EP265: The Red Ripper Andrei Chikatilo - Part 2 of 2

EP265: The Red Ripper Andrei Chikatilo - Part 2 of 2

Released Friday, 25th April 2025
Good episode? Give it some love!
EP265: The Red Ripper Andrei Chikatilo - Part 2 of 2

EP265: The Red Ripper Andrei Chikatilo - Part 2 of 2

EP265: The Red Ripper Andrei Chikatilo - Part 2 of 2

EP265: The Red Ripper Andrei Chikatilo - Part 2 of 2

Friday, 25th April 2025
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Episode Transcript

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0:10

This episode may

0:12

contain content of

0:14

a graphic nature,

0:17

including descriptions

0:20

of physical and

0:23

sexual violence

0:25

against adults,

0:27

children, and

0:30

animals. Listener

0:32

discretion is

0:34

advised. And we

0:36

are Crimes and Consequences,

0:39

a hardcore true crime

0:41

podcast. Hey, Tanya, how are

0:43

you? Doing pretty good today.

0:46

How about you? Oh, it's

0:48

the Friday. I'm having a

0:50

good day. What about you?

0:52

Yeah, my day's fantastic. You

0:54

know, live in the dream.

0:56

And I can hear it in

0:59

your voice. Can't you? I

1:01

can. It's a wonderful day

1:03

in the neighborhood. So. Well. What

1:05

I'm going to do for us

1:08

is I'm going to finish up

1:10

that Andre Romana-Bicchikato-story, the Red Ripper,

1:12

that fucking horrible guy. Yes. And

1:14

I left you guys kind of

1:17

hanging halfway. I left you guys

1:19

with his works up to 92.

1:21

So we still have plenty of

1:23

years to go with his work.

1:26

Oh, great. But I'm going to

1:28

remind you of his monarchures of

1:30

the Red Ripper, the butcher of

1:32

Rostah. the Rostov Ripper, the forest

1:35

strip killer, and the mad beast.

1:37

He earned every single one of

1:40

those. I ended by letting everybody

1:42

know, you guys know, that in

1:44

1982, he had took the lives

1:47

of six more innocent people, and

1:49

the last person I had mentioned

1:51

was Olga Machinna, and that was

1:54

on December 11th. So we're gonna

1:56

start again with Olga's story. Okay.

1:58

So Olga, she had... and lowered into

2:01

a cornfield at the edge of

2:03

town where he overtook her. He

2:05

did what he wanted with her

2:08

while he stabbed her more than

2:10

50 times all over her body.

2:12

He gouged her eyes out as

2:15

well and he didn't stop there.

2:17

He decided to cut open her

2:19

stomach where he reached inside and

2:22

pulled out her bowels and uterus.

2:24

Then he just left her there.

2:26

Sadly, she wouldn't be found for

2:29

almost two whole months. Now police

2:31

were beginning to notice the culprit

2:33

they were looking for a head

2:36

developed and now followed a kind

2:38

of pattern. So far they knew

2:40

all of the victims had been

2:43

stabbed and cut up in very

2:45

gruesome ways. Whether that meant having

2:47

their eyes couched out of their

2:50

head, their genitals completely removed from

2:52

their body, or being disemboweled. The

2:54

bodies of victims had been found

2:57

in bodies of their victims had

2:59

been found in isolated yet heavily

3:01

wooded areas on the outskirts of

3:04

town, which were within walking distance

3:06

of buses and train stations. They

3:08

also noted that when their killer

3:11

was finished with the bodies, he

3:13

made a half-ass attempt at trying

3:15

to bury or conceal them in

3:18

any way. These were the facts,

3:20

and so that's what investigators started

3:22

with. They started a police operation

3:25

called Lesopolosa, aka forest path. After

3:27

all, this was where Andre did

3:30

his killing. And as for the

3:32

nature of the killings, they got

3:34

pretty bad. Police believed that the

3:37

culprit was prolonging his killings because

3:39

he was taking genuine pleasure from

3:41

the act, not just because of

3:44

the numerous stab wounds, sometimes upwards

3:46

30 or more, but many of

3:48

the bodies were horribly mutilated. Some

3:51

stomachs were completely ripped open while

3:53

some were, can you, this mess,

3:55

this diabolical, some were completely ripped

3:58

open while some were missing sex

4:00

organs that had been chopped off.

4:02

Mainly though, it was the eyes

4:05

that got them. Pretty much everybody

4:07

that had been found had stab

4:09

wounds around the eyes. They would

4:12

later learn that the reason he

4:14

removed the eyes was attributed to

4:16

a belief that his victims kept

4:19

an imprint of his face in

4:21

their eyes, even after death. But

4:23

the term serial killer was still

4:26

something new to the Soviet Union,

4:28

as they believed the term to

4:30

be a Western thing. Needless to

4:33

say, they weren't too keen on

4:35

admitting that they had a phenomenon

4:37

such as a serial killer on

4:40

their hands. Instead of alerting the

4:42

media and the people, they decided

4:44

to keep it quiet. Andre took

4:47

a break. for a bit, but

4:49

not long. In June of 1983,

4:51

Trey killed 15-year-old Laura Sarkozin, whose

4:54

body was never found. The police

4:56

only learned of this murder after

4:58

Andre was caught and confessed to

5:01

it years later. In July, Andre

5:03

killed 13-year-old Ira Doan and Kova,

5:05

and a 20-year-old... and a 24-year-old

5:08

woman named Loda Kotajoba. On August

5:10

8th, he took the life of

5:12

seven-year-old Igor Godovkop. Sometime that same

5:15

summer, he killed an 18-year-old girl

5:17

who still remains unidentified to this

5:20

day. At this point, the police

5:22

believed the killings to be done

5:24

by that of someone who was

5:27

mentally handicapped due to their ghastly

5:29

nature. So, acting on these assumptions,

5:31

they brought in their first two

5:34

suspects. Two young men named Killek

5:36

and Shaburah, who were residents of

5:38

a special hostile for the handicapped.

