In September 2005 a court in Barnaul, the capital of Altai Krai in southern Siberia, convicted a 34-year-old local man of killing 19 people. Valery Kopytov had lived for years in a dugout he made himself on the far side of the Ob River, at the edge of the city. The people he killed, prosecutors said, were homeless men and women like him: people he drank with, argued with and, in a few cases, robbed.
Two points run through the case. Because the dead were homeless, nobody had gone looking for them, and the killings stayed hidden until Kopytov talked about them himself. And once he was in custody, he helped investigators find all of the dead. The Altai Krai Court gave him 25 years, and it said his help to the investigation counted in his favor.
Russian reports of the case print his name as Валерий Копытов (Valery Kopytov). The Supreme Court of Russia gives it in the short form "Копытов В.Ю.", with the initials of his first name and patronymic.
Little was published about his early life. He was 34 when the verdict was read in September 2005, according to NEWSru.com and the Altai news agency Bankfax. His exact date of birth was not given.
He had already served a prison term. Антон Рурич, an investigator for especially important cases at the Altai Krai prosecutor's office, said at the time of the verdict that Kopytov had served his sentence for crimes of gain, offenses committed for money or property. The date of his release differs between reports. Bankfax, quoting the investigator in September 2005, said he was released in 1996. The Altai Krai prosecutor's office press service, in a statement reported by the Barnaul paper Altapress in July 2005, gave the year as 1998, and NEWSru.com used 1998 in its report of the verdict.
After his release he went back to his parents' home in Barnaul, the investigator said, but he found neither work nor friends there. He became embittered, left home and took to the streets.
He made a home for himself in the ground. According to the prosecutor's office, he dug a shelter on the far bank of the Ob, beyond the city's New Bridge, and lived in it. The Barnaul news agency Amic.ru, looking back on the case in 2018 and 2023, described the same dugout.
Around him lived other people without homes, and many of the people who would die were his drinking companions. The prosecutor's office did not publish their names, ages or life stories, and none of them has been publicly named. NEWSru.com, summarizing the investigators' findings, said the dead had been homeless and that, because of that, nobody had searched for them.
The regional prosecutor's office gave the period of the killings as 2000 to 2004, according to Bankfax's report of the verdict. Amic.ru gave the same years in 2018 and 2023.
The pattern investigators described was the same in almost every case. Kopytov quarreled with another homeless person, the quarrel became a fight, and the fight ended in a death.
Money was a motive in a smaller number of cases. The July 2005 statement reported by Altapress said that in two cases he killed to take the other person's money or belongings. Bankfax and NEWSru.com, reporting the verdict in September, said robbery was the motive in several cases. The robbery charge under article 162 of the Criminal Code rested on those killings.
One of the killings was not his alone. A co-defendant was convicted in the same verdict of deliberately killing a person together with Kopytov, according to a 2006 ruling of the Supreme Court of Russia. The ruling does not give the date or place of that killing, or the victim's name.
The deaths came to official attention only through Kopytov himself. NEWSru.com reported in September 2005 that he told an acquaintance about the killings and that she went to the police. Amic.ru, in its 2023 account, said he had told everything to a friend, who complained to the police. The date of his arrest has not been made public.
Investigators of the Altai Krai prosecutor's office took the case. The dead were found over 2004 and 2005, according to Amic.ru. Thirteen were found in the Barnaul area. Six more were found in the Novoaltaysk, Zarinsk and Biysk areas, towns of Altai Krai.
Kopytov helped them. Every report of the case, from the prosecutor's statement of July 2005 to the verdict reports of September 2005, says that he himself helped investigators find all of the dead, and NEWSru.com, citing Interfax, said the same.
On July 8, 2005, the press service of the Altai Krai prosecutor's office announced that its investigators had finished the criminal case against him. Altapress reported the statement the same day. It said all 19 of the dead had been homeless people, and it listed the charges: murder of more than one person under article 105 of the Criminal Code and robbery under article 162. The statement added that he faced up to 25 years of deprivation of liberty and that the court could take into account his active help to the investigation and in finding the dead.
The charges, as given in Bankfax's report of the verdict, were murder of two or more persons under article 105, part 2, of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and robbery under article 162, part 4.
