Today’s new entry into the serial killer Hall of Infamy might just be the worst Russian
serial killer of modern times, although you could argue that Andrei Chikatilo, aka the
Rostov Ripper, takes that spot due to the utterly brutal nature of his crimes.
While we’ve mostly concentrated on American serial killers, you could say we are trying
to branch out, having now featured a Japanese child killer, the blight of Victorian London,
Jack the Ripper, and the globe-trotting conman and backpacker killer from France, Charles
Sobhraj.
The man today is slightly different, in that he didn’t really choose a certain kind of
victim; anyone would do it seems.
He did once say, “For me, life without murder is like life without food for you,” so it’s
understandable that he wasn’t picky.
Welcome to this episode of the Infographics Show, Alexander Pichushkin: The Chessboard
Killer.
The first thing we did when researching this show was to watch a clip of Pichushkin being
interviewed, which you can find on YouTube (in Russian with no subtitles).
He’s certainly a strange-looking man, with a kind of oversized head, sunken eyes, and
he doesn’t seem to like making eye contact.
Unlike many of the serial killers we’ve featured, he didn’t do too many interviews,
neither did he make money from books or have movies made about him.
Nope, this sad-looking guy just went to jail, and that’s where he remains today.
He was sentenced to life in 2007, with the first 15 years of his sentence to be served
in solitary confinement.
He’s held at an unknown jail, where it’s said his only visitor is his mother.
Russian authorities don’t want him anywhere near other people.
He even appeared in court in a cage.
You might wonder what he did to be given this kind of special treatment, so here we go.
First a quick bio.
Pichushkin was born on April 9th, 1974.
As an adult he went on a killing rampage, with the victims numbering somewhere between
49 and 60.
He’s called the Chessboard Killer – we’ll tell you later why – and also The Bitsa
Park Maniac, because that park is where he did his handiwork.
And let us tell you, this is one strange killer, someone that no doubt had a modus operandi
unlike anyone in history, and it’s not likely anyone will copy him.
But let’s now go back to his childhood.
He was born in the industrial city of Mytishchi, which lies northeast of Russia's capital Moscow,
only a short drive away.
Many people who live in this grim city call it “zhopa mira”, which translates as “butthole
of the world.”
His childhood is very important when discussing this man, because it’s said that an event
that happened when he was just a young kid may have been the reason he turned into such
an animal.
At four years old, little Alex fell off a swing backwards.
If that wasn’t bad enough, the swing struck him in the head on its way back down.
This caused severe damage to his frontal cortex, and that’s the reason his forehead is a
bit misshaped today.
But worse than the cosmetic aberration was what it did to his brain.
When you badly injure this part of the brain, it can result in not being able to control
impulses and aggression.
This happens a lot to sports people who’ve incurred such brain injuries.
But for the poor, once sociable Pichushkin, life got very tough.
Not only did he have learning disabilities, but he was bullied in school because of the
way he looked.
He would often become violent with these kids, making sure they knew that calling him retarded
would result in dire consequences.
His mother then took him out of mainstream school and entered him in a school for special
needs children.
The Guardian interviewed a childhood neighbor of Pichushkin; her name was Svetlana Mortyakova
and she told the newspaper that he was always polite and pleasant, and that he had a great
fondness for animals, especially dogs.
It’s said he was devastated when his cat died.
We also know that in spite of having some learning difficulties, he was very good at
playing chess.
It was Pichushkin’s grandfather that noticed and admired these abilities, and he believed
special school taught him nothing, so it was best the boy go live with him where he could
hone his chess skills.
It’s said he became outstanding at the game, and it was through this that he vented all
of that emotional energy he was carrying around.
Unfortunately, the grandfather died.
It’s said this was the turning point for Pichushkin, whose rage would once again come
to the fore.
Some analysts said it was the terrible grief he felt at losing the one man that had seen
his talent and loved him dearly that sent him over the edge.
Nope, the boy didn’t stay gentle for long.
Police now know that when Pichushkin was just 18, he committed his first murder.
The victim was a boy that lived close by, and he was killed because Pichushkin was in
love with his girlfriend.
The girl he ostensibly loved 5 five years later was found dead in the infamous park,
and police believe that was also the work of Pichushkin.
But let’s not get carried away.
So, we have a chess champion who had just lost the closest person in his life.
It didn’t stop him playing chess, but it did start his drinking campaign.
Apparently, the young man would hang out in Bitsa Park, swigging neat vodka and looking
for opponents to play chess with.
It seems there were plenty of people that wanted to play, but reports state Pichushkin’s
game was never affected by the hooch.
Prior to his first murder, when he was about 16, it’s said he would take a video camera
to the park and shoot children playing.
It’s also said that one time, he picked up a small boy by the leg at the apartment
block where he lived, held him upside down, and uttered the ominous words, “You are
in my power now...
