of her friend, his phone number and where they were going to be.  Marina normally would have sent her son a text, but her phone was acting up, so she resorted to leaving a handwritten note instead.  When investigators looked up the phone number, they found it belonged to another supermarket worker - 32 year old Alexander Pichushkin.  Finally, investigators had their first solid lead in the case of the Bitsa Maniac. 

ALEXANDER PICHUSHKIN’S NAME COMES UP AS A PERSON OF INTEREST

While Pichuskin’s information was being compiled, investigators working on the Metrotram surveillance canvas discovered Marina was accompanied by a man as they made their way through the Metro station.  While some of the video footage is somewhat grainy and they were often looking at their backsides, as Marina and this man were being tracked, investigators were able to get a good view of the face of the man walking alongside her.  It was Pichushkin they were looking at, and the last images ever taken of Marina alive.  The threshold in terms of probable cause and detaining a person in Russia is far less stringent than it is in the United States.  So as soon as they identified Pichushkin in the surveillance video, he was quickly arrested and brought in for an interrogation, even though at that point, all they had was the circumstantial evidence that he went out on a date with Marina.  They had yet to find any solid evidence linking him to the crime.  Here in the United States, this would have been handled much differently.  Pichushkin being in the company of a woman who later on was murdered is not nearly enough probable cause for an arrest warrant to be issued, at.  There would need to be much more work done in order to ensure that when they doarrest a suspect, they get it right.  However, there was a great deal of pressure on the police to solve this case, so they weren’t willing to wait.  They picked Pichushkin up as soon as they ID’d him in the surveillance video footage. 

PICHUSHKIN ARRESTED

On July 16, 2006, after a month-long investigation, Alexander Pichushkin was arrested on suspicion of murder.  Police went to his home some time after 11 p.m.  As they took him into custody and told him what he was being charged with, he remained calm, but insisted they were making a mistake - insisting he didn’t murder anybody.  At that point, the only murder they were suspecting him of was Marina’s.  They believed they had a strong case against him with the evidence they had and as they laid it out for Pichushkin, he was realizing it too.   After several hours of interrogation, Pichushkin began to provide a full confession - not just his involvement in Marina Moskalyeva’s murder, but also that he was, in fact, the so-called Bitsa Maniac.  It was not only an immeasurable relief for the police who had spent the last 8 months relentlessly tracking this killer down, but also for the citizens of Moscow who had spent those 8 months living in fear of this once nameless, faceless serial killer.  They now knew his name.  They knew his face.  And he was finally safely and securely behind bars. 

MARINA MOSKALYEVA’S LAST DAY ALIVE

Pichushkin not only admitted that he murdered Marina, but he also gave investigators all the details of her final day alive.  Apparently, they had only just recently started talking at work.  He asked her if she would be interested in joining him for a picnic at the park.  She accepted the invitation.  So, they gathered the things they needed for their picnic date, but one of the items Pichushkin brought along with him was his weapon of choice - a hammer.  He stated that they were sitting at the spot they chose in the park for a long time.  And while they were eating and talking, he said that he had thought about whether or not he wanted to kill Marina because he was aware of the note she had left for her son.  He eventually settled on killing her because, in his words - “life would become torture” for him.  You will come to find that Pichushkin has been quoted numerous times making unsettling statements about his crimes.  For him…this was all a game.

INITIALLY SUSPECTED OF 14 MURDERS, BUT TOTAL IS MUCH MORE THAN THAT

When Pichushkin was arrested, the initial killing he was linked to was Marina’s.  However, her murder included the hallmarks of the other 13 victims that police had been investigating for the previous 8 months - she was bludgeoned with a hammer and a vodka bottle had been shoved into the open wound.  Because of that, investigators were confident that Pichushkin was the serial killer responsible for murdering all 14 of the Bitsa Park victims - they weren’t just taking his word for it.  While 14 is a staggering number of victims, Pichushkin wasn’t finished with his confessions.  Investigators had no idea just how prolific of a killer they were sitting across from in that interrogation room, and what he would tell them would leave them and all of Moscow astounded. 

THE KILLER’S CHESS BOARD

When Pichushkin’s apartment was searched following his arrest, a chessboard was discovered that had 62 of its 64 squares numbered.  When he was questioned about this chessboard, investigators sensed a glimmer of excitement as Pichushkin prepared to explain what those numbers were all about.  He said that each one represented a victim.  And it was his hope to reach a total of 64 victims, which would fill up all the squares on the board, but he was captured…just 2 shy of attaining that lofty goal.  And just like that the Bitsa Maniac became the ‘Chessboard Killer’.

