But now he doesnt. The judges disappear into their chambers. There is a story (unverified) that in late 2001 or early 2002, Pichushkin wandered into a police station near the park and declared for all to hear that he killed peoplenot once or sometimes but regularly. This weird request made her alert her son to where she was going, and give him Pichushkins number. Until the night he was arrested, he lived most of his life at 2 Khersonskaya, where he slept on a couch in the first bedroom, which doubled as the living room. Pichushkin arranged to meet his classmate, Mikhail Odtchuk, in Bitsa Park to jointly hatch a plan to kill sixty-four people. All along, or at least since he began killing in earnest in 2001, Pichushkin had been torn by an irreconcilable conflict. He left bodies in the snow, the mud, tucked between trees. As his signature, hed push the vodka bottles into the gaping holes in their heads. As they neared the park, Pichushkin tried to cheer him up. At an early age, he suffered a head injury and brain damage. All the big news organizationsCNN, The New York Times, the BBCaired or published long stories about the deadliest man in Russia. Next, check out these 21 chilling serial killer quotes. Written on the board, in all but two of the squares, were calendar dates. [10], Moskalyova's body was discovered in Bitsa Park on 14 June 2006, complete with Pichushkin's trademark injuries. I killed in order to live, because when you kill, you want to live," he once said. Throughout the trial, he insisted that hed actually taken sixty-three lives, but authorities could muster evidence to prosecute him for only four dozen. But nine years is a long time to wait, especially for someone who would later tell the court that for me, life without killing is like life without food for you. He must have understood that once he started killingnot dabbling or experimenting but really killing, and killing wantonlyhe wouldnt stop. Pichushkin moved into his grandfather's home and was encouraged to pursue intellectual pursuits outside of school. As they trudged through the park, 32 didnt ask any questions about where they were going or why. Of the 64 squares, only 61 of them were filled in. He wanted to kill, but he also wanted everyone to know he was the killer. The maniac preferred men. He laughs for a momenthis laughter is brief and infrequentand then the grin morphs into a frown, which morphs into a look of incredulity, which morphs into another stare. While he might not be as well-known as some American serial killers, Alexander Pichushkin alleged to killing at least 60 people in Russia. Now she is sitting in her apartment at 8 Khersonskaya, which is identical to Natasha Pichushkinas at 2 Khersonskaya, smoking Vogue cigarettes and talking about him. He received life in prison without parole. Russian serial killer commonly referred to as "The Chessboard Killer" who is thought to have murdered at least 49 people in Bitsa Park in Moscow. By the spring of 2006, almost 50 people had vanished into them, never to be seen again. Beginning with Zakharchenko and continuing into early 2006, the people on Khersonskaya and up and down the icy boulevards began to grasp the threads connecting the people who had vanished. As they were about to enter the woods, the Maniac asked the man what he would wish for if he were granted one wish. 9, 1974) is a Russian serial killer and sadist who was raised in a seemingly stable household lead by his stepfather, mother, and shared with two half-siblings. No, no, theres nothing. Thats all he says during the whole proceeding. That chessboard belonged to Alexander Pichushkin, otherwise known as "The Chessboard Killer," one of the most notorious serial killers in Russian history. Alexander Yuryevich Pichushkin (Russian: , born 9 April 1974), also known as the Chessboard Killer (Russian: ) and the Bitsa Park Maniac (Russian: ), is a Russian serial killer who is believed to have killed at least forty-nine people, and possibly as many as sixty, between 1992 and 2006. [1], Alexander Pichushkin was born on 9 April 1974 in Mytishchi, Moscow Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, and grew up on 2 Khersonskaya Street in Moscow proper. He was very open about it. [3] Experts speculated that this event damaged the frontal cortex of Pichushkin's brain; such damage is known to produce poor impulse regulation and a tendency towards aggression. Once Pronin was dead, Pichushkin threw his body into a nearby well. What is erotic is killing and all its associations, the mental links and symbols of murder. Sometimes he would force shards of a broken vodka bottle into the victims skull before pushing him down the well. Among his favorite books was Dale Carnegies How to Win Friends and Influence People. He pushed her down the well, but she somehow managed to climb out and get to a hospital, where she reportedly told the police