5:41

They were initially brought in when

5:43

they were arrested for trying to

5:45

steal a car. Now that should

5:48

have been their only charges, but

5:50

the investigators going off of their

5:52

suspicions somehow managed to get two

5:55

confessions from both men claiming that

5:57

they had raped and killed a

5:59

number of women and children. This

6:02

has been a controversy since many

6:04

accused the police of quote unquote

6:06

infringement of legality while the two

6:09

men were being interrogated two more

6:11

bodies popped up so that's of

6:13

course he never yeah no he's

6:16

never stopping no now the infringement

6:18

of legality is that just a

6:20

fancy word for saying you bully

6:23

the confessions out of them yeah

6:25

I guess so that could probably

6:27

be it like a wrongful confession

6:30

confession Yeah. On October 27th, Andre

6:32

killed 19-year-old Bearestev Cohen, and on

6:34

December 27th, he killed a 14-year-old

6:37

boy named Sergei Markov. He stabbed

6:39

him more than 70 times and

6:41

sawed off his genitals with a

6:44

knife. God damn! So horrible! Geez!

6:46

So then, police brought in two

6:48

more guys from the same mentally

6:51

handicap hostile name Tapkin and Pana

6:53

Marov. Again, both men confessed quickly.

6:55

Of course, there were doubts once

6:58

again about how police extracted the

7:00

confessions. Wrapping up at the end

7:02

of 1983, Andre had taken the

7:05

lives of 17 people. However, only

7:07

six bodies had been recovered. This

7:10

was a huge concern for the

7:12

central Moscow militia as they were

7:14

alarmed by the number of dead

7:17

children that had surfaced. Oh, do

7:19

you think, right? Yeah, all these,

7:21

this is terrible. If I lived

7:24

in this community, I'd be like,

7:26

what the hell is the police

7:28

doing? Right? Yeah, beating people into

7:31

confessing bullshit? Yeah. Trying to sweep

7:33

everything under the rug and make

7:35

it easy for them. Do some

7:38

fucking footwork. Yeah, exactly. Like you

7:40

get these... confessions, these wrongful confessions

7:42

out of people and the killings

7:45

don't stop because you've got the

7:47

wrong fucking person. Yeah, you're trying

7:49

to make it so easy for

7:52

you. Right. That's all you're doing.

7:54

A new team was sent to

7:56

Rostov to take over the investigation,

7:59

which was headed by Major Michael

8:01

Fettisoff and his team. And after

8:03

reviewing all of the findings so

8:06

far, they confirmed that all six

8:08

murders were the work of the

8:10

same sex-crazed killer. While Moscow Headquarters

8:13

reluctantly accepted these findings, they weren't

8:15

about to begin calling the suspect

8:17

a serial killer just yet. After

8:20

all, this type of behavior was

8:22

simply not possible in Russian culture,

8:24

or so they thought. Police took

8:27

the samples of semen. which had

8:29

been taken from the victims

8:31

and it showed that the

8:33

killer had type AB blood.

8:35

During the police investigation, hundreds

8:38

of suspects were brought in

8:40

for questioning. If any of

8:42

the suspects matched, they were

8:44

detained for further questioning and

8:46

those that didn't were released.

8:48

In 1984, Andre was on

8:51

a rampage. From January to

8:53

September alone, 15 new murders

8:55

had been committed. On January

8:57

9, 1984, Andre killed 17-year-old

8:59

Attalia. Jalapinnya, her body was

9:01

found the next day by workers

9:04

in Aviators Park. Her body was

9:06

covered in stab wounds and her

9:08

nose and upper lip had been

9:11

cut off as well as one

9:13

of the fingers on her left

9:15

hand. On February 1st, Andre killed

9:18

a 44-year-old woman named Marta Rabidjanko.

9:20

Five days later, police arrested a

9:22

man named Beskorski. who was not

9:25

far from the scene of the

9:27

crime. He too was slightly mentally

9:29

handicapped and had been taken in

9:32

after allegedly raping a tramp in

9:34

the woods nearby. And even though

9:36

there wasn't any solid evidence against

9:39

him, the coincidence was too great

9:41

for the police. As a result,

9:43

Bess Corsi was arrested with two

9:45

murders, which he had confessed to,

9:48

just like the four other people

9:50

before him. That were all innocent.

9:52

Yes. Then, just the same as

9:55

the others before him, he later

9:57

withdrew his confession claiming it was

9:59

obtained. while under duress. However, by

10:01

that time, he was already in

10:04

jail and it was too late.

10:06

But then, a month later, another

10:08

killing took place. Andre killed a

10:11

10-year-old boy named FEMA Pashnikov on

10:13

March 24th, and his body had

10:15

a crazy number of stab wounds,

10:18

54 altogether, on a 10-year-old boy.