OUT-KILLING ‘THE RUSSIAN HANNIBAL LECTER’ ANDREI CHIKATILO

In addition to wanting to reach a kill count of 64, investigators learned it was also a goal of Pichushkin to out-kill another notorious serial killer, one of Russia’s most infamous, Andrei Chikatilo.  Born on October 16, 1936, he was raised in one of the worst times in history as most families struggled with war and famine throughout his entire childhood and adolescence.  He was diagnosed with hydrocephalus (water on the brain) when he was born, which led to life long problems with his urinary tract.  His father had joined the Soviet military to fight in the war against Germany, during which time he was a POW.  However, when he was released, his fellow service men berated him for allowing himself to be captured in the first place, he was deemed a coward and all this resulted in Chikatilo being bullied by his fellow classmates.  He went on to have his first, and reportedly only, sexual experience when he was 15 that turned out to be quite embarrassing which caused him to suffer through even more ridicule from his peers.  This would go on to have an impact on Chikatilo’s sexual experiences for the rest of his life and caused him to forever pair sex with violence.  He did manage to have a traditional relationship with a woman named Fayina.  They were married, had two children, and the marriage and family appeared to be normal.  But after finding work as a teacher in 1971, he began receiving a series of complaints about indecent incidents involving some of the children, causing him to start bouncing around from job to job until it became impossible for him to find any more teaching jobs. 

Chikatilo’s killing began in 1978 and lasted until his arrest in 1990.  Over the years, he had been referred to as the Butcher of Rostov, The Rostov Ripper, and The Red Ripper, as he would sexually assault, murder, mutilate and cannibalize his victims.  He’s believed to have murdered more than 52 women and children; he confessed to 56 and would go on to be tried for 53 in the Spring of 1992.  In October of that year, Chikatilo was convicted of 52 of them and was sentenced to death.  Nine of those convictions would be overturned by the Russian Supreme Court due to lack of evidence.  After then Russian President Boris Yeltsin rejected his final appeal for clemency, on February 14, 1994 Chikatilo was brought to a soundproof room inside the Novocherkassk Prison where he was being housed and executed by way of a single gunshot behind his right ear.  This was the serial killer whom Pichushkin wished to surpass in numbers of victims - a goal which he did achieve. 

Whatever Pichushkin’s main motivation, it was obvious that he had a strong proclivity for murder, describing his very first one as being akin to a first love in that it is unforgettable.  He also told investigators, “For me, life without killing is like life without food for you.  I felt like the father of all these people, since it was I who opened the door for them to another world.”

PICHUSHKIN’S KILLINGS BEGAN IN 2001

After the death of Pichuskin’s grandfather, he had settled back into life with his mother, half-sister, her husband and their child.  He ended up taking a dreary and uninspiring job stocking shelves at a supermarket.  By 2001, people in the surrounding areas where Pichushkin lived and work began to inexplicably vanish.  However, it wouldn’t be until October of 2005 when police discovered the body of Nikolai Vorobyov with the vodka bottle shoved into his shattered skull that police began taking notice.  Within 8 months, they had a total of 14 mutilated bodies, all with objects protruding from their heads.  It was the son of Pichushkin’s final victim, Marina Moskalyeva, who provided investigators with the name and number of her killer.  From there, confessions to one murder after another after another came coursing out of him.  Only then did they learn, Pichushkin’s very first killing occurred all the way back to 1992 when he was only 18 years old. 

RE-ENACTING HIS CRIMES

In order to corroborate Pichushkin’s claims, police sifted through years of missing person’s reports so they could cross check the long list of victims.  He was taken back to Bitsa Park where he was asked to show investigators where each victim was killed, what happened, and how he did it.  He was even asked to re-enact the killings using a dummy, which is something serial killers tend to enjoy immensely, Pichushkin included.  It provides them the opportunity to relive what they’d done AND to be able to boast about it in front of a live audience.  It stood out to investigators just how impeccable Pichushkin’s recall was as he walked investigators through each of his killings. 

Pichushkin revealed to investigators that he primarily targeted older, homeless men - victims who would draw little to no attention because they were individuals who could easily go missing without anyone ever noticing. He admitted that a handful of his victims were women who he asked out on dates and made the unfortunate decision to accept.  At least one of his victims was a 9 year old child.  By and large, Pichushkin was an affable and pleasant young man.  When he asked a woman out on a date, there was nothing about him that was the least bit threatening.  He hardly fit the profile of what one might think the boogeyman looks like.  They rarely do.  Pichushkin killed unimpeded for the better part of 14 years. 

INSIDE PICHUSHKIN’S MIND

Pichushkin’s confession of not just being the person responsible for the 14 murders that they knew of, but instead more than 60 people, investigators couldn’t just take his word for it.  They needed to figure out how much truth there was to what Pichushkin was saying, and the task would be daunting.  Every murder Pichushkin claimed he carried out had to be individually investigated and definitively linked to him.  They poured over several years worth of missing persons reports, checked and cross-checked everything to see which cases lined up with what Pichushkin was alleging.  Families of long missing persons began receiving calls from the Moscow police and one by one were learning that their loved ones may have fallen victim to the Bitsa Maniac - that their long lost family member may be one of dozens of people murdered by one of the most prolific serial killers in Russian history. 

