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Biography[]
Early life and first murder[]
Very little is known about Gerankov's early life, aside from the fact that he was born on January 12, 1964, in the village of Imanatav-Kombinat, Kokshetau Oblast in the Kazakh SSR. His first serious criminal conviction was at age 17 when, shortly after graduating secondary school, he was convicted of a robbery-murder in 1981 and sentenced to a short stint in prison.[1] Upon his release, he was re-arrested for a robbery and imprisoned for a second time. After completing the second term, Gerankov married a woman named Lyudmila, with whom he had one child. For the remainder of the 1980s, the couple lived in a rented house in Sergeyev, North Kazakhstan.[2]
Murders[]
Second murder and move to Russia[]
By 1993, following the collapse of the USSR, the Gerankov family started to experience financial difficulties, due to which they decided to move in with Lyudmila's relatives in Omsk, Omsk Oblast, Russia.[2] As they had no money to move, Gerankov begged his landlady to lend his some, but when she refused, he proceeded to bludgeon her to death with an unidentified object. He then ransacked the apartment and attempted to destroy all evidence of his presence by staging it to look like an accident - shortly before leaving, he left the electric heater on, which eventually caused a fire. However, the neighbors quickly found out and put it out, then found the landlady's body. At the time it was impossible to catch Gerankov, as he and his family had already left for Omsk by that time.[2]
Serial murders[]
Between March and October 3, 1995, Gerankov committed eight additional murders and robberies in a private sector of the Leninsky District in Omsk. All victims were single elderly people aged 63 through 90, with seven being women and one being a man. He looked for pensioners by asking locals where he could find housing, presenting himself as either a refugee from Kazakhstan or a guest from Petropavlovsk.[3] All of the victims were killed by blows to the head inflicted with a blunt instrument or an axe, with Gerankov stealing small amounts of money, low-value items and food. Sometimes, he even left empty-handed, which indicated that robbery was perhaps not the only motivating factor for the murders. For the first three murders, he was accompanied by his wife, who helped steal things from the victims' houses.[1]
Gerankov committed his third murder in March 1995 when, under the pretext of looking for housing, he asked an elderly woman for an address where he could rent an apartment - on the next day, he came to her apartment and beat her to death with a hammer.[2] He then stole approximately one million rubles in cash, as well as second-hand clothing, boots, military medals and food from the refrigerator.[1] On July 27, Gerankov used an axe to kill 64-year-old pensioner Shishkova, who lived in her own house on Ozenaya Street. From this attack, he only stole her earrings.[2]
The next two murders were committed on August 31, with the victims being two elderly women, 84-and-85-year-olds, respectively, who lived in their private homes on Rabochny Lane.[3] Both were killed with an axe. Gerankov did not steal anything from the first woman's apartment, but stole 800,000 rubles and a cheap pocket watch from the second one. Two weeks later, on September 18, Gerankov hacked to death a 70-year-old man whom he occasionally drank with at his house, from where he stole a Comet tape recorder and a pack of ground beef.[1] The day after, he killed 80-year-old Vnorovskaya with an axe and a tire iron, but did not steal anything from her apartment.[3]
Gerankov committed his final murder on October 3, two weeks after Vnorovskaya's murder. The victim was a 90-year-old pensioner who lived in a house on the outskirts of Omsk, with the loot from her residence being food from the refrigerator, a pack of minced meat and a Tetris handheld console.[2]
Trial, sentence and imprisonment[]
In order to solve the murders, all the recent killings were combined into one and a special investigative group was formed. As it turned out, a large number of witnesses reported seeing a suspicious-looking man walking aimlessly around the city and questioning elderly people, but this proved to be insufficient to lead to a definitive suspect. The investigators then started looking into any ex-convict, mental patient or "suspicious" person they knew resided in the area.[3]
The break came in after a young woman contacted police and described in great detail how she saw a strange man in the vicinity of the last murder victim's house. A facial composite was created, directly leading to Gerankov's arrest at a railway station on October 17.[2] His fingerprints were taken and checked with those left at the crime scene, and were found to be an exact match. Almost immediately, Gerankov admitted his guilt, but initially refused to implicate his wife in the murders - after two months had passed and she did not visit him, he changed his mind and revealed that she was indeed an accomplice.[1] When their apartment was checked, investigators found the victims' belongings.[3]
Gerankov was eventually charged with the eight murders and robberies, and on December 6, 1996, he was convicted on all counts and sentenced to death, while his wife Lyudmila was sentenced to five years imprisonment and confiscation of property.[2] Gerankov's death sentence was eventually commuted to life imprisonment due to Russia's moratorium on the death penalty, and he remains incarcerated at the White Swan Prison to this day. Since his incarceration, Gerankov has supposedly converted to Christianity and corresponds with pen pals.[2]
Victims[]
| Name | Age | Body Found | Cause of Death |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unnamed victim | 1981 | ||
| Unnamed landlady | 1993 | Bludgeoning | |
| Unnamed elderly woman | March 1995 | Bludgeoning | |
| "Shishkova" | 64 | July 27, 1995 | Bludgeoning |
| Unnamed elderly woman | 84 | August 31, 1995 | Bludgeoning |
| Unnamed elderly woman | 85 | August 31, 1995 | Bludgeoning |
| Unnamed elderly man | 70 | September 18, 1995 | Bludgeoning |
| "Vnorovskaya" | 80 | September 19, 1995 | Bludgeoning |
| Unnamed elderly woman | 90 | October 3, 1995 | Bludgeoning |
Timeline[]
Bibliography[]
Literature[]
- Modestov, Nikolai (1997). Маньяки… Слепая смерть : Хроника серийных убийств, (Russian) Nadezhda-I. ISBN ISBN 5-86150-041-X
Articles[]
Documentaries[]
Television[]
YouTube Documentaries[]
Podcasts[]
In popular culture[]
Film adaptation[]
Related Articles[]
See also[]
Links[]
- Gerankov, Peter Evgenievich at Wikipedia (in Russian)
- DACTYLOSCOPIC AND DERMATOGLYPHIC STUDY OF PAPILLARY PATTERNS OF SERIAL KILLERS (in Russian)
Notes[]
- ↑ Present-day Imantau, North Kazakhstan Region, Kazakhstan
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Denis Artemov (September 16, 2019). Маньяк Петр Геранков: «Омский Раскольников». MZK1.RU. Archived from the original on June 9, 2024.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Andrei Novikov (November 30, 2020). Маньяк из Сергеевки переехал в Россию и был почти расстрелян (Russian). News Petropavlovsk. Archived from the original on October 13, 2023.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 Modestov