10:20

and this made the police realize

10:22

the killer was still on the

10:25

loose. No shit Sherlock. Yeah. You

10:27

know you didn't get the right

10:29

confession. However, this time they found

10:32

a piece of evidence not far

10:34

from the body. A footprint found

10:36

in the muddy ground. It wasn't

10:39

much as it was an incomplete

10:41

print, but they could tell it

10:43

belonged to someone who wore a

10:46

large-sized shoe. His next murder was

10:48

an interesting one. Andre usually only

10:50

dealt with children and women who

10:53

were prostitutes, drugs, or druggies. Not

10:55

only that, but they were always

10:57

spontaneous kills. But at this time,

11:00

though, this time he made plans

11:02

to meet with his former mistress,

11:04

32-year-old Tanya Petrosian, and her 11-year-old

11:07

daughter, Petrosian. And this was on

11:09

May 25th. After getting off the

11:11

train together, the three walked for

11:14

about 10 minutes, closer to the

11:16

woods, Andre, coaxed Tanya to lay

11:18

down with him, and Spetta got

11:21

the hints. She began making her

11:23

way further into the woods to

11:25

leave them alone and to play.

11:28

And then, when alone, the two

11:30

began getting intimate. However, when they

11:32

tried to have intercourse, Andre couldn't

11:35

perform, just like he hadn't been

11:37

able to all those years before.

11:39

Except this time, Tanya made a

11:42

fateful mistake by beginning to mock

11:44

his impotence. Oh, dear. Yeah, right.

11:47

He reached into his bag, produced

11:49

a large knife, and he plunged

11:51

it right into the side of

11:54

her head. She began screaming, but

11:56

he didn't stop. He then started

11:58

beating her to death with a...

12:01

hammer. Obviously her daughter came running

12:03

but Andre had been waiting for

12:05

her. As soon as she approached

12:08

the scene of the crime Andrea

12:10

attacked her in the same manner

12:12

he did it her mother first

12:15

by stabbing and then by bludgening

12:17

with the hammer. It wasn't until

12:19

July 5th that the police would

12:22

find Spetta's decomposed body at least

12:24

most of it. Her head had

12:26

been completely severed off and it

12:29

lay in the undergrowth about five

12:31

yards away. Three weeks later Tanya's

12:33

body would be found in the

12:36

dense undergrowth. but only because people

12:38

picnicking in the area complained of

12:40

an awful smell. In June, Andre

12:43

killed 22-year-old Jalena. In July, he

12:45

killed 13-year-old boy named Dima Elarjanov

12:47

on the 10th, and he killed

12:50

a 19-year-old girl named Anna Lemaseva

12:52

on the 19th. and a 20-year-old

12:54

girl named Svetta, Sanna sometime in

12:57

July. At some point during the

12:59

summer months, he was fired from

13:01

his job for theft of property.

13:04

Andre started a new job in

13:06

Rostov on August 1st. He was

13:08

no longer just a supply clerk,

13:11

but head of a department with

13:13

five people working below him. And

13:15

this was a good change for

13:18

him, seeing as the bustling city

13:20

life helped him to blend into

13:22

the crowd. Plus, the two-hour train

13:25

ride it took from his home

13:27

and shockty to his new job

13:29

in Rostov gave him a good

13:32

excuse to come home late. Sometimes

13:34

he wouldn't come home at all,

13:36

claiming he had missed the last

13:39

train. He ended up spending some

13:41

of the nights in the main

13:43

railway station hunting for new victims.

13:46

He took advantage of his time.

13:48

Andre killed a 16- Andre killed

13:50

a 16-year-old girl named Natasha Golasova

13:53

on August 2nd while on a

13:55

business trip to Uzbekistan. A 17-year-old

13:57

girl named Lota Alex Deva on

14:00

August 7th. She suffered 39/wounds before

14:02

he mutilated and disembarkated. fouled her.

14:04

Her body was found the next

14:07

day with her upper lip inside

14:09

of her mouth. An unknown woman

14:11

between the 8th and the 11th,

14:14

a 12-year-old girl named Akmarel Shada

14:16

Shaba on August 13th, and a

14:18

boy named Sasha Chappelle on August

14:21

28th, and a 24-year-old girl named

14:23

Irena Loshinka on September 6th. That

14:25

is so busy, I can't even

14:28

believe, and how he would just

14:30

mutilate their bodies. And how is

14:32

he not getting caught? This is

14:35

the, probably denial, you know, oh

14:37

we don't have serial killers? Yeah,

14:39

grow up. Yeah, that's part of

14:42

it, right? Yes. Like some of

14:44

this stuff I'm thinking it's in

14:46

public. It's in public. People would

14:49

have, there has to be witnesses.

14:51

There has to be. So, well,

14:53

on September. 13th, two undercover detectives

14:56

roamed around the bus station dressed

14:58

as normal everyday people and watched

15:00

everyone talking to everyone. It didn't

15:03

take long for them to notice

15:05

Andre who they noticed would start

15:07

combos with random women. They also

15:10

noted that he had some gray

15:12

hair, which matched that found at

15:14

the crime scene. They began following

15:17

him into town and saw how

15:19

he approached all types of different

15:21

women. Most importantly, they saw him

15:24

play with himself in random public

15:26

places. We got our boy. We

15:28

got our guy right here. Yeah,

15:31

amen. They eventually approached him and

15:33

they arrested him on September 14th.