In order to get as much information as they could out of Pichushkin, one investigator was assigned to do exactly that - find out all they could by keeping him talking.  And it didn’t hurt that he loved to talk, brag even, especially about the most intimate details of his crimes.  He described how he lured his victims into, first, striking up a conversation with him.  Often, he told unsuspecting passersby that he had a dog that recently passed away and he was in the park, drinking vodka because he was so grief stricken.  Moved by this sob story, Pichushkin would be offered condolences.  Then he would offer this kind stranger some of his vodka, telling them that he could use some company as he grieved.  Often, Pichushkin would end up talking to these people for more than an hour.  He wanted to get to know them, to get acquainted with them because he believed the closer you are to the person who’s about to die, the more pleasant it is to kill them; that it is interesting to talk to those who you know are destined to die; that it takes the killing to a more emotional level.  It was unsettling for even veteran investigators to see the gratification, excitement and delight Pichushkin had in talking about the horrific details of the things he did to each of his victims.

THE VICTIMS BEFORE THE POLICE GOT WISE IN 2005

As mentioned a moment ago, the very first time Pichushkin murdered someone was more than decade before Moscow investigators began to realize they had a serial killer in their midst.  On July 27, 1992 when he was only 18, Pichushkin arranged to meet in Bitsa Park a friend of his from school named Mikhail Odichuk.  They had, in earnest, discussed a plan to murder 64 people - a total corresponding to the number of squares on a chessboard. It was mostly Pichushkin’s idea, he was candid about what he wanted to do and that he wanted them to do it together.  Mikhail humored his friend, most likely thinking Pichushkin wasn’t serious.   When they got together that day in the park, Mikhail realized his friend wasn’t kidding, he quickly got cold feet and told Pichushkin that he no longer wished to take part in the murder plan.  Pichushkin, feeling let down by his friend, retrieved a hammer from a bag he had with him and made Mikhail square number one on his chessboard with nearly 2 dozen blows to the head. 

PICHUHSKIN WAS QUESTIONED ABOUT MIKHAIL ODICHUK’S DEATH IN 1992

When Mikhail’s body was found the next day, Moscow police began their investigation into his murder.  Based on what they were being told by various witnesses, they discovered Mikhail was last seen walking in the direction of Bitsa Park with Pichushkin.  Three days later, on July 30, police showed up at the apartment where he lived with his mom, arrested him and brought him in to answer a few questions.  While Pichushkin acknowledged that he was with Mikhail that day in Bitsa Park, he insisted when they parted ways, his friend was perfectly alive and well.  Ultimately, Pichushkin being the last person seen with Mikhail simply wasn’t enough evidence to prove he had anything to do with his murder, so they had to let him go. 

It is thought that this contact with police caused Pichushkin to re-think his plan to carry out 63 more murders because it would be another 9 years before he would kill again.  Considering the fact that Pichushkin would go on to state in open court that for him, life without killing is like life without food, this lengthy hiatus is a substantial amount of time for him, or any compulsive killer to lay dormant.  While he may have been spooked by the police questioning, it is possible that Pichushkin spent those intervening years fighting the urge to kill.  Either way, Pichushkin got back to the killing on May 17, 2001 with victim number two, 52 year old Yevgeny Pronin.  And over the ensuing 2 months, Pichushkin would violently end the lives of 9 more innocent, unwitting people.  As the fall and winter months approached, Pichushkin continued to kill, but at a markedly slower pace, with at least 5 more people who’d fallen victim to him by the middle of February, 2002. 

A SURVIVOR

But then, someone survived.  On February 23, 2002, Pichuskin attempted to murder a pregnant woman named Maria Viricheva.  He attacked her and pushed her into the well.  Thinking she was dead and would be swept off into the sewer system, he left.  Somehow, Maria managed to get herself out of that well and eventually made her way to a nearby hospital to be treated for her injuries.  However, when the Moscow police came to the hospital to question her about the attack, one of the things they asked Maria for were her registration papers.  In Russia, registration is how they keep track of the residences and internal migration of its citizens.  Because it is difficult to find work outside of Moscow, millions of Russians live in the city “illegally”.  Maria told the investigators that she wasn’t registered as a resident of Moscow, so they offered her a deal - if she kept quiet about being attacked in Bitsa Park, they would let the fact that she was residing in Moscow illegally slide.  Maria took the deal.  So, not only was Pichushkin effectively concealing the murders he was committing, Moscow police were effectively helping him with the cover up by attempting to hide the fact there was possibly a serial killer targeting Bitsa Park visitors.  Whether or not Pichuskin was aware Maria survived his brutal attack isn’t known.  What is clear is that if he did know, it did nothing to slow down the pace at which he killed, and he would go on to murder another 9 people (that we know of) across the remaining months of 2002. 