Three other people were convicted in the same case. The Supreme Court ruling gives them only surnames and initials, and it does not say what two of them were convicted of.
The Altai Krai Court delivered its verdict on September 22, 2005. The regional prosecutor's office announced the result, and NEWSru.com and Bankfax reported it the same day. The court found Kopytov guilty of the killing of 19 people.
He was sentenced to 25 years of deprivation of liberty. The first 10 years were to be served in a prison (тюрьма) and the remaining 15 in a strict-regime correctional colony. NEWSru.com said the court took into account that he had helped the investigation find the bodies of the dead. Bankfax quoted the court's reasoning in similar terms: it had considered that Kopytov actively helped the investigation.
Amic.ru, in its 2023 account, wrote that his cooperation was the reason he received 25 years rather than a life sentence. The prosecutor's statement of July 2005, as reported by Altapress, had said only that the charges carried up to 25 years.
Kopytov did not appeal. The co-defendant convicted with him of one of the killings did. That co-defendant was convicted in the same verdict of the deliberate killing of a person jointly with Kopytov, under article 105, part 2, paragraph "ж", of the Criminal Code, and sentenced to 11 years in a strict-regime colony.
In his appeal he argued that he had not killed anyone and that Kopytov had done it. He said he had falsely incriminated himself during the investigation and that a witness was also falsely accusing him. He asked for the verdict to be overturned.
The criminal division of the Supreme Court of Russia heard the appeal on February 28, 2006, in case number 2-50/05. The prosecution asked the court to leave the verdict unchanged. The court did so. It found that the trial court had checked and rejected his claim that he was not involved, and it pointed to his own confession, his admission of guilt during the investigation and the evidence of a witness. It also found the sentence fair, noting that the trial court had already taken into account his confession and his help in solving the crime. His appeal was dismissed.
The ruling states that Kopytov and the two other defendants did not appeal. The verdict against Kopytov therefore stood as delivered.
Where Kopytov has served his sentence was not reported. In February 2018 Amic.ru said he was expected to be released around 2030. In July 2023 the agency repeated that he was due to leave prison in 2030.
Amic.ru returned to the case twice in roundups of killings in Altai Krai. In February 2018 it noted that his crimes were less widely known than other Barnaul cases, and it used the nickname "Barnaul Chikatilo" for him. The agency recalled the case again in July 2023, with the same nickname, and repeated the main facts: the dugout, the 13 dead found in 2004 and 2005, the six more he led investigators to, and the 25-year term.
Accounts of the case differ on several details.
Year of release from his earlier sentence. The prosecutor's office press service, as reported by Altapress in July 2005, and NEWSru.com in September 2005 gave 1998. Bankfax, quoting the lead investigator in September 2005, and Amic.ru in 2018 gave 1996. Amic.ru in 2023 gave 1998.
Number of robbery killings. The July 2005 statement reported by Altapress put the number at two; the verdict reports of September 2005 said several.
Who reported him. NEWSru.com said he told a female acquaintance; Amic.ru in 2023 said he told a friend.
Whether a life sentence was possible. Altapress, reporting the prosecutor's statement in July 2005, wrote that he faced up to 25 years. Amic.ru wrote in 2023 that he avoided a life sentence because he cooperated.
Whether all of the dead were homeless. The July 2005 statement said all 19 were. Amic.ru in 2023 said most were.
1996 or 1998: Released from prison after a sentence for crimes of gain (the year differs between reports).
2000 to 2004: Period of the killings, according to the Altai Krai prosecutor's office.
2004 and 2005: Investigators find the dead in Barnaul and near Novoaltaysk, Zarinsk and Biysk, with his help.
July 8, 2005: The Altai Krai prosecutor's office announces that the investigation is complete; 19 deaths are listed.
September 22, 2005: The Altai Krai Court convicts him and sentences him to 25 years, 10 in prison and 15 in a strict-regime colony. A co-defendant is convicted of one killing committed with him and sentenced to 11 years.
February 28, 2006: The Supreme Court of Russia upholds the co-defendant's conviction; Kopytov did not appeal.
July 14, 2023: Amic.ru reports that he is due for release in 2030.