15:35

During his search, the police found

15:38

a knife with an eight inch

15:40

blade, bundles of rope, and a

15:42

jar of Vaseline. We got our

15:45

guy. Yeah, right? Once at the

15:47

police station, Andre's history painted an

15:49

unfortunate picture for him. They learned

15:52

all they needed to know to

15:54

be suspicious. Not to mention, he

15:56

was also suspected of robbing one

15:59

of his previous employers, which allowed

16:01

them to keep his... them detained

16:03

longer. They decided to draw his

16:06

blood in order to try and

16:08

match it to the six seaman

16:10

samples that they had collected. Unfortunately,

16:13

Andre's blood type came back as

16:15

type A, while the semen samples

16:17

were type A-B. What the investigators

16:20

didn't know at the time was

16:22

that Andre had an extremely rare

16:24

condition, a rare genetic condition. He

16:27

was a non-secretor, which meant that

16:29

while his blood and saliva samples

16:31

were type A, his semen was

16:34

type A-B. Since they didn't have

16:36

the modern day DNA DNA testing

16:38

I do today. they could never

16:41

make the connection. And so that

16:43

made Andre no longer a main

16:45

priority. And the only real evidence

16:48

that they had left were the

16:50

contents of his briefcase and the

16:52

police report of his activities at

16:55

the train station. Incredibly, the knife

16:57

and other items were lost when

16:59

a local police lieutenant mishandled them

17:02

by mistake. Having insufficient evidence to

17:04

charge him for the murders, he

17:06

was later charged with the stealing

17:09

offenses and sentenced to one year

17:11

in prison and kicked out of

17:13

the communist party. After only serving

17:16

three months of his original sentence,

17:18

Drey was released on December 12th,

17:20

1984, and he started a new

17:23

job in a locomotive factory in

17:25

nearby Novachersik, just as he was

17:27

used to, this position also required

17:30

him to travel. Kostoyev, director of

17:32

Moscow's department for violent crime, aka

17:34

the killer department, he took over

17:37

the case, which was reorganized into

17:39

three separate teams of investigators. One

17:41

focused on Shakti, the second on

17:44

Rostov, and the third, Novoshaktant. Their

17:46

plan was to investigate each murder

17:48

while focusing on the surrounding areas

17:51

of each one. Now Andre lay

17:53

low for a little while before

17:55

he struck again in the...

17:58

summer of 1985.

18:00

On August 1st,

18:02

1985, Andre killed

18:05

an 18 -year -old

18:07

girl named Natasha

18:09

Pashlostova during a business trip to

18:11

Moscow. He had lured her off

18:13

the train with the promise of

18:15

something to smoke, which she had

18:17

approached him for and tried to

18:20

have sex. When he couldn't perform,

18:22

he stabbed her 38 times before

18:24

finally strangling her. When he was

18:26

done, he covered her with the

18:28

green raincoat she had been wearing

18:30

and left her in the woods.

18:32

And she was found the next

18:34

day by a man picking mushrooms.

18:36

On October 27th, Andre killed an

18:38

18 -year -old named Irina Gul

18:40

Yayeva. She was a

18:42

vagrant with no place to go. They

18:44

had met at the bus station

18:46

and he offered her to stay at

18:48

his cottage. Of course, that cottage

18:50

didn't exist and she became his next

18:53

victim. He left her naked body

18:55

about 500 yards from the bus stop.

18:57

Now come December, the police organized

18:59

for all of the trains in the

19:01

three districts to be patrolled by

19:03

officers in plain clothes. They had instructions

19:05

to stop and check the documents

19:07

of anyone who looked suspicious to them.

19:09

Little did they know that Andre used

19:11

his credentials as a freelance employer

19:13

of the Department of Internal Affairs

19:15

and had been helping the militia

19:17

as they patrolled the trains. He

19:19

now knew to kill in different

19:21

areas, but also to take a

19:23

little break, which he did and

19:25

he didn't kill for all of

19:27

1986. Wow, that must have been

19:29

really hard for him. I would

19:31

think so that struggle because if

19:33

you're like mass killing that you

19:36

are bloodlust, you can't get enough.

19:38

I'm sure, yeah, I'm sure it's

19:40

adrenaline. He's like probably an

19:42

adrenaline junkie. You know, he's probably

19:44

the rush of it. I mean, I'm

19:46

sure it was really hard. It's

19:48

probably probably similar to like being addicted

19:50

to drugs for him. That's what

19:52

I didn't think that's what I compare

19:55

it to too. Just from the

19:57

search alone, the police turned out 5

19:59

,845 men with previous 10,000 potentially dangerous

20:01

mentally ill people are

20:04

119 homosexuals, 163 drivers.

20:06

They managed to solve

20:08

1,060 crimes including 95

20:10

murders and 45 rapes,

20:12

140 cases of serious

20:15

bodily harm. So back

20:17

in this time, and

20:19

I don't even know

20:21

really if it's true

20:23

today, but back in.

20:26

that these men would

20:28

be punished for homosexual

20:31

acts. So, three more murders

20:33

were recorded in 1987. On

20:35

May 16th, during a trip

20:37

to the town of Reveda in

20:39

the Euro Mountains, he killed

20:41

a 13-year-old boy named Olag

20:43

Makarankov. During another trip to

20:46

Zaprowzi in the Ukraine, Andre

20:48

killed a 12-year-old boy named

20:50

Ivan Bolitski. on July 29th.

20:52

The attack was so brutal

20:54

that a part of his

20:56

knife blade broke off and

20:58

was later found at the

21:00

scene by police. Later in

21:02

court, the mother would say

21:04

the following, The day I

21:06

buried my son, I gave

21:09

him my word that I would try

21:11

to live long enough to see his

21:13

killer with my own eyes. I wanted

21:16

to see the man who could rip

21:18

open my son's stomach and then stuffed

21:20

mud in his mouth so that he

21:22

would not cry out. I want to

21:25

know what he looked like to know

21:27

which mother could bear such an animal

21:29

and now I see him. Wow, that's

21:32

pretty powerful. Yeah, that is. Then during

21:34

a trip to Leningrad on September 15th,

21:36

Andre killed a 16-year-old boy named Jora

21:39

Zarathas Sadak. The investigators were stumped.

