Ali Reza Khoshruy Kuran KORDIYEH
AKA "The Tehran Vampire"
Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Taxi driver - Rape
Number of victims: 9
Date of murders: February-June 1997
Date of birth: 1969
Victims profile: Girls and women aged 10 to 47
Method of murder: Stabbing with knife, then doused with gasoline and set on fire
Location: Tehran, Iran
Status: Executed by hanging on August 12, 1997
Dubbed the "The Vampire", Ali Reza Khoshruy Kuran Kordiyeh stalked the streets of Tehran, Iran, for his victims. Before he was through, Kordiyeh claimed the lives of nine females, including a ten-year-old girl. Kordiyeh lured his victims by pretending to be a cab driver.
Once under his control he raped and stabbed the women to death, usually setting their bodies on fire afterward in an attempt to limit clues and avoid detection. Picked up for acting suspiciously at a mall, Kordiyeh was arrested and confessed to the string of murders when he was confronted with physical evidence linking him to the killings and was identified by a surviving victim.
Sentenced to death, Kordiyeh was hung from a crane in front of 20,000 witnesses on August 12, 1997, after being flogged by prison authorities and relatives of his victims. Unfortunately the whole mess could have been avoided in 1993 when Kordiyeh was arrested on charges of kidnapping and rape but escaped while being transported to court.
KORDIYEH, Gholomreza Khoshruy Kuran
An Iranian serial killer born in 1969, Gholomreza Kordiyeh logged his first arrest at age 24 on charges of kidnapping and rape. He escaped from custody en route to trial and remained at large for another four years, graduating to murder in February 1997.
Over the next five months, he killed at least nine women, impersonating a cab driver as he cruised Teherans streets by night, in search of victims. The women who entered his "taxi" were raped and stabbed repeatedly, then doused with gasoline and set on fire in an effort to disguise Kordiyeh's crimes. Some of the bodies were imperfectly consumed by flame, allowing investigators to count up to 30 stab wounds on a single corpse.
Police dubbed their quarry the "Teheran Vampire" after his night-prowling habits but were confounded in their search for the slayer until Kordiyeh got careless, allowing two victims to slip through his grasp. The women helped authorities prepare a suspect sketch, and they swiftly identified Kordiyeh following his June arrest for acting suspicious at a Teheran shopping mall. Confronted with the evidence-including human bloodstains in his car-Kordiyeh duly confessed to the murders. His trial was broadcast live on state-run television for a fascinated audience, and the vampire was sentenced to hang.
Befitting the occasion, Kordiyeh's execution on August 12, 1997, was a public spectacle. Twenty thousand spectators turned out for the event, chanting "Allahu Akbar" ("God is great") while Kordiyeh received a flogging of 214 lashes from relatives of his victims.
That ritual complete, the semiconscious stalker was hanged from a bright yellow construction crane, erected near the scene of his crimes. His last words, before the crane hoisted him aloft, were: "I borrowed money from no one, and I owe none to anyone. I ask God for forgiveness for what I did."
Iranian authorities, meanwhile, were less than satisfied with the result of the public display, fearing that Kordiyeh's example might inspire lethal copycats. Before year's end, another Teheran cabbie was arrested for attempting to molest a female passenger. According to press reports, the would-be rapist boasted to police, "I'm going to be the next Teheran Vampire."
Michael Newton - An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial Killers
'Tehran vampire' awaits public hanging from crane
August 6, 1997
TEHRAN -- A taxi-driver dubbed the "Tehran vampire'' on Wednesday faced public hanging from a mobile crane after being found guilty of killing nine girls and women.
Gholamreza Khoshrou Kouran Kordieh, 28, was condemned to 10 death sentences on Monday after confessing on television to the kidnap, rape and murder of nine girls and women aged 10 to 47 over a four-month period this year.
The tenth death sentence was for rape in 1993.
Newspapers said he burned his victims after killing them so they would not be recognized. They said he had been arrested in 1994 on charges including kidnap and theft but had escaped before going on trial.
People called him the "Tehran vampire'' because all the killings were at night. Relatives of the victims at the trial had demanded he be publicly stoned to death.
Newspapers said the Supreme Court was expected to confirm the sentence within 48 hours and Khoshrou would be hanged from a crane in public near the scene of the murders, Shahrak Rah-Ahan in the Iranian capital's western suburbs.
