Moscow Jury Convicts "Chessboard Killer" Alexander Pichushkin of 48 Murders in and Around Bitsa Park
Pichushkin, a former supermarket worker, never denied the charges and claimed many more killings. Five days later, a judge sentenced him to life.
Published
For five years, people were killed in and around Moscow's Bitsa Park, many of them lured there by a man they knew. On October 24, 2007, a jury at the Moscow City Court found Alexander Pichushkin, 33, guilty of 48 murders.
The jury also convicted the former supermarket worker of three attempted murders, found him guilty on every count and found no mitigating circumstances. Russian media called him the "Chessboard Killer" because he said he had planned to kill 64 people, one for each square on a chessboard. He never denied the charges. Most of his victims were men he lured to the park with the promise of a drink, and many were attacked with a hammer.
Pichushkin was arrested in June 2006 after police found his name and phone number on a note a victim had left for her son. He initially denied involvement but confessed after police showed him CCTV footage of himself with her. Prosecutors said his first killing was of a fellow student in 1992 and that his killing spree ran from 2001 until his arrest. State prosecutor Maria Semenenko told the court that a criminal case had been opened against a local police officer who in 2002 refused to register a complaint from one of the people who survived an attack.
On October 29, Judge Vladimir Usov sentenced Pichushkin to life in a special-regime penal colony. "I consciously decided the fate of 60 people," Pichushkin said in his final statement. A further 11 killings in which he was suspected were split off into a separate case.
The Guardian reported that Pichushkin claimed to have killed 62 people, while Rossiyskaya Gazeta reported that he spoke of 60 in his final statement to the court.
Sources
- "Битцевский маньяк" получил высшую меру наказания ("Bitsa maniac" receives the maximum penalty), Rossiyskaya Gazeta
- 'Chessboard killer' convicted of 48 murders, The Guardian
- Russia's Worst Serial Killer on Trial, ABC News
Related News
- June 18, 2006: Moscow Police Announce the Arrest of a Suspect in the Bitsa Park Killings, Later Named as Alexander Pichushkin