21:41

They could see why prostitutes and

21:43

the like would go off with

21:45

the killer. but they couldn't understand

21:47

the young children. Why did they

21:50

follow him and what did he

21:52

say? Then again, he presented himself

21:54

as an educated, ill-dressed man who

21:56

would sympathize with their situation, whatever

21:58

it may be. On April 6,

22:01

1988, the police found the body

22:03

of an unidentified 12 -year -old girl who

22:05

had been killed two to five

22:07

days earlier. Then, on May 14, Andre

22:09

killed a nine -year -old boy named

22:11

Loja Veronco. Then exactly two months later,

22:13

he killed a 15 -year -old boy

22:16

named Zaneza Morotov. This case was a

22:18

puzzle to police. They couldn't understand

22:20

why this boy would go off with

22:22

the killer so willingly. He wasn't

22:24

a runaway or a likely suspect. Later

22:26

on after the case was over,

22:29

a Rostov psychiatrist cruised the streets as

22:31

a middle -aged, solidly built man and

22:33

tried to lure children in his

22:35

car with the promise of food or

22:37

drink. He was shocked and horrified

22:39

at the number of children that accepted

22:42

his offer and willingly climbed into

22:44

the passenger seat to head to an

22:46

unknown destination. They found the boy's

22:48

bones eight months later. More than seven

22:50

months later, Andre would kill again.

22:52

He was at the railway station

22:54

when he saw a 16 -year -old Tatiana

22:57

Reziova with her dirty clothes, her

22:59

unkempt hair, and of course, the smell

23:01

of alcohol on her. He approached

23:03

her and offered her food and drink,

23:05

knowing that he had his daughter's

23:07

keys to her empty apartment. She had

23:10

recently gotten a divorce and Andre

23:12

was in charge of trying to swap

23:14

the apartment with two smaller ones

23:16

so his daughter and son -in -law could

23:18

live separate lives. Once at the

23:20

apartment, Andre offered her some vodka before

23:23

seducing her. He couldn't perform once

23:25

again, which made the girl get loud

23:27

so he pulled out a knife

23:29

and stabbed her in the mouth. He

23:31

then violated her body. He knew

23:33

he had to dispose of the body,

23:36

but it would be tricky trying

23:38

to get her out of the

23:40

flat, so he decided to take a

23:42

knife from the kitchen and start

23:44

sawing off her head and limbs. He

23:46

then wrapped her in rags and

23:49

pieces of clothing and put her in

23:51

the cellar while he finished cleaning

23:53

up the blood. Then he went and

23:55

found a sled outside, which he

23:57

tied the girl's remains to. moving

24:00

her away from the house, but once

24:02

he neared the railway crossing, he got

24:04

the sled stuck. A passerby started... coming

24:07

towards him, which made him panic. However,

24:09

the other man simply bent down and

24:11

helped him lift the sled over the

24:14

track. Once the man disappeared from out

24:16

of sight, Andre began to stuff the

24:18

body parts into some large pipes that

24:21

ran near the railway, and her body

24:23

was found nine days later. By this

24:25

time, everything pointed to the railway, whether

24:28

it was that victims were found close

24:30

or that... They were last seen

24:32

alive at the railway. They began

24:35

manning the railways with plainclothes investigators

24:37

times and upwards of 5 to

24:39

600 officers patrolling. Some were acting

24:41

like passengers while others were in

24:44

the surrounding woods pretending to pick

24:46

mushrooms, which was a favorite Russian

24:48

pastime. Some of the women were

24:51

posing as prostitutes, but he never

24:53

took the bait. When he was

24:55

interviewed after his capture, Andre made

24:57

clear that he never set out

25:00

in search of specifically a man

25:02

or a woman. If the victim

25:04

turned out to be an adult

25:06

woman, all was well. But it

25:08

was just as good if it

25:10

was a prepubescent girl or a

25:12

14-year-old boy. He was the ultimate

25:14

opportunist. The main thing for him

25:16

was to kill. On May 11th,

25:18

1989, Andre was shopping on the

25:20

edge of town when he first

25:22

saw an eight-year-old boy named Sasha

25:24

Jack. Nakanov. He was in his

25:26

school uniform and he was walking

25:28

alongside the main road. Normally, he

25:30

would lure the boy somewhere, but his

25:33

desire was so strong that he merely

25:35

waited for the boy to be covered

25:37

by a row of bushes. And once

25:39

he was, Andre jumped up from behind

25:42

him and began stabbing him. The bustle

25:44

of the city covered the boy screams.

25:46

He left the boy just 20 yards

25:48

from the road, but even then he

25:51

wasn't found till 55. Wow, did you

25:53

say his name was... Jackinoff? Mm-hmm. That's

25:55

a lot of, I think they're yachinoff.

