August 17, 2007
Chess Serial Killer arrested in Moscow21.06.2006 – MosNews is reporting that a shop assistant has been arrested under suspicion of being the notorious Bitsa Park serial killer, whom Moscow police have been tracking for half a year. He is accused of at least 14 murders, but has confessed to a total of 61. Apparently the killer was trying to commit one murder for each square of the chessboard.
“Crazy Chess Player” Serial Killer Confesses to 61 Murders
MosNews is reporting that a serial killer has been detained in Moscow after confessing to killing 61 people. The killer had planned to murder a total of 64 people, one for each of the squares of a chessboard.
Alexander Pichushkin, 32, a shop assistant, has claimed to be the notorious Bitsa Park serial killer, who Moscow police have been tracking down for more than half a year, Kommersant daily reports. Pichushkin, who has already been nicknamed “Crazy Chess Player”, said he had initially planned to commit 64 murders, one for each of the chessboard squares. He also said there were three squares vacant, thus admitting to have killed 61.
However the police have found only 14 bodies in the Bitsa Park in the suburbs of Moscow, and the investigators doubt the detainee’s testimony, since he cannot remember where he had hid the rest 47 corpses.
Pichushkin was detained on June 18, on suspicions of killing his co-worker whose body was found in a spring in the park. He admitted his guilt and gave to the police the hammer he had killed the woman with. “In all likelihood, this case will turn out to be even bigger than that of the notorious maniac Chikatilo,” a police spokesman said. Andrei Chikatilo, who killed 53 teenagers and children in southern Russia, was condemned to death and executed in 1994.
Trial of Russian who boasted of 63 murders
· Keen chess player 'wanted to be worst serial killer'
· Police find only 14 bodies and lack forensic evidence
Luke Harding in Moscow
Tuesday August 14, 2007
The Guardian
Pichushkin is accused of killing 49 people and attempting to kill three more. Photograph: Kostya Smirnov/AFP/Getty
Along the leafy lanes of Moscow's Bitsevsky Park, Alexander Pichushkin was a familiar figure. The 33-year-old supermarket worker played chess under the trees and even invited his opponents for a drink afterwards.
But yesterday Mr Pichushkin was in court accused of murdering 49 people and attempting to kill three more, a tally which would make him one of Russia's most deadly killers.
According to the prosecution, Mr Pichushkin lured his victims, who were mostly elderly men, to a quiet part of the park. He then attacked them from behind with a hammer. He invariably suggested a glass of vodka next to the grave of his beloved dog before killing them, the prosecution alleges.
"He dreamed of surpassing Chikatilo and going down in history," Moscow prosecutor Yury Syomin said, referring to Andrei Chikatilo, Russia's most notorious serial killer, who was convicted in 1992 of killing and eating 52 people.
In interviews, Mr Pichushkin boasted that he had killed 63 people. He said he drew a cross on his chessboard after each murder. His plan to fill all 64 squares came unstuck in June 2006 when he went for a walk in the park with Marina Moskalyova, 36, a supermarket colleague.
Detectives discovered her body on June 14 last year. Hidden in her coat were two clues: a metro ticket and a piece of paper listing Mr Pichushkin's mobile number. Surveillance footage showed Ms Moskalyova strolling with her alleged killer, leading to a raid on Mr Pichushkin's apartment two days later, when he was arrested.
But despite his apparent confessions, there are questions over the scale of Mr Pichushkin's crimes and the state of his mental health. Police have found only 14 bodies. They have also struggled to find compelling forensic evidence, although they have retrieved a hammer from a pond.
"This is the first such case in Moscow. We are charging him with 52 murders. He insists that he killed 63, but there are no bodies, no murder weapons, no testimony, and not even records of people gone missing," said Mr Syomin.
Relatives of Mr Pichushkin's alleged victims were in court yesterday as the man dubbed the Bitsevsky maniac by the Russian press made his first public appearance at a preliminary hearing. His jury trial will start on September 13.
"He should be handed over to the public for punishment rather than allowed to live in prison at our expense," Tamara Klimova, whose husband disappeared five years ago and was allegedly murdered by Mr Pichushkin, told Russia Today TV.
Mr Pichushkin's mother said her son's errant journey begun when he was struck on the head by a swing at the age of four.