Government-owned newspaper Iran Daily said a number of the victims' relatives had said public hanging was too mild a punishment and called for another method of execution. They also demanded his hands be cut off before execution because he had also been accused of theft.
Public executions are rare in Iran. But 12 convicted drug smugglers were hanged in public last month in the northeastern provincial capital Mashhad close to a major route for narcotics trafficking from neighboring Afghanistan.
Iranian murderer publicly whipped and hanged
August 13, 1997
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- A serial killer convicted of raping and killing nine girls and women was hanged from a construction crane Wednesday after being publicly whipped by several of the victims' male relatives.
Ali Reza Khoshruy Kuran Kordiyeh, known as the "Tehran Vampire," was whipped more than 200 times with a thick leather belt, then tied to a yellow crane and lifted, legs kicking, high into the air with a rope around his neck. The execution took place in front of victims' families and a crowd of 10,000 to 20,000 spectators.
His whipping began on Monday and the lashes were completed before he was hanged.
"Innocent blood will always be avenged... This is punishment for the criminal but for us witnesses it is a lesson to be learned... We are responsible for our actions," a robed cleric told the crowd before the sentence was carried out.
Kordiyeh was condemned to 214 lashes and 10 death sentences this month after confessing on television to the kidnap, rape and murder of nine girls and women aged 10 to 47, including a mother and her daughter, in four months this year.
Relatives of the victims had called for Kordiyeh to be stoned to death. They had also called for his hands to be cut off before execution because he had also been accused of theft.
"I have no life or future left ahead of me, but I'm still not satisfied with the punishment this killer is getting for killing my daughter," sobbed Nasser Parchami, father of 25-year-old Parvand who was among the victims.
Kordiyeh, 28, earned his nickname for stalking his victims. He was accused of killing the women in a spree that struck terror in women in Tehran, where such killings are rare. Kordiyeh carried out his crimes by posing as a freelance taxi driver in the streets close to the site of his hanging.
Newspapers have reported that Kordiyeh burned his victims so that they could not be identified.
"I borrowed money from no one, and I owe none to anyone. I ask God for forgiveness for what I did," were his last words.
Verses from the Koran, were relayed through loudspeakers to onlookers who had fought through three kilometers (two miles) of traffic jams to get to the scene.
About 1,000 police in full riot gear were positioned around the execution site in western Tehran, and police closed off streets to traffic for several kilometers. Photos were not allowed.
The location of the hanging -- a construction site -- had not been announced beforehand, but word had spread since the crimes and Kordiyeh's sentence were the talk of Tehran. Many of the people who gathered for the early morning execution spent the night at the site.
"It's a sweet death for him. He deserves worse," said Maryam Bakhti who believes she was very nearly one of Kordiyeh's victims.
Bakhti, a 29-year-old graduate, said she got into Kordiyeh's car one evening in 1994 and had to fight her way out of the car after he drove down a dark side street.
She now carries a knife in her handbag.
"When I saw him on the television I just shivered... The police were very slow in telling us there was a murderer among us," she said.
Iranian murderer publicly whipped and hanged
CNN.com
August 13, 1997
TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) -- A serial killer convicted of raping and killing nine girls and women was hanged from a construction crane Wednesday after being publicly whipped by several of the victims' male relatives.
Ali Reza Khoshruy Kuran Kordiyeh, known as the "Tehran Vampire," was whipped more than 200 times with a thick leather belt, then tied to a yellow crane and lifted, legs kicking, high into the air with a rope around his neck. The execution took place in front of victims' families and a crowd of 10,000 to 20,000 spectators.
His whipping began on Monday and the lashes were completed before he was hanged.
"Innocent blood will always be avenged... This is punishment for the criminal but for us witnesses it is a lesson to be learned... We are responsible for our actions," a robed cleric told the crowd before the sentence was carried out.
Kordiyeh was condemned to 214 lashes and 10 death sentences this month after confessing on television to the kidnap, rape and murder of nine girls and women aged 10 to 47, including a mother and her daughter, in four months this year.
Relatives of the victims had called for Kordiyeh to be stoned to death. They had also called for his hands to be cut off before execution because he had also been accused of theft.
"I have no life or future left ahead of me, but I'm still not satisfied with the punishment this killer is getting for killing my daughter," sobbed Nasser Parchami, father of 25-year-old Parvand who was among the victims
Kordiyeh, 28, earned his nickname for stalking his victims. He was accused of killing the women in a spree that struck terror in women in Tehran, where such killings are rare. Kordiyeh carried out his crimes by posing as a freelance taxi driver in the streets close to the site of his hanging.
