Vladimir Retunsky was convicted of eight murders committed between 1990 and 1996 in the Povorino area of the Voronezh region, in southwestern Russia. The victims were girls and young women between 14 and 23 years old, according to Russian reports. A court sentenced him to death in 1999. Russia had by then stopped carrying out executions, and the sentence was replaced by 15 years in a strict-regime colony, the longest term then available short of the death penalty. He left prison in 2012, served a further sentence for theft, was conditionally released in 2015, and in 2025 and 2026 was reported to be living in the Voronezh region.
Retunsky was born in Povorino, a railway town in the Voronezh region, on February 4, 1950, according to a news.ru report that cites a book on Russian serial offenders. They describe him as a family man and a father who worked as a driver for a local procurement office.
His record with the courts began before the killings. In 1978 he was sentenced to five and a half years in a strict-regime colony for rape. In 1986 he killed the husband of his niece in a quarrel; relatives testified that he had acted in self-defense, and he was sentenced to three years and released in 1989. A 360.ru report, which gives the detail differently, says he was released early on parole from the first sentence and served three years for the second. The killings began the year after his release.
The killings began in 1990. The first victim was a young woman in Povorino; her age is given as 23 by one outlet and as 20 by another. The second, a 17-year-old, was killed at the end of that year. A third victim, 16 years old, died in the summer of 1991. Reports agree that all eight victims were girls or young women, that the youngest were 14 or 15, and that the last was killed in 1996.
In 1991, after the killing of a 16-year-old, police detained him on the strength of witness accounts of a truck, and released him the same day for lack of evidence. In 1995 two schoolgirls aged 15 were killed in the same month, according to gazeta.press; no other account dates their deaths. Two more killings followed in 1996, and the last victim, a young woman of 23 according to Life.ru, died in July of that year.
The accounts differ on several particulars of individual victims: their ages, the months, and whether the last victim was 18 or 23. The consistent points are the number, eight, the period, 1990 to 1996, and the place, Povorino and its surroundings. Life.ru describes the crimes as having affected both the Voronezh and Volgograd regions.
The killings of the children among the victims were charged as murder, with other charges.
The investigation turned on a dog. The last victim had with her a rare purebred puppy, a rottweiler. After she died, the puppy was seen in the care of Retunsky's stepson, who told people his stepfather had given it to him. News.ru and Life.ru both date the arrest to early 1997, about six months after the last killing, according to Life.ru; gazeta.press says February 1997. Retunsky was detained in Povorino.
After his arrest he confessed. Life.ru reports that during questioning he gave different totals, 11 at one point and 60 at another. Prosecutors treated him as connected to 13 episodes, and news.ru says investigators believed he had 12 victims, but evidence could be gathered for only eight. Two further deaths in 1994, which he said he had been involved in, were dropped when it was established that he had an alibi.
He was charged under the RSFSR Criminal Code, which was the law in force when the offenses were committed. News.ru reports that in May 1999 the Voronezh Regional Court sentenced him to death for eight murders. Life.ru, in a separate article, says the Supreme Court sentenced him in December 1999 to 15 years in a strict-regime colony, with two years credited for the time he had spent in custody before trial. The two reports agree on the year, the result, and the reason for it: a moratorium on executions was in force, and Russian law did not yet provide for life imprisonment, so the death sentence could not be carried out and 15 years was imposed.
According to 360.ru, he was found sane and sentenced to 15 years; gazeta.press places the sentencing in 1997, which does not agree with the other accounts.
He served the 15-year term and was released in February 2012, according to news.ru. He was placed under administrative supervision for six years, and went first to live with his sister.
About four months later, in the summer of 2012, he was arrested for stealing 1,500 rubles from a neighbor. He was sentenced to five years. In July 2015 he was conditionally released. Life.ru reports that he was supervised until 2021, with a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and twice-monthly reporting to the police, and that in total he served 13 years. Gazeta.press says he stole 1.5 million rubles, a figure that does not match the other reports.
Reports from 2025 and early 2026 place Retunsky in the Voronezh region. He was 75 in July 2025. Life.ru reports that he has sight in only one eye and is deaf in one ear, and lives on a minimum pension of 14,000 rubles. He said he could not find work because of his record. He said that people in the area avoided him. He has had a relationship with a woman of 62 for about eight years. In January 2026 news.ru reported again that he was living in the region.
Retunsky now says he is innocent of the killings. He told reporters that he confessed to gain fame, and Life.ru reports that he also says he gave false testimony under pressure from investigators. He has said he was involved in only two crimes of the 1990s and that one of these deaths was an accident. News.ru notes that these are his own statements, and a court found him guilty of eight murders.
The number of victims. The court record covers eight murders. Investigators considered him linked to 12 or 13 episodes, and he gave totals of 11 and 60 in questioning. Only the eight are convictions; the rest are unproven.
The court and date. News.ru gives May 1999 and the Voronezh Regional Court. Life.ru gives December 1999 and the Supreme Court. One report dates the sentencing to 1997. The reports agree that a death sentence was imposed and that 15 years was the term served.
Two 1994 deaths. He said he was involved; the matter was dropped after an alibi was established, and one report says another man was blamed for one of the killings.
1950: Born in Povorino (February 4, per one report).
1978: Sentenced to five and a half years for rape.
1986: Kills his niece's husband; sentenced to three years and released in 1989.
1990: The series of killings begins in the Povorino area.
1991: Detained after a killing and released the same day for lack of evidence.
1996: Last victim killed (July, per Life.ru).
Early 1997: Arrested in Povorino after the puppy is traced to his stepson; confesses.
1999: Sentenced to death for eight murders (May, Voronezh Regional Court, per news.ru; December, Supreme Court, per Life.ru); sentence replaced by 15 years under the moratorium.
February 2012: Released.
2012: Arrested for theft of 1,500 rubles and sentenced to five years.
July 2015: Conditionally released.
2025 and January 2026: Reported living in the Voronezh region.