ANOTHER SURVIVOR

The total number of deaths have been 10 had Pichushkin’s victim on March 10, 2002, 14 year old Mikhail Lobov, not survived his encounter with the maniac.  It is not clear how they met.  He didn’t live in the same housing projects Pichushkin resided in, but it was likely that they met at a nearby Metro station, a popular place for teenagers (and Pichushkin) to hang out and drink.  Wherever it was he encountered Mikhail, the ruse he often used to lure his victims into Bitsa Park worked on the teenager too.  He offered the boy vodka, smokes, and small talk as they meandered their way through the forest towards the well.  Pichushkin proposed a toast, struck Mikhail in the back of the head with his hammer, and then pushed him into the well.  Satisfied, Pichushkin walked away, out of the park and back to his apartment.  What he failed to realize is that on the way down, Mikhail’s clothing got caught up on a piece of metal protruding from the inside wall of the well.  He managed to climb his way back out, found a police officer and reported the attack.  That officer ordered Mikhail to go home, unwilling to take the word of who he deemed to be a troublemaking teenager.  The following week, Mikhail was back to hanging out at the metro station again when he spotted Pichushkin.  He began to panic, running over to a police officer assigned to patrol the metro station and insisted they do something about this man - claiming he attacked him and threw him into a well the previous week. Officers tend to believe these kids who loiter to be nuisances that can’t be taken seriously.  The officer refused to listen to anything the frantic teen was telling him, ordering him to leave the metro station.  Pichushkin would be free to fill up his murder chessboard for another 4 years before he was finally taken into custody in July of 2006. 

THE ‘SEWER PERIOD’

This span of killings beginning in May of 2001 that lasted through September of 2005 has been referred to as Pichushkin’s “sewer period”.  Moscow police were aware that someone was out there bludgeoning people in the head and tossing them down a well that led into the city’s massive underground sewage system based on survivor Maria Viricheva’s report of her attack.  But because they asked her to keep quiet about it in exchange for them overlooking her residing in Moscow without being registered, Pichushkin was able to continue to use the sewage system as an effective means of getting rid of bodies.  There were 2 wells that he would walk to with his victims.  The drop to the bottom of the well was approximately 30 feet and from there, they fed into the sewage system.  As they walked, they would talk and drink, and when they would get to the well, Pichushkin would ask if they could propose a toast to his fictitious recently deceased dog.  He would then reach for his hammer or a vodka bottle he would have hidden under his jacket and strike his victim in the back of the head, but not hard enough to kill them or render them unconscious because he wanted them to be cognizant of what he was doing.  Sometimes he would impale his victims with the broken vodka bottle, but not all of them. Then he would deposit them into the well.  If they weren’t already dead, they would be once they hit the bottom and drowned.

Some of Pichushkin’s victims would end up at a water treatment facility approximately 5 miles from the park after meandering through the city’s maze of sewage tunnels.  It wouldn’t be until after Pichushkin’s arrest in 2006 that investigators connected him to those bodies that wound up in the water treatment plant.  Many of his victims would never be recovered, lost forever somewhere beneath the city.  During this “sewer period”, Pichushkin attacked 36 people; 3 of them managed to survive.  The third survivor, 31 year old Konstantin Polikarpov, was attacked on November 15, 2003.  Following that, Pichushkin took another break from the killing for the next 15 months, starting up once again on February 22, 2005 with the murder of 57 year old Peter Dudukin.

THE ‘OPEN PERIOD’

From October of 2005 until his last murder in June of 2006, Pichushkin changed the way he operated.  He no longer hit his victims over the head once, nor did he push them into the wells alive.  Instead, he began to bludgeon his victims about the head numerous times with a hammer, opening up a massive head wound, into which he would shove a vodka bottle or a stick - whichever he had at the ready.  Pichushkin stated that he would always approach his victims from behind so they never knew what hit them and to try to prevent blood getting onto his clothing.  As the name of this ‘period’ suggests, Pichushkin left his victims out in the open in Bitsa Park.  These were the 14 bodies discovered in the park during the span of these 8 months that Pichushkin was originally suspected of murdering.  Little did anyone know that 14 was only a fraction of his victims. 

THE MANIAC

Pichushkin hardly looked the part of the ‘maniac’ he’d been dubbed by the Russian press when police and the public at large were becoming increasingly aware that someone amongst them was killing people in the vast wild of Bitsa Park.  When he wasn’t out maiming and mutilating innocent people, Pichushkin could be found most days working as a clerk at a nearby supermarket.  As news of his arrest spread across Moscow, Russia and eventually the world, the notion that the unassuming man ringing up customers at the local grocery store turned out to be one of the deadliest killers in Russian history was nothing short of stunning.  Even stacked up against America’s most notorious killers - Ted Bundy, John Wayne Gacy, Dennis Rader, Joseph DeAngelo, Gary Ridgeway - Pichushkin out-killed them all.  In doing so, placed himself amongst rare company, as very few serial killers in recent times have murdered so many people.  And often, the true number of victims can never be confirmed.