Newspapers have reported that Kordiyeh burned his victims so that they could not be identified.
"I borrowed money from no one, and I owe none to anyone. I ask God for forgiveness for what I did," were his last words.
Verses from the Koran, were relayed through loudspeakers to onlookers who had fought through three kilometers (two miles) of traffic jams to get to the scene.
About 1,000 police in full riot gear were positioned around the execution site in western Tehran, and police closed off streets to traffic for several kilometers. Photos were not allowed.
The location of the hanging -- a construction site -- had not been announced beforehand, but word had spread since the crimes and Kordiyeh's sentence were the talk of Tehran. Many of the people who gathered for the early morning execution spent the night at the site
"It's a sweet death for him. He deserves worse," said Maryam Bakhti who believes she was very nearly one of Kordiyeh's victims.
Bakhti, a 29-year-old graduate, said she got into Kordiyeh's car one evening in 1994 and had to fight her way out of the car after he drove down a dark side street.
She now carries a knife in her handbag.
"When I saw him on the television I just shivered... The police were very slow in telling us there was a murderer among us," she said.
Iran Hangs 'Tehran Vampire'
August 13, 1997
By Afshin Valinejad - Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- By night, he stalked, kidnapped, raped, stabbed and burned. The taxi driver dubbed "The Vampire'' took Tehran on a three-month terror ride that ended at dawn Wednesday when he was flogged by relatives of his victims, then hanged from a yellow crane.
Public hangings and floggings are rare in Tehran -- but then, so were the brutal crimes of Ali Reza Khoshruy Kuran Kordiyeh.
In an unusual breach of policy, Iranian authorities, apparently seeking to assure a terrified public that the spate of murders had ended, leaked the time and venue of Kordiyeh's execution to the press.
The crowds began to swell at midnight, and by dawn the life and crimes of the serial killer came to an end to the cheers and wails of some 10,000 onlookers.
But for some, the final, brutal hours of Ali Reza Khoshruy Kuran Kordiyeh weren't punishment enough.
"I'm still not satisfied with the punishment this killer is getting for killing my daughter,'' sobbed Nasser Parchami, father of 25-year-old Parvand.
The killer had been brought, handcuffed, in an unmarked police car -- an old Volkswagen -- to a construction storage site in the western Tehran neighborhood where he had cruised for the fares who became his victims.
"Do you see finally that God is greater, you son of a dog?'' a man shouted.
"He is not a human,'' said Marzieh Davani, a 38-year-old woman.
"I really cannot understand a human can do what he did. He deserves to die surrounded by the hatred of people,'' said Amir Ezati, who had taken his place in the crowd at 3 a.m.
About 1,000 riot policemen kept guard. Hundreds of people had shinnied up and electricity poles and clung on to get a better view.
Kordiyeh was tied to a metal bed set up on the roof of a small brick shed, and whipped by one male relative of each of his victims wielding a thick leather belt, in full view of the spectators.
He had also been whipped by prison officials on Monday and Tuesday as part of his 214-lash sentence.
"Damn you, you killer,'' somebody shouted. The chant was taken up by the others as Kordiyeh, wearing a dark green prison uniform and staring ahead impassively, was led underneath the crane where a noose was tightened around his neck.
As the crane smoothly lifted Kordiyeh high up in the air, his legs kicked. Then he became still.
"I borrowed money from no one, and I owe none to anyone. I ask God for forgiveness for what I did,'' were Kordiyeh's last words before he was hanged, a judicial official said.
Kordiyeh, 28, called the ``Tehran Vampire'' because he operated at night and stalked his victims, was sentenced to death -- nine times over -- earlier this month after he was convicted of killing nine women, including a mother and her 10-year-old daughter.
To hide his crimes during the spree, which began in March, Kordiyeh burned the bodies. Some were not destroyed completely and police found up to 30 stab wounds on them.
His trial was broadcast live to fascinated Iranians by state-run television, but cameras were barred from the hanging.
He was caught by chance.
Picked up for suspicious behavior at a mall, he was identified through a police sketch provided by two women who had escaped him. Faced with evidence, including blood stains on his car, Kordiyeh confessed but provided no motive for his acts.
"He received what he deserved,'' Tehran's "Resalat'' evening newspaper concluded.