about the attack. Its unlikely he knew Lobov, who didnt come from one of the apartment houses on Khersonskaya, and its unclear exactly where they metprobably on Kakhovka Prospekt, near the metro station, where the kids with leather jackets and multiple piercings drink vodka from plastic cups and hang out next to the flower stands and dumpling kiosks. Now he is talking, but its impossible to make out what hes saying. [1] Ex-funcionrio de supermercado, conhecido na mdia russa como "Manaco do Parque Bitsa" ou "Assassino do tabuleiro de Xadrez". Once outside the park, he found a cop and reported the incident. Alexander Pichushkin, 42, is the worst serial killer to emerge in Russia since the end of Soviet times. He wanted recognition and respect. This is not to say that killing was not sexual for him. The khrushchovki are separated by single-lane roads and narrow strips of park. Alexander Pichushkin, an unassuming supermarket worker, would offer passersby in a southern Moscow park a shot of vodka or beer. With no evidence tying him to the murder, Pichushkin was released. Ad Choices, Russia had never seen anything quite like the prolific serial killer, The 20 Best New Menswear Items to Buy This Week, The Serial Killer Has Second Thoughts: The Confessions of Thomas Quick, J.Crew Makes Killer Suede Jackets Now, Too, Jack Black's Beard Is Coming In Quite Nicely. He also later claimed that had he not been stopped, the number would have only climbed. Welcome, or welcome back, to Twisted Minds, my name is James and today we're going to be deep diving into the case of Alexander Pichushkin, a Russian-born se. After his arrest, the police discovered a chessboard with dates on 61 or 62 of its 64 squares. When future-serial killer Alexander Pichushkin was a child, he fell backward off of a swing. In the end, the Maniac was what his mother and Suprunenko say he was: ordinary. Later, he said that just like his first love, his first murder was also unforgettable. Could it be a psychiatric patient whod escaped from the institution in the park? Pichushkin was born on April 9, 1974, in Mytishchi, Moscow. However, he continued to be bullied by mainstream school children and suffered an emotional blow when, toward the end of his adolescence, his grandfather died. Eventually some of the bodies turned up at a wastewater-treatment center about five miles away, having floated through the network of underground tunnels. In October 2007, after a short trial during which he was confined to a glass box much like his murderous rival Andrei Chikatilo, Alexander Pichushkin was convicted of 49 murders, and three attempted murders. Or in some cases, family members waited the requisite three days and then filed a missing-person report with the police, but the police, who are known for drinking and taking bribes, rarely did anything. Hes a drunk.) It takes two minutes to walk from 2 Khersonskaya to 8 Khersonskaya. He also used to face bullying during his school days, which only worsened his mental state. Showing no remorse, he later argued that he should be charged with more murders, keeping with his claim of killing 61 or 63 people (his story varied). The five-story buildings, or khrushchovki,named after then premier Nikita Khrushchev, were the Soviet Unions first large-scale public-housing projects. [3] This reignited Pichushkin's interest in killing. Flashbulbs explode. It was more methodical. Though she did not survive, the police were alerted to her disappearance and the fact that she had been wary of Pichushkin. There are pieces of bark pressed against her cheek, a scratch on her neck. [6] He later recanted this statement, saying that he would have continued killing indefinitely had he not been stopped. Before perestroika the system was better, says Alexander Bukhanovsky, the serial-killer expert. Pichushkin first committed murder in 1992 - the same year the police convicted fellow Russian citizen, Andrei Chikatilo, of mutilating and killing 52 people. They were an improvement. They were narrowing their search, talking to everyone, compiling sketches of suspects. Alexander Pichushkin was given the highest punishment under Russian law. In the beginning2001, 2002people just disappeared. Whom did he plan to marry? Pichushkin was convicted of murdering forty-nine victims and suspected of killing as many as sixty. In less than a minute, the apartment was flooded with armed riot police: boots, automatic rifles, handcuffs. Pichushkin said he wanted to kill enough people to fill the squares on a chessboard - earning him the infamous Chessboard Killer name. The most important fact about Nikolai Zakharchenko is that he was the forty-first victim. Authorities finally caught up with Pichushkin in June 2006 after he killed a woman he worked with at a supermarket. [3] Pichushkin was aware of the note, but was undeterred. Due to his behavior, Pichushkin's mother decided to transfer