Until the day Pichushkin was taken into custody, with the exception of the period of time he resided with his grandfather, he lived with his mother, Natasha, in the same 2 bedroom apartment she had lived in since she was 11 - a series of buildings that were Russia’s very first public-housing complexes.  They were dreary buildings, as most housing projects tend to be.  They were overcrowded, but for many, they were the first real homes they ever had. Pichushkin’s father walked out on him and Natasha before he reached age 1.  He shared one of the two rooms with her - he slept on a sofa and her on a bed.  During the day, this room served as a living room; at night, it was their bedroom.  The other room belonged to Pichushkin’s half sister, her husband and their son, who, at the time of his arrest, was 6.  There were 4 buildings in their unit and it was the type of place where everybody knew everybody else.  Ten of his victims resided in the same complex as Pichushkin.

MOSCOW POLICE SWEPT THE EARLY KILLINGS UNDER THE RUG

When people began disappearing in 2001 and 2002, they were the types of individuals who would hardly be missed - older folks, retirees, people down on their luck.  If they were reported missing by family members or loved ones, they had to wait the mandatory 72 hours before filing those reports, to a police force prone to corruption and heavy drinking on the job who would merely toss those files in with all the others they intended to completely disregard.  The police had no interest in concerning themselves with missing persons they considered to be throwaways - the elderly, the drunks, the bums.  Perhaps if they paid attention and did their jobs properly, the police would have connected the dots years earlier.  By the time they finally did, Pichushkin’s death toll was rapidly approaching 3 dozen.  Even though the police were turning a blind eye, the families of the victims certainly weren’t.  And as the number of missing persons continued to climb, those concerned family members began to notice each other.  They were the ones who started making the connection and when they did, not only did a very real fear of an unknown killer begin to mount, so did the rumors and the conjecture - was it an escapee from the sanitorium?  Perhaps this was being carried out by Rebels from Chechnya with whom Russia was at war with for the second time starting in 1994.  Or could this be the handiwork of the Russian Mafia?  Anything was possible.

VICTIM’S FAMILIES WONDERED IF THE MANIAC WAS SOMEONE CLOSER TO HOME

As the maniac carried on murdering unencumbered beginning in 2001, the families and loved ones of the missing began to consider the possibility the killer was someone known to them.  There appeared to be certain commonalities that linked the victims: they were mostly men, they were roughly close in age, they drank heavily, many of them were homeless, and several of them lived in the same public housing project right on the outskirts of Bitsa Park.  By the summer of 2003, the disappearances had been going on for two years and the victim count was more than 30.  The Moscow Police were doing nothing about it.  In fact, when survivor Maria Viricheva was asked to keep the attack to herself and in exchange they would overlook her illegal residency in Moscow, the disappearances had been happening for close to a year.  In Russia, and in many countries, including the United States, certain marginalized groups of people simply don’t matter as much.  The maniac, it appeared, chose wisely. 

In 2006, when the families of the missing got word that the suspect was taken into custody and charged with dozens of murders, many were shocked to find out that they actually knew Alexander Pichushkin.  Some described him as quiet, calm, and usually kept to himself.  The fact that Pichushkin was choosing to murder people he was acquainted with was even more disturbing for those who did know him from the neighborhood, the housing complex or the grocery store.  Pichushkin’s victims were people he befriended with the sole purpose of eventually murdering them.  When he chose a target, he would wait for as long as it would take for that person to find themselves alone.  He’d look on as they would usually be drinking, possibly smoking, sitting nearby, and within walking distance of his apartment.  When the time was right, Pichushkin would make his move and before long, he and his victim would be chatting as they walked together towards Bitsa Park.  If his target was in a bad mood, Pichushkin would listen.  He’d share some encouraging words.  He’d offer some vodka.  Pichushkin posed this question to at least one of them - if you had one wish, what would it be?  The answer:  to stop drinking.  Pichushkin assured the man, “I promise, today will be the day you stop drinking.”  This man, Pichushkin’s 32nd victim, ended up at the bottom of the well, never to be seen or heard from again. 

