Bryan, however, never saw his face and thus was left with the frustration of not knowing who it was that took the life of the one he loved. He started by killing elderly and homeless men, mostly in a Moscow park, and had moved on to killing his neighbors, before getting caught in 2006. He was sent to a hard labour colony in Siberia, in a prison referred to as "Polar Owl". I felt like the father of all these people, since it was me who opened the door for them to another world. I am going to drop you from the window and you will fall fifteen meters to your death" He then watched these videos repeatedly to reaffirm his power. Inside The Unsolved Murder Of 16-Year-Old Lifeguard Molly Bish, Durian Is One Of Southeast Asia's Most Coveted Fruits And It's Said To Smell Like Gym Socks, What Stephen Hawking Thinks Threatens Humankind The Most, 27 Raw Images Of When Punk Ruled New York, Join The All That's Interesting Weekly Dispatch, Sergey Shakhidzanyan/Laski Diffusion/Getty Images. And I think punishment by putting someone in a three-by-six cell is a lot greater than if you snuff out their life in a few seconds with a lethal injection.. Signature After the loss of his grandfather, with whom he shared a close bond, Pichushkin became depressed. The deepest of these interests was chess. By June 2006, police had found 13 more bodies; all were battered in the back of the head with a hammer. At least one victim was a child, a 9-year-old boy. Pichushkin said he wanted to kill enough people to fill the squares on a chessboard - earning him the infamous " Chessboard Killer " name. April 9, 1974 (age 46) . Two nights later, Ramirez perpetrated an almost identical attack against another woman, Joyce L. Nelson, in her home. For most children, this would be a mundane and minor event, but Pichushkin's family members would later speculate that the injury sparked a change in his demeanor, perhaps due to brain trauma. Specifically, once chess stopped satisfying his aggressive urges, he turned to murder. Oditchuk's body was discovered the next day and an investigation started. .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;}}Idaho Murders: What Led Police to Bryan Kohberger, Adnan Syed: A Complete Timeline of His Trial, Appeal and Killing of Hae Min Lee. Later, he branched out and began killing younger men, women, and children too, attacking them behind and taking them by surprise. At the end of their game, Pichushkin invited Pronin to take a walk with him, claiming it was the anniversary of his dog's death and that he wanted to visit the grave in Bitsa Park. It was at this time that Pichushkin began to develop a more sinister hobby that, at the time, remained unknown to anyone: whenever he knew he was going to come into contact with children, he would take a video camera along and proceed to threaten them. The trio arrived at Corlls home, where they partied until they passed out. To quote him exactly: In all the years since the shooting, I have never come face-to-face with Franklin. "It brought me colossal pleasure it is compatible to an orgasm," said the 43-year . Pichushkin committed his final murder on June 14, 2006. When they arrived at the spot, Pichushkin lifted the cover from the well and told her to look inside. 9 Alexander 'The Chessboard Killer' Pichushkin. We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we back. Unable to be sentenced to death after the suspension of the death penalty in Russia in 1996, he received a life sentence with the first 15 years to be spent in solitary confinement. He stated that his goal was to surpass his idol's confirmed body count of 52 victims by murdering at least 64 people, representing the number of squares on a chessboard. First, he denied killing anyone. However, by 2005, killing old men by drowning them failed to satisfy the killer's murderous urges. They parked by a trailer park and the man suggested they go into the woods for some privacy. Pichushkin did not like his studies. True Crime. In some cases, though, there are those who are fortunate enough to escape the clutches of madness. . [18] Pichushkin appealed his sentencing, claiming it was "too harsh" and asking for a reduction to twenty-five years. The men made a toast to the dog, after which Pichushkin struck Pronin in the head with the bottle. He had some type of head injury around the age of 4 and spent time in an institute for the disabled as a child. Finally, at around five in the morning, it was over. If they had thoroughly searched the house, it's possible that Junko Furuta could still be alive today. All had a bottle or a large stick protruding from the gaping wound in the head. In 2007 he was sentenced to life imprisonment. Alexander Pichushkin: The Shocking True Story of The Chessboard Killer. His sentence was later overturned by the Supreme Court in 1972 and he was given eight consecutive terms of 50 to 150 years. Alexander Pichushkin was a victim of his early proficiency. Written on the board, in all but two of the squares, were calendar dates. Due to the overwhelming amount of physical evidence Speck had left at the sceneand the fact he had an extensive criminal record alreadyhe was caught shortly afterward when he checked himself into a local hospital after attempting suicide. (Laski Diffusion/Getty Images), He