Vadim YERSHOV

Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Siberian army deserter - Rape - Robberies
Number of victims: 19
Date of murders: 1997
Date of birth: 1973
Victims profile: Women
Method of murder: Stabbing with knife
Location: Siberia, Russia
Status: Sentenced to death on June 9, 1998. Commuted to life in prison

Vadim Yershov (19)

On June 10, 1998, Red Army army deserter Vadim Yershov fainted when he was sentenced to death for raping, robbing and stabbing 19 people. Yershov, 25, was sentenced by a military tribunal in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk.

Fortunately for him Russia has suspended executing its convicts even though the death sentence is still part of the legal code. The Council of Europe urged Russia to abolish capital punishment as a condition for its membership in the organization.

Mayhem.net

Vadim Yershov

A Siberian army deserter, 24-year-old Vadim Yershov went to trial in October 1997 on charges of raping, robbing, and fatally stabbing 19 victims in the months after his unscheduled departure from military service.

As a soldier of sorts, he pled his case before a military tribunal in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, where he was convicted and sentenced to death on June 9, 1998.

Yershov reportedly fainted as the sentence was pronounced, but the dramatic gesture may have been in vain. Russia has suspended execution of death sentences in recent years, although capital punishment remains part of the nation's legal code.

The Council of Europe has urged Russia to abolish the death penalty as a condition of its membership in the group, and ¡t seems likely that economic interests will spare Vadim Yershov from the firing squad. At that, considering the state of prisons in Siberia, he may eventually wish he had been shot.

Michael Newton - An Encyclopedia of Modern Serial Killers - Hunting Humans