25:58

I think the J, the DJ. might

26:00

be a yuck, I'm not sure,

26:02

or jia. I know I'm like,

26:04

what? What? What did I just

26:07

hear? Yeah. So then he killed

26:09

a 10 year old boy named

26:11

Losia, Mojes, on June 20th, teen

26:13

89. And I'm going to tell

26:16

you right now, these Russian and

26:18

Ukrainian names are very hard to

26:20

sound out. Right. Like a little

26:22

compassion of my pronunciation. I know

26:24

I'm like, oh, some of these

26:27

are just, oh. I gotta edit

26:29

that. Yeah. On August 19th, 1989,

26:31

Andre was waiting at a bus

26:33

stop on his way to celebrate

26:36

his father's birthday party when he

26:38

saw a 19-year-old, Yelena Varga. He

26:40

offered to walk her home and

26:42

on the way he lured her

26:45

into the woods where he began

26:47

stabbing her. After cutting out her

26:49

uterus and slicing up. Part of

26:51

her face, he wrapped what was

26:54

left of her in clothing and

26:56

left for the party. On August

26:58

28th, 1989, Andre met a 10-year-old

27:00

boy named Aliosa Chabata, who was

27:02

fascinated by horror films. Of course,

27:05

Andre used that knowledge to his

27:07

advantage. Andre told the boy he

27:09

could show him some great horror

27:11

films and asked him to come

27:14

with him to see. What's crazy

27:16

about this murder is Andre was

27:18

originally planning to commit suicide due

27:20

to his bouts of depression, so

27:23

he had actually dug a grave

27:25

for himself in Rostov Cemetery earlier

27:27

that week. And instead, he ended

27:29

up leading this boy to it.

27:32

And after hitting the boy in

27:34

the head, he jumped on the

27:36

boy and began attacking him. He

27:38

bit off his tongue and cut

27:41

off his sexual organs, and then

27:43

he threw the boy in the

27:45

pit and covered it with dirt.

27:47

The body wasn't found until well

27:49

after... Andre was eventually arrested. As

27:52

time went on police recovered more

27:54

and more bodies with missing body

27:56

parts. Most females were missing their

27:58

uterus and nipples while the males

28:01

were missing their genitals and sometimes

28:03

had their tongue sliced or bitten

28:05

off completely. Andre and his killings

28:07

were evolving and truly becoming so

28:10

much worse with the passing days.

28:12

Police learned that their killer enjoyed

28:14

intensifying the suffering of victims by

28:16

performing little operations on them while

28:19

they were still alive. Photographs in

28:21

the files of the investigators showed

28:23

the state of the corpse after

28:25

each were found. Even those that

28:27

were fresh were virtually unrecognizable as

28:30

a result. not just of stabbing

28:32

and slashing, but of deep wounds

28:34

in the belly through which he

28:36

extracted their internal organs. By now

28:39

his knowledge of human anatomy was

28:41

such that he knew what they

28:43

were, which he wanted, and exactly

28:45

where to cut in order to

28:48

get at them most easily. The

28:50

agony of his victims must have

28:52

been incredible. Many must have died

28:54

literally of shock as the crazed

28:57

surgeon made his incisions, said the

28:59

investigators. Another part of his routine

29:01

became him cutting off and chewing

29:03

on the genitals. He didn't swallow,

29:05

but it doesn't matter at this

29:08

point. He was obsessed with uterus

29:10

and got really good at cutting

29:12

them out. Quote, I did not

29:14

want to bite them so much

29:17

as chew them. Andre later said,

29:19

They were so beautiful and elastic.

29:21

This is like an ant, like

29:23

you can't hardly hear the fucking

29:26

words out of his mouth. I

29:28

know, what the hell. I am

29:30

so disturbed by the story, I'm

29:32

speechless. As it was just at

29:35

the end of the 20th century,

29:37

the 1900s. I mean, this is

29:39

just right in our backyards. Yeah,

29:41

exactly. So in 1990 marked the

29:43

last year. Finally, of Andre's freedom,

29:46

and he definitely has lived it

29:48

up by killing eight more people.

29:50

On January 14th, he killed 11-year-old

29:52

boy named Andrei Cropchenko, a 10-year-old

29:55

boy named... Marzalov, Mark Kharov, Markarov,

29:57

on March 7th, a 31-year-old woman

29:59

named Lobov Zoyeva, in April, a

30:01

13-year-old boy named Vida Petrov, on

30:04

July 28th, an 11-year-old boy named

30:06

Ivan Fomen, on August. 14th, a

30:08

16-year-old boy named Vadem Gromov on

30:10

October 17th, a 16-year-old boy named

30:13

Vida Chichinko on October 30th. Andre

30:15

would later describe the murder of...

30:17

that in Gromov to be among

30:19

his most brutal killings. Konradi writes,

30:21

after they had gone on for

30:24

some 300 yards together, he suddenly

30:26

began to shake and to feel

30:28

sexually aroused. Taking the boy completely

30:30

by surprise, he jumped on him

30:33

from behind and forced him to

30:35

the ground, ripping off his trousers.

30:37

As his victim lay pinned on

30:39

his face, Andre stripped off his

30:42

own trousers and under pants, and

30:44

he rubbed his penis against Gromov's

30:46

buttocks until he ejaculated. At that

30:48

moment, with the last ounce of

30:51

his energy, the boy tried to

30:53

escape. Andre was too fast and

30:55

too strong. Taking a length of

30:57

rope from his bag, he tied

31:00

the boy's hands and turning him

31:02

onto his back, began to strip

31:04

off the rest of his clothes.

31:06

Then, as the animal in him

31:08

took over, he bit off the

31:11

tip of the boy's tongue and

31:13

began to strike at him wildly

31:15

in the head and stomach with

31:17

his knife. Gromov died within second...

31:20

and in a gruesome finale, Andre

31:22

took the blade and cut off

31:24

his genitals, tossing them away into

31:26

the undergrowth. As the euphoria faded,

31:29

he untied the hands, removed the

31:31

few scraps of clothing still left

31:33

on him, and dragged the naked

31:35

body off to the bushes where

31:38

he covered it with leaves. He

31:40

used the clothes to clean the

31:42

blood of his hands, then they

31:44

too. were tossed into the bushes.