PICHUSHKIN’S MOTIVE

What is it that drives a serial killer?  There is almost always a sexual component involved, but this isn’t what Pichushkin sought when he murdered.  The act, in and of itself, needed to be a thing of purity for Pichushkin - a pristine and unsullied death; though there may have been a sexual element to it all for Pichushkin, since he talked about his first murder being akin to one’s first love.  He also admitted to occasionally reaching a sexual climax while he killed.  For a Pichushkin, the excitement of killing was found in the planning and carrying out the murder, not with any sexual act itself, but rather, everything he associated with killing - luring victims, gaining their trust, being in the park amongst the tall trees of the forest, seeing his victims’ blood hit the fallen snow…any number of things that could’ve brought Pichushkin a level of excitement unlike anything else.  There has been speculation that because Pichushkin mainly targeted men and appeared to have little to no interest in women that he might be homosexual.  Lead investigator Suprunenko has said that this is not the case; Pichushkin isn’t interested in men.  He simply doesn’t really care about being intimate with anyone. 

THE MANIAC’S MOTHER

Natalia Pichushkina, the maniac’s mother, was left in her dank, two bedroom apartment, making excuses to her grandson, his nephew, as to where his uncle had gone.  The 6 year old called his uncle by his nickname, Sasha.  They’d grown close, but as the months ticked by following Pichushkin’s arrest, his nephew’s memories of him grew more distant.  He wasn’t told who or where his uncle was; all he knew is he was no longer with them. 

As for Natalia, all she could really tell people when they ask is just how unremarkable her son’s life had been - how he liked to collect commemorative pins, the pet cat he loved, the TV show he enjoyed…a show Pichushkin mentioned in court that he would rush home to watch after murdering someone.  He’d hurry into the in order to wash away the blood that got on him just so he could catch the newest episode with his mom.  There had even been an occasion when Pichushkin told his mom and sister that he was going for a stroll in Bitsa Park.  By then, the women were well aware of men vanishing in the park - as many as one per week - and they implored him to stay home - it’s dangerous.  Pichushkin insisted he wasn’t worried. 

As with every serial killer, questions arose for Natalia:  what went wrong?  How could this have happened?  Why her son?  They are questions no one really has the answers to, but Natalia blamed herself.  She can’t pinpoint exactly what it was that went awry.  She tried to give him as normal of a life as possible with what she had to work with.  With resignation, she’s accepted that she simply did not know the person her son grew up to become. 

MOSCOW POLICE FINALLY STARTED TAKING THE DISAPPEARANCES SERIOUSLY

The true number of victims Pichushkin is responsible for is unknown.  By the time there was a third survivor - 31 year old Konstantin Polikarpov, whom Pichsuhkin attacked on November 15, 2003, the body count hovered around 33.  After a 15 month hiatus, Pichushkin began killing again on February 22, 2005, but the pace had slowed.  He didn’t kill again until June 8.  Then another on September 28.   It would be Pichushkin’s murder of 31 year old Nikolai Vorobyov on October 15 - one of the first to NOT be tossed down a well, but rather left out in the open - that had the police beginning to taking these Bitsa Park disappearances and the attacks reported by the very few survivors seriously.  It was Pichushkin’s next victim that led the Moscow Police Department to finally put a full stop with turning a blind eye to what was happening in the park.

A RETIRED OFFICER BECOMES ONE OF THE MANIAC’S VICTIMS

On November 16, 2005, the body of 63 year old Nikolai Zakharchenko was discovered dead in Bitsa Park.  He was mentioned earlier as being a turning point in the police response to the Bitsa Park vanishings.  The difference with this particular victim was he was a retired police officer - one of their own.  And because the manner in which he was murdered, impaled and left in the park - it was eerily similar to the victim discovered just a month earlier.  The Moscow Police were finally made to face the grim reality that there was an active serial killer at work - it only took them about 40 dead bodies to come to this realization.  And it wasn’t because of any genuine effort or investigation on the part of the Moscow Police for them to arrive at that conclusion.  It was because of Pichushkin himself changing up the way he did things.  Had he continued doing what he had been doing by pushing his victims down into wells, he could have gone on to kill countless more and been able to get away with it perhaps forever.  When Pichushkin altered his modus operandi, it was only then the Moscow Police Department relinquished the control of the case to the Ministry of the Interior and their top investigator Andrei Suprunenko - someone who could actually lead a proper investigation into a serial killer who had been operating on the Moscow Police Department’s watch unchecked since 2001. 

WHY CHANGE THE MODUS OPERANDI?

A common factor amongst serial killers is an uncontainable urge to kill.  There is often a method they follow, along with a cyclic nature of their actions.  The compulsion builds until they find a way to satiate their appetite with someone to kill.  The gratification the killer feels is finite and eventually the cycle must repeat itself.  The serial killer will continue to murder until he (or she) is captured, deceased, or aged to a point where they are no longer physically able to kill and get away with it (the latter being a relatively new phenomenon as advancements in forensic genealogy has led to the identification of long unknown, anonymous killers such as the Golden State Killer, Joseph DeAngelo, the man responsible for robberies, rapes and murders across a dozen years from 1974 through 1986, who was finally found some 44 years after his first crimes living a quiet, retired, suburban, murder-free life in Citrus Heights, California).  Sometimes a serial killer will go dormant for a period of time - perhaps they were in jail for unrelated crimes, or they possibly got married and settled down, or maybe they got spooked by something that didn’t go as planned during their last attack.  Whatever the case, they almost always come back for more. 