told investigators that he had taken Moskalyova on a picnic in the park and contemplated letting her live. The ninth girl was still alive. While he was aware of the risks involved in killing his co-worker, he still murdered her. But within a few hours he changed his tune, confessing to the woman's murder and much more. Damien B. is a part-time writer and basketball lover who is interested in history, politics, crime, and, of course, basketball. The Death of Junko Furuta. Their stories serve as lessons in survival that we can all learn from, lessons that could very well save a life. For Alexander Pichushkin, murder was a game. That was the start of his nightmare hobby. The hideous nature of his crimes has renewed interest in re-instituting Russia's death penalty. The Zodiac Killer remains unidentified to this day and is still one of the most enduring crime mysteries of the 20th century. Police considered his macabre chess game evidence of 61 crimes, and the bodies they had located as evidence of 49 murders. Had the police done their job the first time, many lives might have been saved. To this day, police are still investigating his case and suspect him of many more murders. According toBiography, the dates on the board corresponded to the dates on which Pichushkin had murdered his victims. Alexander Pichushkin. When Pichushkin was 4 years old, he fell backwardoff of a swing. There was some evidence pointing to his guilt, but nothing ever came out of the investigation. He ended up dying in prison of natural causes at the age of 53 before the execution could take place. Police didn't think much of her story at the time and neglected to follow up on the lead, so the killings continued. He was just a teenager when he pushed a boy out of a window, according to Pichushkin's televised confession. 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." According to the Herald Sun, he would lure the men into isolation with talk of drinking vodka together and/or mourning the loss of his dog. The attacks went on for almost six hours, with Corazon not daring to even whimper the entire time. The exact number of his victims is still unknown, but it's more than 20. Generation X. Alexander Pichushkin was born in the middle of Generation X. While walking down Sunset Boulevard that morning, Rodney Alcala approached her in his vehicle and asked her if she wanted a ride. Said logbook contained 64 squares inside, much like a chessboard. In response, Pichushkin killed him, although the circumstances of Sergei's death led the police to declare it a suicide, not a homicide. Unsatisfied with the ruling, however, he asked the court to please up his victim count by 11, bringing his total number of victims up to 60 murders, plus three attempted. This Is How Many Victims Alexander Pichushkin Actually Had. He became hostile and impulsive, and he was frequently bullied at school. The killer was caught in 2006 when he killed his coworker, a woman who had informed her son that she would be out on a walk with Pichushkin, linking him to the crime. On October 24, 2007, according to The Chicago Tribune, Russia's second-worst serial killer was convicted of 48 murders and three attempted murders. : Lured vulnerable, lonely people into Bitsevsky Park on the premise of sharing a drink, bashed their . Alexander Pichushkin. Pichushkin would carry a video camera with him and when he ran into other children he would record himself threatening them. He was only fond of tennis, checkers, and drawing. Rebecca Garde remains his only known surviving victim. She was also caught on a subway camera with him, which was enough to have him arrested. Corazon of Amurao opened the door to the killer, terrified hid under the bed, and at the time of the massacre, which . Polikarpov successfully climbed out, but he suffered head trauma, causing him to remember nothing about the attack. Luckily, another man saw the abduction take place and called the police. Investigators discovered a chessboard with approximately 61 spaces marked off in his Moscow home. Once Odtchuk was dead, Pichushkin deposited his body near a sewer entrance at Bitsa Park, then returned to his mother's apartment a short distance away. The judge took an hour to read the verdict, which was life imprisonment with the first fifteen years to be spent in solitary confinement. REUTERS/Alexander Natruskin In 2002, Maria Viricheva 19 years old and three months pregnant met one of Russia's most infamous serial killers, Alexander Pichushkin , also known as The Chessboard Killer (when he was caught in 2007 and charged with 48 murders, authorities found a chessboard marked with the dates of his kills). She clung to the sides of the well to avoid falling, but Pichushkin grabbed her head and repeatedly slammed it into the side of the well. Upon reaching early adolescence, his maternal grandfather recognized that Pichushkin was highly intelligent and felt that his innate talents were being wasted, as he wasn't involved in any activities at home and the school he was enrolled in focused more on overcoming disability than on promoting achievement. This was because he regarded Pichushkin to be intelligent, and the school was focused more on overcoming disability rather than promoting achievement. Alexander Pichushkin's first known murder