31:46

After straightening his own clothes, he

31:49

left as calmly as he had

31:51

arrived, going back to the station

31:53

and taking the train home to

31:55

Novo. The police took their policing

31:58

to the next level and used

32:00

all of the officers they had

32:02

to man. every bus stop and

32:04

train station across all the usual

32:07

killing areas. I'm going to say

32:09

maybe post some officers in the

32:11

fucking underbrush. Yeah. That he keeps

32:13

throwing things in. I know, right?

32:16

Yeah, that might be a good

32:18

spot. The undergrowth, yes. They were

32:20

forced to suspect anyone and anything

32:22

and asked for information immediately upon

32:24

first interaction. So it made things

32:27

even worse when Andre managed to

32:29

kill yet again. Lastly on November

32:31

6. Andre killed a 22-year-old woman

32:33

named Svetlana Karostek. She went with

32:36

him to the woods near Les

32:38

Kaus Station and was beaten, stabbed,

32:40

mutilated and missing her genitals. Andre

32:42

removed the tip of her tongue

32:45

and both nipples and ate them

32:47

at the scene before he covered

32:49

her naked body with leaves and

32:51

branches. And as he returned to

32:54

the dull Les Kaus Station, an

32:56

officer spotted Andre coming out of

32:58

the woods. He was a middle-age

33:00

man. probably in his feet, wearing

33:02

a gray suit, tie, glasses, and

33:05

carrying a bag with a shoulder

33:07

strap. At the opposite end of

33:09

the platform, there was a water

33:11

hydrant, which the man stopped to

33:14

use to clean himself up. Now,

33:16

this wasn't all too unusual because,

33:18

like I said before, mushroom picking

33:20

in these parts as a big,

33:23

you know, you know, people were

33:25

doing it, and they would often

33:27

come out looking dirty and stopping

33:29

at the hydrant to clean up.

33:32

However, as the officer Rybakov... got

33:34

closer to the man in question.

33:36

He noticed a bandage on the

33:38

man's fingers along with a red

33:41

stain on his cheek. Rivokov approached

33:43

the man and asked for his

33:45

papers. And wouldn't you know it?

33:47

It was Andre. Of course, this

33:49

officer didn't know anything about Andre

33:52

or his past run-ins with the

33:54

law. in relation to this case.

33:56

He took down the name and

33:58

later after leaving his post at

34:01

the station he wrote a report

34:03

about this encounter with Andre. Now

34:05

who knows what happened to that

34:07

report. On November 13th 40 police

34:10

officers and 20 dogs combed the

34:12

nearby area. only to find that

34:14

Spetta's body was there. Officers were

34:16

blown away as that meant that

34:19

Andre had to have slipped past

34:21

their men at the station. This

34:23

made them go back and look

34:25

at the reports, and that's when

34:27

they found the write-up about the

34:30

last Andre encounter, and they began

34:32

to follow him. So on November

34:34

20th, Andre left work to have

34:36

his finger checked out by a

34:39

doctor, which he had gotten when

34:41

one of his victims bit his

34:43

finger. nearby clinic he left with

34:45

a broken finger. Not long after

34:48

arriving home he took off again

34:50

to have a beer but on

34:52

his way he couldn't help but

34:54

to talk to a young boy

34:57

he saw. However the young boy

34:59

was scared off when a woman

35:01

approached the two of them. He

35:03

continued to walk down the road

35:05

until he bumped into another young

35:08

boy whom he started a conversation

35:10

with. This young boy was eventually

35:12

called away by his mother. And

35:14

this didn't seem to sway Andre

35:17

because he just kept on his

35:19

way scoping out potential victims. Oh

35:21

yeah, because he will kill anybody,

35:23

so it doesn't matter. After he's

35:26

already been pulled in for questioning

35:28

and that didn't stop, only stopped

35:30

him for a year, he won't

35:32

be stopped. Yes, you're right. That's

35:35

when three men in leather jackets

35:37

walked up to him and identified

35:39

themselves as police. He was then

35:41

handcuffed and arrested and during the

35:43

search of his person, police found

35:46

that the briefcase Andre had been...