I am going to drop you from the window... and you will fall 15 meters to your death...”
This was apparently later found in some footage he had taken.
Anyhow, the teenager was depressed we are told, and would spend days in the park walking
his beloved dog, drinking and smoking.
Then the dog died, too.
Psychologist Mikhail Vinogradov has said that the deaths of his grandfather became an abandonment
issue.
Add the dog to that, and it seems as if he lost everyone he loved.
So, this is where the killing starts.
As he is one of the most prolific killers of all time we can’t go into all the murders
of course, But we will say many of his victims, most in fact, were old men.
But he did kill some children, young folks, and middle-aged people, and on three occasions
he chose women.
One of those women was found with stakes nailed into her skull and close to her eyes.
Yes, he was quite sadistic, and some theorize he got a sexual buzz out of it.
He did once admit that killing gave him a “perpetual orgasm.”
He said murdering people made him feel like a God.
Sometimes he’d just invite folks to drink with him, even go sit where he had buried
his dog, and then when their back was turned, he’d smash in their skull with a hammer.
He also killed a few people by throwing them down into a sewer.
Not the best way, and it’s believed some people survived this.
As we just said, sometimes he would do bad things to the bodies, but he made little attempt
to hide them at times, especially near the end of his spree.
Other people were thrown down those sewage wells after being killed.
We might also remember that it was easy to kill in this park and hide bodies, as it is
more than four times the size of New York’s Central Park.
"In all cases I killed for only one reason.
I killed in order to live, because when you kill, you want to live," he once told the
press, adding, “I felt like the father of all these people, since it was me who opened
the door for them to another world.”
As for the strange MO we mentioned at the start of the show, he had a habit of inserting
a bottle of vodka – neck first of course – into the hole’s he had bashed in his
victim’s heads.
He wedged them in well, too, and that’s how police found the bodies.
This became big news, and especially as so many bodies were turning up.
Locals talked of an animal that stalks at night, a monster that hides in the park.
At the same time, Pichushkin was working in a grocery store and it’s said he was always
very amiable.
He actually once talked in court about how he liked to be friendly, even to the people
he killed.
Prior to slaughtering them, he said he’d get intimate, have fun, be open and friendly.
He said, “The closer a person is to you and the better you know them, the more pleasurable
it is to kill them.”
It’s said 10 of his victims lived in the same apartment block, so why wouldn’t they
go for a stroll in the park with the young man.
Many were friends, former school mates, or acquaintances.
GQ writes that making new friends was his hobby, saying one of his favorite books was
“How to Win Friends and Influence People.”
He even gave some of the victims their final wish.
He asked one such victim what he would want if he could have anything in the world.
The man said, “I wish I could stop drinking.”
Pichushkin’s reply to that was, “I promise you.
Today will be the day you stop drinking.”
He also said that he wanted to beat the body count of killer and fellow Russian, Andrei
Chikatilo, and have a body for every square on a chessboard.
He didn’t quite make 64 squares, but he got very close.
Even so, when interviewed, he said even if he had reached that target, he would have
carried on killing.
One report says police found his diaries describing the murders, and found a chessboard.
On it, 61 squares from the 64 were marked according to his body count.
He was caught though, and that was because inside of the pocket of one of his victims,
36-year old co-worker Marina Moskalyova, was a train ticket stub.
Police then looked at CCTV footage of the station where she had been, and who was with
her?
None other than the then 32-year old Alexander Pichushkin.
Police knew they had their man as the woman, suspicious at being invited to the park to
see Pichushkin’s dog’s grave, had told her boyfriend who she was with and gave him
Pichushkin’s phone number.
We might add that some critics say it took police so long to catch this man, who sometimes
just left bodies in the open replete with vodka-bottle-in-head adornment, was because
the victims were mainly poor and so not important in the eyes of the authorities.
Reports describe the squalor of the Russian-style projects where these people lived as the backend
of the country.
During his court appearance, as you know, he was caged in glass.
He was convicted of 49 murders and 3 attempted murders, but that wasn’t to Pichushkin’s
liking.
He asked to be convicted of 11 more murders, bringing his tally to 60.
Chikatilo, his serial killing opponent, had been convicted in 1992 of 53 murders.
In terms of what’s on the official scorecard, Pichushkin did not come out victorious.
For the killer, his moment of fame was important.
Andrei Suprunenko, who was the lead investigator in the case, once said, “All maniacs want
to talk.
It made him feel important.
I told him I admired him, and he liked that, and then he opened up.
It was very important for Pichuskin that people think he was a hero, so I made him feel like
a hero.”
So, why not head over to the comments and tell us what you think about this macabre
tale!
Also, be sure to check out our other video called The Human Dracula!
Thanks for watching, and, as always, don’t forget to like, share, and subscribe.
See you next time!