him from the mainstream school he had been attending to one for children with learning disabilities. You should take them, she says. By then the count was approaching thirty. Pichushkin is remembered to have been an initially sociable child. Finally, everyone but 32 disappeared, heading inside to their apartments or ducking into the grocery store. His childhood was a difficult and troubled one. Alexander Pichushkin a Russian serial killer known as the Chessboard Killer and The Bitsa Park Maniac. Now everyone is leaving the courtroom, and the Maniac is putting his hands behind his back so someone we cant see can handcuff him. Pichushkina says she opened the door very slowly, and when she did, a column of men in uniforms pushed through the narrow corridor crammed with jackets and old bos and into the little bedroom/living room where Alexander Pichushkin was about to turn in for the night. He suggested a walk in the park. They could do it together, he told him. A cold night in December 2007. The Maniac eyed 32 for at least an hour before he made his move. What emerged from months of plying Pichushkin with sandwiches and cigarettes, months of pretending that he was an evil genius, was not the Hollywood-style maniac everyone had imagined but an empty vessel, someone no one could organize into a tidy psychological portrait. Then she tells a story about a lie he once told. He didnt have strong opinions. .css-m6thd4{-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;display:block;margin-top:0;margin-bottom:0;font-family:Gilroy,Helvetica,Arial,Sans-serif;font-size:1.125rem;line-height:1.2;font-weight:bold;color:#323232;text-transform:capitalize;}@media (any-hover: hover){.css-m6thd4:hover{color:link-hover;}}Pablo Escobar. Pichushkin said he dreamed of surpassing Chikatilo and intended to kill 64 people, equaling the squares on a chessboard. As if proud of his crimes, Pichushkin said this at the trial, "I thought it would be unfair to forget about the other 11 people." And then Pichushkin began to tell us that hed killed more than sixty people. Pichushkin told him about the park, the sewage wellhis entire m.o.and Suprunenko began to understand the fates of all those people who had disappeared. A few hours later, when Moskalyeva hadnt come home and her son was watching TV and saw that theyd found a womans body in the park, he called his father, who then called the police. He expects to die in his late fifties, the average life expectancy for Russian men, who are prone to all kinds of self-abuse and have, at best, spotty health care. Pichushkin was taught how to play, and after demonstrating his ability was introduced to the exhibition games against elderly men who played publicly in Bitsa Park. It has been suggested that Pichushkin, furious that Olga rejected him, went to Sergei's apartment and threw him out a window, causing him to fall several meters to his death; however, this has not been confirmed, and a police investigation ruled Sergei's death a suicide.[9]. All Rights Reserved. He always took his victims to one of two wells that connected to the citys vast sewer system. When asked about his schedule on the day of Odtchuk's murder, Pichushkin confirmed having met with Odtchuk but claimed to have left him unharmed in the park. Pensioners. Criminologists, psychologists, and serial-killer aficionados weighed in online with theories and speculation. (He found a job in Khimky.) (Maybe he died.) If the victim wasnt dead before he plunged the thirty feet to the bottom, the impact would finish the job. Astrological Sign: Aries, Article Title: Alexander Pichushkin Biography, Author: Biography.com Editors, Website Name: The Biography.com website, Url: https://www.biography.com/crime-figure/alexander-pichushkin, Publisher: A&E; Television Networks, Last Updated: August 4, 2020, Original Published Date: April 2, 2014, This first murder, it's like first love, it's unforgettable. Pichushkin was a fan of the game and had been trying to kill as many people as there were squares on the board. Meanwhile, the young boy was also experiencing violent urges that prompted him to harm others. He removed his weaponsometimes a hammer, sometimes a wrench with a tool used for removing nails; in this case he didnt specifyfrom his jacket and struck 32 on the head, hard, but not hard enough to kill him. His first 15 years of his imprisonment were to be served in complete and total . Pichushkin will never go free. Researchers have found a link between such injuries and criminal violence. Alexander Pichushkin committed his first murder in 1992, when he pushed a child out of the window. Most of the murders were committed over five years, in the Bittsa Park in Moscow's southern suburbs. 