35:48

carrying with him had a knife,

35:50

a length of rope, and a

35:52

jar of Vaseline inside. After a

35:55

thorough search of his apartment, police

35:57

found 23 knives, a hammer, and

35:59

a pair of shoes which were

36:01

later found to match the footprint

36:04

next to one found by a

36:06

previous victim. It took five days

36:08

of interrogating Andre before the police

36:10

got anything from him. He wasn't

36:13

saying much of anything at all

36:15

until psychiatrist Alexander Bukkinovsky sat down

36:17

with him and made Andre think

36:19

he was trying to understand the

36:22

mind of serial killer. After all,

36:24

this psychiatrist had worked tirelessly with

36:26

police and created... an entire profile

36:28

on the kind of killer Andre

36:30

was. Of course Andre was intrigued

36:33

by this attention, but once the

36:35

man began reading, Andre had never

36:37

felt so seen or heard in

36:39

his life. This man he had

36:42

just met began reading what Andre

36:44

couldn't believe described him to the

36:46

T. Andre ended up breaking down

36:48

and telling the psychiatrist everything he

36:51

was guilty of. The police had

36:53

only only originally suspected him of

36:55

36 murders, so they were quite

36:57

surprised to learn that he was

37:00

actually responsible for 56 murders. Afterward,

37:02

the psychiatrist deemed Andre to... fit

37:04

to stand trial. April 14th 1992

37:06

marked the very first day of

37:08

Andre's trial. He was held in

37:11

an iron cage so as to

37:13

keep him away from the jury

37:15

and while in there he would

37:17

randomly burst into song ramble on

37:20

and gibberish and even pull down

37:22

his pants to expose himself. I

37:24

can only imagine this show. Can

37:26

you imagine? Can you imagine? Okay,

37:29

we're watching court TV and it's

37:31

some, you know, crazy as trial

37:33

and then they bring this guy

37:35

in in a fucking cage and

37:38

then he just starts singing and

37:40

he pulls his pants down and

37:42

come on man. Oh my God,

37:44

can you imagine if you and

37:46

I were sitting in juries? I

37:49

would look at you like, this

37:51

motherfucker. Are you seeing this? Yeah,

37:53

what the fuck? But through all

37:55

that, he seemed to show no

37:58

remorse for his actions whatsoever. And

38:00

if anything, he seemed to be

38:02

proud of what he had done.

38:05

While on the saint while on

38:07

the stand, Dre himself said the

38:09

following, I was like a crazed

38:12

wolf. I just turned into a

38:14

beast into a wild animal." Unquote.

38:16

On October 15th, 1992, Andrei was

38:19

found guilty of 52 counts of

38:21

murder, one charge having been dropped

38:23

due to insufficient evidence. The 53

38:26

deaths ended up being 18 women,

38:28

14 girls, and 21 boys. On

38:30

February 14th, 1994, Andrei Romenovich,

38:33

Chickatillo, was executed by

38:35

a single shot to

38:37

the back of the

38:39

head. the only sentence that he

38:41

deserves, the judge stated. And

38:44

that is the story of

38:46

Andre Chickatillo. Yeah, girl, this

38:48

one was messed up. I

38:50

think this is one of

38:53

the most horrible stories I've

38:55

ever heard. Operating while victims

38:57

are still alive, the mutilation

39:00

of the body? Come on.

39:02

Yeah, like... What the fuck? You

39:04

gotta, and then the, just like the

39:06

whole chewing on body parts. Yeah, like

39:08

what the fuck is that? Yeah, why

39:11

do you, like tips of your tongue

39:13

and nipples and like, what? I don't

39:15

get, yes. I, I am, I mean,

39:17

we've talked about this a

39:19

million times, like just being fascinated

39:21

with like, how does, how does

39:24

somebody become that person? Yeah. Right.

39:26

I think they were trying to

39:28

say something about the water on

39:31

the brain, that hydrocephalus condition. I

39:33

don't know, but... I don't know.

39:35

I mean, I don't know. I'm

39:38

not, you know, obviously a doctor.

39:40

I'm not a trained professional.

39:42

Yeah. But... Nora, I'm an

39:45

excellent judger, though. I like

39:47

to speculate quite a bit. Yeah,

39:49

I just the hell. And you don't even

39:51

know where to begin with this awfulness. And

39:53

then like the police are just like fucking

39:56

it up over and over and over. They're

39:58

looking for the easy way out. let's go

40:00

to the mentally handicapped home yeah right

40:02

make every because then they don't got

40:05

to look yeah and then yeah no

40:07

let's browbeat some poor handicapped person and

40:09

force them into some confession because they're

40:11

terrified and then yes and then all

40:14

surprise the killings continue oh yeah I

40:16

just I don't know this was messed

40:18

up and I don't I don't think

40:20

I don't think I've ever heard this

40:23

story I don't remember this awfulness I

40:25

know, I don't remember this. You think

40:27

this would have made news? Yes. I

40:30

was in 1980s, I guess I was

40:32

just hitting my head in the sand.

40:34

I was in high school and shaking.

40:36

High school in college? Yeah, I was

40:39

over in Germany. I had no idea

40:41

because I'm looking at like when he

40:43

was found guilty in 1992. I was

40:45

still in the service. So I have

40:48

no idea what's going on. I know

40:50

I'm in college, just living my life,

40:52

I guess. Yeah, you know, it's crazy

40:54

though, but. Thank you very much for

40:57

that story that her work, those victims,

40:59

it's just so sad. It is, you

41:01

know, I just, it's very, very terrible.

41:03

And his pictures of him are unsettling.

41:06

The ones that I have posted, you

41:08

know, with the story notes. Yeah. Do

41:10

you see his eyes? Like, yes. You

41:12

ever look at someone and just, you're

41:15

confident you can see the crazy and

41:17

at least one of the eyes. Yeah,

41:19

yeah. Yeah, definitely. He's got that look

41:21

disturbing. Yeah, definitely. So well, again, thank

41:24

you and thank you everyone for listening.

41:26

And if you haven't done so already,

41:28

please hit the subscribe or follow button

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on whatever app you're listening to. And

41:33

we also would invite everyone if you're

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enjoying our podcast to please become one

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of our patron members. We release an

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episode a week. to our patron members

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and you can also subscribe through Apple

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Podcast the Apple Podcast app and what

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you get like I said is one

41:48

new episode a week in addition to

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this one that we offer to the

41:53

and you also get

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all of the episodes

41:57

that we we that we

42:00

the public. They

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are the -free and you

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get them early

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released. and you get them episodes.

42:09

that's over 500 episodes so you can

42:11

it is. It's

42:13

a it is it's a trove.

42:15

Treasure trove trove pressure trove

42:18

so anyway we'll thank

42:20

you again again our

42:22

next episode. Until our next

42:24

time, next time, Love ya. I'll

42:26

talk to you. Talk to

42:28

you. I'll talk to you. Talk to you. Bye.

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