“ I wanted to repeat the "feats" of Chikatilo. He is my idol. „
Biography[]
Early life[]
Alexander Nikolayevich Ershov was born in Moscow in 1981. At the time of his birth, his father Nikolai - a career criminal - was incarcerated, leading to him being raised solely by his mother. The pair lived together near the Losiny Ostrov National Park, where Alexander spent most of his free time.[1]
From an early age, Ershov began to exhibit signs of mental abnormalities and sexual deviations, and as he suffered from a communicative disorder, he was introverted and rarely communicated with other children. In primary school, he earned a reputation as a peeping tom who snuck into the girls' bathrooms and sexually harassed female students by lifting up their skirts, for which he was constantly subjected to disciplinary action by school administration. The most notorious incident occurred during a physical education lesson in the fifth grade, when Ershov untied the top of a female classmate while she was playing basketball, exposing her breasts in front of their classmates.[1]
Having earned a reputation as a bully with a superiority complex, Ershov openly expressed his disdain for his peers and the school staff. Eventually, as his relations with other students deteriorated even further, they began to physically asssault and even severely beat him on several occasions. As he performed poorly and was chronically absent, Ershov was moved to a special education facility in 1995, but soon after completely stopped attending.
At around age 14, Ershov began to masturbate, using his mother's underwear as an object of sexual arousal. After his mother began to notice that her underwear was stained with seminal fluid, she got into arguments with her son.[1] After one such argument, Ershov ran into the kitchen and began to masturbate in front of his mother, and after she started scolding him, he ejaculated on her face. Shortly after this incident, his mental state suffered a sharp decline, after which he began to attack young girls and women in the Losiny Ostrov National Park.[1]
Murders[]
Ershov committed his first murder on October 8, 1997, on an abandoned path in Losiny Ostrov. The victim was 20-year-old medical school student Svetlana Vasenkova, who was stabbed 40 times, raped and had her underwear and student ID stolen as "trophies".[1]
A month later, On November 9, Ershov stabbed to death 60-year-old Maria M. in Sokolniki Park. Unlike the previous victim, Maria M.' clothes were untouched and her personal possessions - a handbag, a pension certificate, a gas canister, keys to her apartment and 50,000 rubles - were found nearby. The reason for this was that Ershov only saw his victim from behind and assumed that she was much younger due to her slender figure. Upon realizing that he was mistaken, he decided not to do anything with the body and simply fled.
On November 18, Ershov attacked 36-year-old doctor Natalya Darkina, stabbing her numerous times and inflicting wounds from which she would later pass away. After killing her, Ershov cut off her breasts. Later on, when questioned about this murder, Ershov claimed that he likely would not have killed Darkina if he knew who she was.[1] On the following day, the body of 20-year-old Oksana S. was found in Izmailovsky Park, and since she was killed in a similar manner, it was assumed that she was also a victim of the "Losiny Ostrov Maniac". However, this was disproven after an acquaintance of hers was arrested for the murder.
Ten days later, on November 28, Ershov committed his final murder when he stabbed to death Elena Neferova, a senior research fellow at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Using a hunting knife, he inflicted several dozen stab wounds on her, after which he cut off her ring finger with her wedding ring on, stealing it as a "trophy".[1]
Arrest and investigation[]
Aside from the murders, Ershov committed at least three more robberies and two assaults, including two attempted murders. He was detained after one such attack.
In December 1997,[note 1] Ershov attacked 24-year-old Lyudmila B. in Losiny Ostrov, stabbing her twice in the head and forearm. His knife broke during the attack, leading him to snatch the victim's handbag and run away. A woman named Tatyana Pashina witnessed the attack, helped the victim get to the hospital, and then went to the police station and gave a detailed description of the assailant. The investigation was headed by the Chief Prosecutor of the Eastern District of Moscow, Lyudmila Motalina, who ordered that facial composites of the attacker be distributed across different areas of the city, which included Losiny Ostrov. Soon after this, several people contacted the police claiming that the maniac heavily resembled Alexander Ershov, leading to him being detained that same day.[2]
Initially, Ershov confessed to only two of the murders and denied the rest, but investigators nonetheless proved conclusively that he was responsible for all of them.[1] In the following months, he was escorted to the murder sites to conduct investigative experiments and reproduce what had happened. During interrogations, Ershov explained that the forest had a sacred meaning to him and that since the age of eight, he was inexplicably drawn to the area and spent all day long in it, drawing maps and then guiding them into rolls. A subsequent search of his apartment led to the discovery of 200 maps of Losiny Ostrov National Park.[1] When queried about the reason for the crimes, Ershov said that he was attracted to murder and wanted to follow in the steps of his "idol", Andrei Chikatilo.[1]
Trial[]
In mid-1998, Ershov's lawyer filed a motion for his client to undergo a forensic psychiatric examination, which was granted. At the end of the year, Ershov was transferred to the Serbsky Center, where underwent a multitude of examinations for several months. Eventually, the examiners concluded that he suffered from an advanced form of schizophrenia, sexual sadism and delayed puberty, leading to him being ruled unable to stand trial in August 2000. Shortly afterwards, Ershov was acquitted by reason of insanity and placed in a closed psychiatric clinic with intensive supervision.
Fate and rumors[]
There is no reliable information about Ershov following his internment. In his book "Serial Killers" (Russian: Серийные убийцы), author Nikolai Modestov claimed that Ershov committed suicide before trial, but this has never been conclusively proven.[3]
In November 2019, a young woman's body was found in Bumazhnaya Park near the Losiny Ostrov National Park, bearing ten stab wounds.[4] The victim's body was found in a concrete pipe in the middle of the forest, after which rumors spread that that the murder was carried out none other than Alexander Ershov, who was supposedly discharged from the psychiatric clinic. However, this claim was never verified.[4]
Victims[]
Confirmed victims[]
| Name | Age | Date of Death | Cause of Death |
|---|---|---|---|
| Svetlana Vasenkova | 20 | October 8, 1997 | Stabbing |
| Maria M. | 60 | November 9, 1997 | Stabbing |
| Natalya Darkina | 36 | November 18, 1997 | Stabbing |
| Elena Neferova | November 28, 1997 | Stabbing |
Survivors[]
| Name | Age | Date of Attack |
|---|---|---|
| Unnamed victim | October - December 1997 | |
| Lyudmila B. | 24 | December 1997 |
Timeline[]
Bibliography[]
Literature[]
Articles[]
Documentaries[]
Television[]
YouTube Documentaries[]
Podcasts[]
In popular culture[]
Film adaptation[]
Related Articles[]
See also[]
Links[]
Notes[]
- ↑ Various sources list the date as either December 19 or 27
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 CHIKATILO from Losiny Ostrov (Russian). Argumenty i Fakti (August 22, 2000). Archived from the original on September 26, 2024.
- ↑ Today is the 18th anniversary of the service for combating organized crime of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation (Russian). Regnum (November 15, 2006). Archived from the original on September 26, 2024.
- ↑ Nikolai Modestov. "The Man in the Mask" (Russian).
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Alexander Filimonov (November 15, 2019). A new maniac may have appeared in Losiny Ostrov (Russian). Primechaniya.ru. Archived from the original on September 26, 2024.