Andrei Chikatilo

Andrei Chikatilo was one of the world's most prolific and barbaric serial killers. Born on October 16, 1936, in the Ukraine, he witnessed the devastation of his country at the onset of World War II. His mother Anna repeatedly told him of an older brother, Stephan, who had been murdered and cannibalized during the Ukrainian famine in the 1930s, in which it is estimated that several million died. Although he was extremely tall and attractive, Chikatilo was always shy with girls and believed himself to be impotent. However, in 1963 his younger sister Taytana introduced him to a friend of hers named Fayina. Things clicked, and he and Fayina married that same year. They had two children, a daughter Ludmilla in 1965 and a son Yuri in 1969. Chikatilo graduated from Rostov University and became a teacher for a brief time, but he was eventually caught molesting some students, which led to his expulsion from the profession. By the end of 1978 Chikatilo had murdered his first victim, Lena Zakotnova, in Shankty, Russia. He didn't kill again for three years, but over the next nine years he tortured, murdered and cannibalized at least 51 more women and children. Russian authorities at first refused to believe that a serial killer could operate in their midst -- that sort of thing only occurred in degenerate capitalist societies -- but Chikatilo's victims began turning up so often and in so many places that the authorities finally were forced to admit that a monster was indeed loose among them. A task force consisting of the best homicide detectives in the country was assigned to hunt down and capture the killer (although they had no idea it was Chikatilo). He was finally captured on November 20, 1990, when a policeman noticed him acting suspiciously at a railroad station, detained him, and further investigation revealed that he had just committed three murders. Chikatilo confessed to 55 killings -- although due to the initial indifference and incompetence of the authorities it's been estimated that he likely committed at least twice that many before he was finally caught -- but was charged with only 53. His trial opened on April 14, 1992, with victims' relatives screaming for retribution. Chikatilo acted like a raving maniac throughout the trial, rolling his eyes, moving back and forth, contorting his face and hurling curses at spectators and the judge, among others. On October 14, 1992, Andrei Chikatilo was convicted of 52 murders -- one charge was dropped for lack of evidence -- and five counts of child molestation. The next day he was given 52 death sentences and taken to Novocherkassk Prison in the Rostov-on-Don region of Russia. Sixteen months later, on February 14, 1994, his death sentence was carried out in the manner prescribed by Russian law -- a single bullet to the back of the head.