19 Natalya is obsessed with. There had been other lies, of course, countless tiny deceptions meant to lure his victims into the park, but no one had ever asked Pichushkin point-blank if he had ever killed anyone. By the early 2000s, though, Pichushkin would kill again, luring unsuspecting victims to a park near his house and killing them with a blunt object before throwing them in a sewer pit. Its worth pointing out that the Maniac, so proud of never lying, lied about killing Marina Moskalyeva. Picture: NTV One Siberian woman, who works in a children's shop, has won a special place in his heart, and she even calls herself Natalya Pichushkin, as if they are already married. She had left a note for her son to tell him that she was taking a walk with Pichushkin. The woman doesnt know that the Maniac has had this conversation before. He doesnt know where he is. That chessboard belonged to Alexander Pichushkin, otherwise known as "The Chessboard Killer," one of the most notorious serial killers in Russian history. (During the trial hell have this to say about intimacy: The closer a person is to you and the better you know them, the more pleasurable it is to kill them.) They can hear trails of moving laughter somewhere far away, other people carousing, but here, in this particular swath of woods, there are only trees and shadows. On October 24, 2007, Alexander Pichushkin was found guilty of murdering forty-eight people. Little is known of Pichushkin's early years. Except killing. Source: allthatintresting During interrogation, the number of victims Pichushkin acknowledged continued to change. He mostly targeted homeless elderly men, luring them with offers of free vodka. The Maniac killed at least forty-eight, putting him in rare company. Following his arrest the police discovered a chessboard with dates on all but two of the squares, apparently connected to the murders he committed. Neuroscientists maintain a connection between damage to the frontal lobe of the brain and neuropsychiatric abnormalities, such as aggressive behavior and psychopathy. His first murder was committed in 1992, when he was still a student. Russian serial killer Alexander Pichushkin, nicknamed "The Chessboard Killer," was caught in Moscow and convicted in 2007 of killing 48 people. He must have sensed that the civil war inside him was reaching its apex and that soon he would do something stupid and they would find him. It is unknown whether the dog is actually buried there, however. Alexander Pichushkin, the so-called "chessboard killer", was well known along the leafy lanes of Moscow's Bitsevsky Park. Acredita-se que ele matou cerca de 49 pessoas - ou . People talked about hearing shouts and cries echoing through the trees. He started in the early '90s and often targeted elderly or transient men, some of which he had formerly played chess with, in the nearby park. [] Its more emotional. Alexander Yuryevich Pichushkin, also known as The Chessboard Killer, is a Russian serial killer who has killed 48 people. Somehow, however, people kept disappearing. He just walked or, more likely, stumbled. Alexander Yurevich Pichushkin (born Apr. A Moscow jury convicted Alexander Pichushkin, known to the Russian media as the "Bittsa maniac", after four hours of deliberation. The event caused lasting damage to his still-developing frontal cortex, the area of the brain that controls problem-solving, impulse regulation, and personality traits. By this pointspring 2006something like fifty people have vanished into the woods. Alexander Yuryevich Pichushkin, also known as The Chessboard Killer and the Bista Park Maniac, is a Russian serial killer who is believed to have killed between 50-60 people. What can I do with these things?. Pichushkin's confession was aired on Russian television. No one expected much to be done about it, either. Over the next eight weeks, he killed nine more people. She throws her arms around a tree trunk and falls to the ground sobbing, squeezing her eyes shut tight. Valentines day, 2008. Victim number 32, a middle-aged man who disappeared in late spring 2003, was a typical target. MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's "chessboard murderer" was sentenced to life in prison on Monday for killing 48 people, after the supermarket worker told a court last week he felt like God as he decided. [2], In June 2006, Pichushkin offered to go for a walk with his 36-year-old coworker, Marina Moskalyova. They were dank, charmless, and overflowing with tenants, but they were the first single-family homes most of these people had ever lived in. His co-workers always referred to him as quiet, perhaps a little strange, but certainly not dangerous. While he was only convicted of murdering 49 people, he claims that he achieved his goal and that he murdered so many people he lost count. To revisit this article, select My Account, thenView saved stories. Who is he? And Pichushkin had to fight very hardhe was practically burstingnot to tell her she was sitting right next to him. 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