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Biography[]
Early life[]
Little is known about Snegov's early life. Born on January 7, 1968, in the village of Bazarny Karabulak, Saratov Oblast, he spent his childhood and youth in a seemingly normal family. After graduating school in 1986, he was drafted into the Soviet Army, and after finishing his service, he moved to Saratov in 1988. There, he found employment in the local fire department and soon married a girl named Marina, who gave birth to their child in 1990.[1]
According to people around him, Snegov did not exhibit any outwardly aggressive behavior and lead a healthy lifestyle, avoiding alcohol or using drugs.[1]
Murders[]
Snegov's first murders were comitted in the spring of 1991. In this crime, he invaded a dacha in the suburbs of Saratov and stabbed to death 50-year-old Elena Karmeeva and her 23-year-old daughter, Svetlana.[2] The murders were committed with particular cruelty, as both had been stabbed dozens of times, with the killer abandoning the broken knife at the crime scene. During the initialy stages of the investigation, authorities suspected Elena's estranged husband, Anatoly, as in the last months of their relationship, he had become an abusive alcoholic after being fired from his job.[2]
Anatoly was eventually found, and when officers approached to detain him, he was in a state of intoxication and covered in blood. In subsequent interrogations, he categorically denied committing the murders - he instead claimed that on the day of the murders, he had gone to the family dacha to reconcile with his wife, as he had recently quit drinking and found a job.[1] Anatoly claimed that when he went in, he saw his daughter's bloodied body on the ground before noticing that his wife was there as well, clutching both in his hands, allowing blood to get on his clothing. He then claimed to have attempted to flag down a passing motorist, but this individual refused to stop when he saw the bodies.[2] Anatoly described the color and type of car the person was driving, as well as the driver's physical appearance. The investigators were soon able to locate the driver - a resident of the same cooperative - but upon questioning, he claimed that he had never seen Anatoly before, leading some to question his claims. While investigating the crime scene, officers noticed that the killer had torn off Elena Karmeeva's earrings, but during a search of her husband's apartment, they were unable to locate them, instead finding money and a gold watch they had given him. Eventually, investigators ruled out the possibility that Anatoly committed the murders, as he had no real motive to do so.[2]
In the early summer of 1991, Snegov noticed 30-year-old Valentina Nikitina walking down the street after returning home from a date. He followed the woman to her apartment block and entered the elevator with her, and once the doors closed, he assaulted and stabbed her before stealing her jewelry.[1] The attack was noticed by a couple who called the elevator and saw Snegov with the victim, who attempted to play it off as Nikitina being his girlfriend and that she was simply drunk. He then pressed the elevator button and went down, after which he escaped. The spouses later told the police that the noticed blood on the floor of the elevator, but did not contact the police at the time.[2]
Little information is available about his next attack - it is known he committed it during the summer of 1991 near the Saratov Bridge, shooting a young girl using a flare gun modified to use pistol cartridges. His victim was the daughter of Ivan Pavlyuchenko, chairman of the local Bar Association, but her name was never released to the public.[1] A few days after this, Snegov was prowling near the local university when he noticed a student named Elena Khatina returning to her dormitory after visiting her mother.[1] Khatina was carrying a large bag of groceries and cans, which caught the murderer's attention. He snuck up from behind her and shot her in the back with his modified flare gun before stealing the grocery bag and running away. Khatina managed to survive, but was left paralyzed due to the bullet hitting her spinal cord.[2]
Sometime after this attack, Snegov committed his last known murder, this time in the city of Samara, Samara Oblast. Relatively little information is available about this crime, but it is known that he shot and killed an unnamed woman while she was walking up the stairs to her apartment. At the sound of the gunshot, her son ran out the apartment, threw a spoon at Snegov and cursed at him, prompting the killer to flee.[2]
Investigation and arrest[]
Investigators focused their attention on finding the jewelry stolen from the Karmeev household, as the Elena's earrings were custom-made and gifted to her by work colleagues for her 50th birthday.[2] While interviewing one of her colleagues, they managed to locate the jeweler who made the earrings, who provided authorities with a sketch of what the earrings looked like. Law enforcement distributed the sketch to the media and local television, and a few days later, they received a call from a local woman who claimed that she had seen a similar pair of earrings on her friend Marina Snegova.[2]
