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Biography[]
Early life[]
Vladimir Stankevich was born on July 5, 1962, in Krasnoyarsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, the younger of two children. His father abandoned the family when Vladimir was only a few months old, leaving his mother, a kindergarten teacher, to take care of him and his sister by herself. In 1975, she married for a second time to another man, with the family reportedly being loving and having no problems with the law. His only notable quirk was his apparent fear of mice.[1]
At school, Stankevich was not popular with girls and had problems communicating with others.[1] After graduating, he entered a vocational school where he studied to be a fitter of control and measuring instruments. Upon completing his education, he was drafted into the Soviet Army - during his service, he met a single mother who was eight years old than him and had a daughter from a previous marriage. After completing his service, Stankevich married this woman and adopted her daughter, and three years later, the couple had another child. At around this time, both Stankevich and his wife found work at the Priargunsky Industrial Mining and Chemical Association, a sulfuric acid plant.[1]
Soon after this, the couple moved to Krasnokamensk, Zabaykalsky Krai, in housing meant for employees at the plant. Stankevich was regarded positively at his workplace, despite suffering from alcoholism since the early 1980s. In 1983, he attempted to commit suicide after quarrealing with his wife. In 1987, he was forced to undergo a treatment for his addiction.[1]
Downward spiral[]
In 1991, Stankevich attacked his 15-year-old stepdaughter's boyfriend by attempting to hack him to death with an axe. Two years later, an intoxicated Stankevich suddenly went into a rage at his workplace and tried to break into the women's changing room, but as he was prevented from doing so, he attempted to enter by breaking through a window, but instead fell down the stairs.[1]
Following the collapse of the USSR, the family lost most of their savings, leading to both Stankevich and his wife quitting their respective jobs at the plant. Subsequently, his wife found a job as a watchman and periodically traveled to China to buy goods whichy he later sold, while Vladimir survived on odd jobs and remained unemployed for long periods of time.[1] As he was unable to find a high-paying job and suffered from alcoholism, he was disrespected by both his wife and adult stepdaughter, who frequently humiliated him.[1]
According to his own claims, Stankevich searched for a way to cure his depression and started reading literature depicting violent scenes.[1] The most notable of these books centered around a 100-year-old queen who picked beautiful girls and then cut off their breasts, which Stankevich re-read many times and greatly affected his psyche. In early 1995, Stankevich's anger issues worsened and he frequently became enraged after arguments with his wife. At around this time, whenever they argued and she went to work, he would go out in the city and search for women to attack.[1]
Murders[]
On April 16, 1995, at approximately 11 PM, Stankevich approached a 34-year-old woman named Olga in the street. Seeing that she was drunk, he offered to escort her home, to which she agreed, but along the way, the pair got into some sort of argument.[2] Olga then attempted to run away, but Stankevich caught up with her, threw her to the ground, tore off her clothes and cut her mammary gland with a knife. He then picked up a branch from the ground and inflicted a cut on her body from underneath. Despite the severity of her injuries, Olga survived, and was found lying unconscious by alarmed passers-by who took her to a hospital, where she was given the necessary medical care. When queried about this attack later on, Stankevich claimed that he had drank heavily and was irate because he felt like he was being treated as a housewife by his family.[2]
On the evening of December 8, not far from his home, Stankevich attacked a 43-year-old woman named Anastasia. During the course of the attack, he pushed her to the ground, hit her several times, tore off her clothes and strangled her to death. On December 30, he attacked another woman, 34-year-old Natalia, strangling and torturing her with a piece of rebar after tearing off her clothes. Despite this, this victim survived.[2]
On the night of February 10 to 11, 1996, Stankevich went into a vacant lot between two houses where he came across a 40-year-old woman named Tatiana. He attacked her, tore off her clothes and gouged her body with a branch, killing her in the process.[1] On the night of February 29 to March 1, Stankevich met another woman sitting on top the fence of a kindergarten, 26-year-old Anna. He hit her several times on the head, after which he tore off her clothes and impaled her body with a metal bar, inflicting wounds from which the victim would succumb later on.[2]
Stankevich committed his final known murder on the following day and at the same place. In this attack, he killed a 31-year-old woman named Natalia, hitting her on the head with a metal bar, after which he slashed her from below and cut off her right mammary gland.[2]
In addition, he is known to have committed at least 12 other attacks during this period, all of which were non-fatal. In one of these attacks, the victim was attacked after only 50 minutes of interaction.[2] Stankevich brought her to an isolated area at knifepoint, where he threw her to the ground and started biting her cheeks. The victim later testified and when blood started to drip from her face, Stankevich lay on top of her and started roaring and growling before making a superficial cut on her back. During the attack, the woman said that her assailant told her that he was not going to kill her because she had a son serving in the army, and that the reason for this attack was a desire to take revenge on his wife.[2]
Arrest, investigation and trial[]