Another commonality among many serial killers is the desire for public notoriety, acknowledgement, and respect.  Son of Sam, David Berkowitz, was thrilled when letters he had written were published in newspapers for the world to see.  BTK, Dennis Rader, enjoyed demonstrating his ability to outwit and baffle police.  Not only do some of these killers bask in this quasi-celebrity status, they enjoy helping to create it, as both Berkowitz and Rader made up their own monikers - which the media immediately picked up and ran with.  Pichushkin had a desire to kill, but also a desire for the world to know HE was the Bitsa Maniac.  After more than 4 years and 40 victims, being known superseded killing.  There was an evening when Pichushkin, his mom and his sister were watching the news when a report came on about the Bitsa Maniac.  His sister made a comment about being so fascinated with this crazed killer and who it might be.  It took everything Pichushkin had to stop himself from letting her in on his secret - that the maniac was right beside her. 

Following the murder of the retired police officer, the Bitsa Park killings suddenly became a high profile case as public and media interest surged.  Pichushkin’s inner tug-of-war began to smolder and consume him, and that part of him that wanted the recognition and admiration took over.  His manner of killing went from efficient and methodical to careless and rash.  He stopped depositing his victims into the well.  He left them above ground among the trees, brush, ground coverings and snow where they could be easily found, unless animals of prey found them first.  So finally, the people in the areas surrounding Bitsa Park began to realize what the families of those who had been vanishing since 2001 had already known  - that someone somewhere in the vast wilderness of Bitsa Park was hunting and killing human beings.  The fear and panic within the community and across Moscow crescendoed.  Bitsa Park, once inviting, became forbidden -  a place where an urban legend had come to life, a park haunted by a spectral demon with an insatiable appetite for killing anyone who dared venture into its woods.  People would swear they had heard shrill screams reverberate across the park where the maniac lurked. 

Pichushkin had to have known his killing days were numbered as he sat and watched those reports at home on the evening news with his family.  The conflict within him could not and would not be sustained forever.  Something had to give and he knew police would be coming for him at any moment.  After all, the bodies were piling up.  From mid-November through December of 2006, Pichushkin was killing weekly - at times, twice a week.  Bitsa Park was swarming with police, witnesses were being questioned, suspects were being developed.  Pichushkin himself had been stopped twice by Moscow police during this time and asked to show his residency registration documents.  Both times, the soft-spoken, well-mannered, well-dressed young man was cleared and left to go about his day.  The walls were closing in, and ultimately, it would be Pichushkin’s own doings that would be his undoing. 

In the end, it was his decision to murder someone he was well-acquainted with - a co-worker of his from the grocery store, Marina Moskalyeva.  In his confession following his arrest, Pichushkin admitted that he was aware of the note she left for her son telling him that she had gone for a walk in Bitsa Park with him.  He kept telling himself that he shouldn’t do this - that note would surely lead back to him as soon as Marina failed to come home.  But his compulsion to kill trumped his better judgment, and Marina became his final victim. 

After an exhaustive investigation, on July 16, 2006,  a small army of Moscow police officers came knocking on Pichushkin’s door.  When Natasha opened it, they forced their way through and stormed the room Pichushkin shared with her.  The officers didn’t immediately disclose to Natalia the real reason why they were there - opting instead to say they wanted to question him about a recent series of burglaries in the neighborhood.  She did think the sheer numbers of officers in riot gear armed with assault rifles was excessive for a burglary suspect.  She asked her son who he robbed and he said no one, which was technically true.  Pichushkin, who put up no resistance, was taken out of the building.  Natalia was then provided with the paperwork outlining exactly what her son was accused of, which at that point was one murder - that of Marina Moskalyeva.  The rest of the night, all Natalia could do was sit by in bewildered silence as police combed through every inch of her home. 

INVESTIGATOR ANDREI SUPRUNENKO QUESTIONS PICHUSHKIN FOR SEVERAL MONTHS

Ministry of the Interior’s top investigator Andrei Suprunenko had made it his mission to get to know Pichushkin better than anyone - better than his own mother, perhaps even better than Pichushkin knew Pichushkin.  Knowing what we know about serial killers, they have a desire to be lauded for their “accomplishments”.  For Supreunenko, this would be a career defining case, and for Pichushkin, the dizzying pinnacle of his life’s work.  It didn’t take much for Supreunenko to get Pichushkin to open up, after all this was what he had been longing for - for everyone to know his name.  Only then did Supreunenko begin to grasp the magnitude of what the maniac had done.  Marina Moskalyova’s murder very quickly turned into more than a dozen, and before Pichushkin was finished, the death toll had topped 60. 