was in 1992 while he was still a student. Pichushkin, 32, was eager to explain the symbolism. At the time, Chikatilo - known as the Rostov Ripper - was Russias most notorious serial killer. Pichushkin's crimes were so heinous, Russia even considered re-instituting the death penalty. He was also found guilty on three counts of attempted murder. The suspect, Alexander Pichushkin, is not happy with the police either. Pichushkin also said he threw a romantic rival out of a window the same year. CCTV footage from the station where she had bought said ticket was reviewed, which displayed Pichushkin walking alongside her. Behind bars, the Moscow murderer is something of a celebrity. Pichushkin, it appeared, was trying to break a record for murders set by Andrei Chikatilo, who killed and mutilated 52 women and children between 1978 and 1990. One of the most disturbed minds in history, Alexander Pichushkin has become almost a legendary figure in the pages of history. Fighting him off by pushing him into a tree, she stunned him and ran to a nearby trailer for help. In August 1973, she placed her trust in Henley once again as he sneaked up to her bedroom window to help her escape another episode of abuse at the hands of her father. The boy's father was fond of alcohol and left the family when his son was not even a year old (Harrington 8). Today I wanted . Viricheva reported the crime to the police, but since she was an illegal immigrant, she was forced to drop her claim that Pichushkin had attempted to kill her. This innocent mistake would lead her to a night of pure horror and a lifetime of suffering. 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. His memories of where and how each person died were alarmingly accurate. Molly Bish showed up for her shift as a lifeguard at Comins Pond on June 27, 2000, and vanished, seemingly into thin air. His goal was to kill at least 64 people (the same number of squares on a chessboard) so that he could surpass his idol, Andrei Chikatilo. Though wary, she approached his car. He also later attested to killing Olga as well, although authorities have not confirmed this claim. He is an Aries, a dog lover, and enjoys spending time in the park. The Chilling Case Of The Russian Chessboard Killer Alexander Pichushkin. Russia has no death penalty, so Pichushkin was sentenced to life in prison to be spent in solitary for the first 15 years. Criminal Charges Ratings: 6.86 / 10 from 14 users . The diamond is the symbol of purity, innocence, eternity and courage. I felt like the father of all these people, since it was me who opened the door for them to another world," he said of his crimes, according to Time. 'It was not immediately clear if Natalya has visited him in jail or whether their relationship is only on paper'. So lets talk kill count. He would kill his victims by repeated blows to the head with a hammer, and would then push a vodka bottle into the gaping wound in their skulls. Due to Speck being highly intoxicated at the time of the attacks, he apparently forgot about her and left the apartment after he thought his work was finished. What's more, Pichushkin is doing his time in Siberia's Polyarnaya Sova ("Arctic Owl") facility, one of Russia's worst penitentiaries. As of now, Pichushkin is still in solitary confinement, but in 2016, a woman known only as Natalya visited him, and the two actually ended up getting married. Though he was no longer picky about who his victims were, he seemed to prefer the old homeless men. She and two other boys were bound hand and foot. MAXIM MARMUR/AFP via Getty ImagesAlexander Pichushkin, Moscows Bittsevsky Maniac a.k.a. A Russian serial killer who invited his victims to drink vodka with him before bludgeoning them to death with a hammer has been convicted of 48 counts of murder after a trial that shocked and entranced a nation. The note also contained his phone number. The killer was caught in 2006 when he killed his coworker, a woman who had informed . Her attacker immediately fled the scene. After striking Oditchuk over 20 times with the hammer, Pichuskin then dumped his body down a well and returned home to his mother's apartment as though nothing happened. To conceal the bodies, he often threw his victims into a sewer pit. Many of the victims were never found. He had also carelessly left the tire iron on her bedroom floor. In 1992, when Chikatilo's trial was big news, a schoolmate of Pichushkin's vanished. According to Absolute Crime, the future murderer suffered a head injury as a child, having fallen off of a swing, which then conked him in the back of the head on the return. Pichushkin bludgeoned him with a hammer three times before throwing him into the well. 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. It was her testimony that helped convict Ramirez of his crimes during his trail and ensured that he received the death sentence. In the late 1990s, the area around Bitsevsky Park became known as the hunting ground for a man the press called the Maniac. People would disappear into the woods in the park, into the tall birch trees just far enough away from the road that hiding behind them made one nearly invisible. He is one of Russia's worst serial killers ever to have existed; killing 48 known victims in the area of Southwest Moscow's .