To investigate the murders, an investigative team was formed by the regional prosecutor's office and the Department of Internal Affairs. A probe was launched investigating anybody suffering from developmental disorders or mental illnesses, as well those prone to sadistic tendencies or known to have unhealthy interest in women. The streets of Krasnokamensk were patrolled by police units and disguised female officers were dispatched in an attempt to catch the offender, but this did not yield any results.[2]
Investigators managed to create a facial composite from the surviving victims' testimonies, with the composite matching Stankevich's appearance very well. They also noted that one victim said that her attacked mentioned his wife periodically traveled to China, and once investigators discovered that Stankevich's wife did exactly that, they went in to interrogate him.[2] During the interrogation, Stankevich became visibly nervous, prompting police to issue a warrant to search his apartment. In said search, they found a bloodstain on the front door of the apartment, after which Stankevich was taken to the local police station. Once there, he was positively identified as the attacker by several victims, and on April 9, 1996, Stankevich was officially arrested for the murders.[2]
During subsequent interrogations, Stankevich confessed responsibility and admitted to the crimes in writing. In June of that year, he was transferred to Chita to undergo a psychiatric examination, during which he said to the doctors that it was important for him that the victim resisted and attempted to escape, as he enjoyed the act of catching them and the taste of blood.[1] However, he also claimed to suffer from anterograde amnesia, and that he barely remembered what had happened on the mornings after the murders. At the end of the examination, it was ruled that while Stankevich suffered from sexual sadism disorder aggravated by his alcoholism and attraction to human blood, he was sane and could stand trial.[2]
Stankevich's trial began in 1998. During proceedings, he retracted all of his confessions and claimed he was pressed by investigators, but his guilt was definitely proven by an abundance of incriminating evidence, one of which was the bloodstain on the front door of his apartment, whose blood group matched the victims'. In addition, the prosecution presented testimony from the surviving victims that positively identified him as their assailant.[2] Since Stankevich did not admit guilt and showed no apparent remorse, the court found no mitigating circumstances, leading Justice Rajab Dzhafarov to sentence him to death.[1]
Imprisonment, release and current status[]
Following his conviction, Stankevich filed an appeal to the Supreme Court. The appeal proved successful, as the Court ruled that the investigation was incomplete, noting that there were procedural errors and that a glove and sports pants found at one of the crime scenes did not belong to either the victim or Stankevich. In the end, Stankevich's death sentence was overturned. Over the next several months, a number of additional examinations were conducted, with the end results being sent to Justice Lyubov Volnina.[1]
During this period, Russian President Boris Yeltsin imposed a moratorium on capital punishment - because of this, while Stankevich was found guilty at a second trial, his sentence was commuted to 15 years imprisonment, the maximum available penalty under contemporary law.[2]
After serving out his sentence in full, Stankevich was released on April 8, 2011, after which he returned to Krasnokamsk. Since then, he has seemingly managed to mostly adapt to living in society again, managing to purchase a house and a car.[1] The only notable incident since his release occurred on September 27, 2018 - on that day, Stankevich was driving his car along Chkalova Street in Chita when he hit a woman crossing the sidewalk. He did not flee the crime scene, waited for the ambulance to come and took part in providing medical assistance to the victim. He was then arrested, and during interrogations, he claimed that the victim crossed the sidewalk incorrectly, but this was refuted by both the victim and witnesses to the incident. In the end, Stankevich was found guilty and sentenced to a year and two months imprisonment, as well as having to pay 500,000 rubles in damages to the victim.[1]
Stankevich challenged this ruling on the grounds that his sentence was aggravated by his criminal record. The Court of Appeal sided with him, since his record was expunged in April 2017 and according to Russian law, he could not be imprisoned because at the time of the incident, he had no criminal record and the crime he committed was accidental. As such, his sentence was changed to two years probation and a 1-year ban on driving or operating a vehicle.[1]
As of September 2024, Stankevich is still alive, but no reliable information is available about his activities. His case has been the subject of debate on the topic of rehabilitation of violent offenders.
Victims[]
Confirmed victims[]
| Name | Age | Date of Death | Cause of Death |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Anastasia" | 43 | December 8, 1995 | Strangulation |
| "Tatiana" | 40 | February 10-11, 1996 | Stabbing |
| "Anna" | 26 | February 29-March 1, 1996 | Stabbing |
| "Natalia" | 31 | March 2, 1996 | Stabbing |
Survivors[]
| Name | Age | Date of Attack |
|---|---|---|
| "Olga" | 34 | April 16, 1995 |
| "Natalia" | 34 | December 30, 1995 |
Timeline[]
Bibliography[]
Literature[]
Articles[]
Documentaries[]
Television[]
YouTube Documentaries[]
Podcasts[]
In popular culture[]
Film adaptation[]
Related Articles[]
See also[]
Links[]
Notes[]
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 Eva Merkacheva (July 16, 2024). Maniac who fed on women's blood has had his conviction expunged (Russian). MK.ru. Archived from the original on September 4, 2024.
- ↑ 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 Elena Razdobreeva (February 16, 2023). Krasnokamensk Ripper: In the 90s, a serial killer operated in the uranium capital (Russian). Chita.ru. Archived from the original on May 25, 2023.