She was eventually located and investigators were dispatched to her apartment. When they went in to interview Marina, they noticed that she was wearing the pair of earrings, but could not explain where she got them from.[1] Snegova was detained and allowed to make a phone call to her relatives, but managed to escape while the officers were distracted. She ran to the scene of a fire on Bolshaya Sadovaya Street, which was being extinguished by her husband, Oleg. After informing him of what had just happened, the couple attempted to flee, but were caught after walking only several blocks.[2]
Soon after his arrest, Snegov admitted responsibility for the crimes, claiming that the economic reforms from the 1980s greatly affected him, and that seeing his friends and acquaintances benefitting from the protection and large profits from the cooperative business made him jealous.[1] He also claimed that after completing his military service, he made several attempts to engage in illegal business for his own personal gain, but was unsuccessful in these endeavors. After joining the fire department, he said that he expected to be able to steal jewelry and other goodies from the places he was dispatched to extinguish, but was prevented in doing so from his colleagues. Soon afterwards, he said he decided to resort to robberies and murders.[2]
Trial, sentence and execution[]
In the aftermath of his arrest, Snegov made various attempts to delay his trial. One of these attempts was to confess to additional murders he had supposedly committed in Samara, managing to delay the investigation for a tad bit longer so his claims could be investigated. However, no further murders could be linked back to him, and whether he really committed additional murders is unknown.[1]
Snegov's trial began in late 1991. Shortly before one of the trial proceedings, the father of one of his victims, Ivan Pavlyuchenko, attempted to kill him. A WWII veteran who had served in the intelligence service, Pavlyuchenko knew how to handle weaponry and smuggled a naval dirk into the courthouse, which he intended to throw at his daughter's assailant. However, he was intercepted by one of the guards, and suffered a heart attack shortly afterwards. Pavlyuchenko was attended to by medical personnel present in the courtroom, and his life was saved.[2]
In early 1992, Snegov was found guilty of the four murders, sentenced to death and subsequently executed later that same year. His wife Marina escaped prosecution, despite Oleg claiming that he had told her about all the crimes he committed - however, since she denied everything and investigators were unable to prove that she was directly involved or how much she knew, she was not brought to trial.[2]
Fate of Elena Khatina[]
In October 2019, the Russian magazine LIFE.ru was contacted by one of Snegov's surviving victims, Elena Khatina, with a request to their readers to help her buy a more comfortable wheelchair.[3] It was learned that following the attack, she avoided any news coverage about the incident and has mostly focused on helping her neighbors' children at a small village near Saratov.[3]
LIFE.ru then started a fundraiser to help Khatina purchase a wheelchair, and six months later, the goal was reached with the help of the magazine's readers. She is now able to move comfortably around, helping ease the pain from her injury.[4]
Victims[]
Confirmed victims[]
| Name | Age | Date of Death | Cause of Death |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elena Karmeeva | 50 | spring of 1991 | Stabbing |
| Svetlana Karmeeva | 23 | spring of 1991 | Stabbing |
| Valentina Nikitina | 30 | summer of 1991 | Stabbing |
| Unnamed woman | summer of 1991 | Shooting |
Survivors[]
| Name | Age | Date of Attack |
|---|---|---|
| Unnamed girl | summer of 1991 | |
| Elena Khatina | summer of 1991 |
Timeline[]
Bibliography[]
Literature[]
Articles[]
Documentaries[]
Television[]
- "Father's Revenge", episode from "The Investigation was conducted... with Leonid Kanevsky] (in Russian)
YouTube Documentaries[]
Podcasts[]
In popular culture[]
Film adaptation[]
Related Articles[]
See also[]
Links[]
Notes[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Father's Revenge
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 "Следствие вели": история поимки саратовского маньяка, убивавшего женщин из-за золотых украшений (Russian). NVersia.ru (October 29, 2017). Archived from the original on August 16, 2024.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Olga Godunenko (September 5, 2019). Пострадавшая от рук серийного маньяка россиянка 28 лет живёт со страшными болями (Russian). LIFE.ru. Archived from the original on March 15, 2023.
- ↑ Daria Khomyakova (March 15, 2020). Читатели Лайфа собрали деньги на инвалидную коляску для пострадавшей от рук серийного маньяка (Russian). LIFE.ru. Archived from the original on August 16, 2024.