Pichushkin recounted every detail about the park, how he stalked his victims, approached them, lured them, plied them with vodka, and when they were too inebriated to do anything about it, he’d reach for his weapon, at first a vodka bottle, later on a hammer; how he’d bludgeon them in the back of the head; how, in the beginning, he’d take his victims to the brink of dying so when they were sent on that freefall down the well, they’d be aware how quickly death was coming for them; for their last moments to be as terrifying as he could make it.  Later, Pichushkin took the well out of the equation altogether, opting to leave his victims out in the open for the finding.  He’d bludgeoned them until he was satisfied they were dead, then administered his signature coup de grâce - the impalement of the vodka bottle or stick into the open wound of the skull he created.  When asked why he did that?  Pichushkin explained that he liked the sound of it - not just of the impalement, but also of the human skull made when he brought his hammer down onto it.  When asked why in the woods of Bitsa Park?  He answered with a question of his own:  have you ever tried killing someone in the street in broad daylight?

In order to keep Pichushkin talking, Suprunenko feigned admiration for the things he’d done, making him feel he was respected and revered.  Pichushkin ate it up, as the most important thing to him was to feel brilliant, consequential, and significant. In the end, what this all amounted to was essentially Pichushkin’s own overblown perception of himself, as what actually emerged was an insipid man void of anything remotely close to what could be considered a diabolic genius.  Natalia summed her son up best when she described how ordinary and unremarkable he was.  He had little to no interest in anything.  He had no aspirations, ingenuities, unique thoughts, ideas, opinions, philosophies or beliefs.  He lacked passion, enthusiasm, intentness and zeal.  He was paltry, his life was miserable, he knew it and killed in order to counterbalance his dreadfully insignificant existence. 

TRIAL & CONVICTION

Typically in Russia, the public is banned from trials and the use of a jury is uncommon.  Not this time.  Pichushkin’s 2007 trial was open to the public and was going to be heard by a jury of his peers.  He was charged with only 49 murders - a total that seemed to agitate Pichushkin, as he protested in open court that he had an additional 13 victims he was not being credited with, thereby denied the distinction of being Russia’s most prolific serial killer, pointing to the 62 out of 64 squares marked on his chessboard.  Police were only able to definitively prove Pichushkin’s involvement in 49 - no matter what was on his chessboard.  While those uncredited murders and 2 empty squares on his chessboard may be the bane of Pichushkin’s existence for the remainder of his life, there is nobody who believes Pichushkin would have stopped the killing had he reached 64.   He’d even told a Russian news channel who interviewed him shortly after his arrest that he never would have stopped.  Countless lives were saved because of his capture, he said.

On October 24, 2007, Pichushkin was convicted of 49 counts of murder and 3 counts of attempted murder.  While the penalty of death is still on the books in Russia, since an August 2, 1996 moratorium on capital punishment was put in place, nobody has been executed or sentenced to die in Russia.  Immediately after his conviction, the judge sentenced Pichushkin to life in prison, with the first 15 years to be served in solitary confinement.  Two weeks after his conviction, Pichushkin’s attorney sheepishly filed an appeal on behalf of his client who was claiming the punishment did not fit the crime.  He asserted that  life imprisonment was far too harsh for only 49 murders and motioned for his sentence to be reduced to 25 years.  When speaking to Reuters, his attorney could only say was that it’s his job to file appeals for his client.  Pichushkin’s appeal was denied and he continues to serve out his life sentence at the Polar Owl Arctic Penal Colony in Kharp, a city located in the Russian state of Yamalia.  For many who lost loved ones at the hands of Alexander Pichushkin, there is no punishment that truly fits the crime.  He stalked, befriended, lured, and tortured his victims before throwing them into the well while still alive.  Life imprisonment doesn’t feel like enough, though the firing squad would be a far too easy fate. 

Thank you for listening to My Dark Path.  I'm MF Thomas, creator and host, and I produce the show with our creative director is Dom Purdie.  This episode was researched and written by Roseanne Sinclair.  Big thank yous to them and the entire My Dark Path team.

Please take a moment and give My Dark Path a 5-star rating wherever you’re listening.  And feel free to jump over to YouTube and watch our video episodes there.  It really helps the show, and we love to hear from you.

I hope you’ll consider subscribing to My Dark Path Plus on Patreon.  For just $5 a month, you’ll have access to an exclusive, subscriber only episode every month.  We already have a back catalog of episodes, all about hidden topics of history, science and paranormal from the Soviet era.  We just have a few more episodes left in the miniseries, including one about the most haunted buildings in Moscow and another about the psychic research at the Moscow Academy of Sciences.

But no matter how you choose to connect with me and My Dark Path, I’m grateful for your support.

Again, thanks for walking the dark paths of history, science and the paranormal with me.  Until next time, good night.