Andrei Chikatilo
Andrei Chikatilo was a Ukrainian serial killer, notorious for his gruesome crimes during the late 20th century. Born in 1936, Chikatilo's troubled childhood in a starving village under Stalin's regime shaped his later violent tendencies. After a failed academic career, he became a teacher and later a factory worker, which provided him with opportunities to prey on vulnerable individuals. His criminal activities began in 1978 and escalated over the years, ultimately leading to the murder of at least fifty-three victims, including women and children.
Chikatilo's modus operandi involved luring victims into secluded areas under the pretense of consensual encounters, only to commit horrific acts of violence, including stabbing and mutilation. His capture in 1990 followed a series of investigative efforts that used psychological profiling, a novel approach in the Soviet Union at the time. Despite initial setbacks due to a lack of forensic evidence, he eventually confessed to numerous murders during interrogation.
In 1992, Chikatilo was convicted and sentenced to death, ultimately executed in 1994. His case had a profound impact on public awareness of serial killings in the Soviet Union, challenging the government's narrative that such violence was a Western phenomenon. His heinous acts have inspired various true crime books and films, cementing his legacy as one of history's most infamous criminals.
Subject Terms
Andrei Chikatilo
Ukrainian serial killer
- Born: October 16, 1936
- Birthplace: Yablochnoye, Ukraine, Soviet Union (now in Ukraine)
- Died: February 14, 1994
- Place of death: Novocherkassk, Ukraine, Soviet Union (now in Ukraine)
Major offense: Fifty-three murders
Active: 1978-1990
Locale: Soviet Union
Sentence: Fifty-two death sentences; executed by gunshot
Early Life
Andrei Chikatilo (ahn-DRAY cheh-kah-THAY-loh) was born in Yablochnoye, Ukraine. Chikatilo suffered a traumatic upbringing as Soviet premier Joseph Stalin’s agricultural collective plan caused mass starvation in his village. When Chikatilo’s older brother, Stefan, disappeared, he was thought to have been cannibalized by villagers—an act that was not uncommon. Chikatilo lived with his mother, who beat and publicly ridiculed him. During World War II Chikatilo witnessed the violence and brutality of the Germans, and fantasized about luring invading troops into the woods and murdering them.
Chikatilo was a good student, but he failed his university entry examinations. After his service in the Soviet army, he completed correspondence courses and began teaching in Novoshakhtinsk in 1971. Unable to command respect and accused of indecent behavior, he frequently changed schools. He ultimately became a factory buyer and salesman; his position offered him access to victims across the country. After an arranged marriage to his wife, Feyina, in 1963, he had two children, Lyudmila and Yuri.
Criminal Career
Chikatilo’s criminal career began in Shakhty in 1978; he attempted to rape a nine-year-old. When she would not cooperate, he stabbed her, beginning a lifelong connection for him between violence and sexual excitement. Chikatilo murdered again in 1982, killing seven people. His victims were prostitutes, young runaways, and vagrants he would lure into the forest. He would attempt consensual intercourse but achieved orgasm only by stabbing his victims. Over the summer of 1983, he killed four women and children. He then relocated to Novocherkassk and murdered two women in 1985. In 1987 he killed three young boys in Revda, Zaporozhye, and Leningrad. By 1988, Chikatilo had left Rostov, after killing nine people. He murdered two women and seven boys in 1990. His crimes were becoming more brutal, involving mutilation and cannibalism.
Legal Action and Outcome
In 1984 Chikatilo, who was observed acting suspiciously at a bus station, was arrested. A knife, rope, and lubricant were found in his briefcase. Chikatilo’s blood did not match semen samples found on the victims. Later it was discovered that Chikatilo was a “non-secretor,” meaning his blood type can be determined only through blood samples, not semen. Without physical evidence of murder, authorities detained him on minor charges; he served three months of a one-year sentence.
By late 1985, police officer Issa Kostoyev was handling the serial murder investigations. Kostoyev brought in a psychiatrist to profile the killer, the first time that method was employed in the Soviet Union. On November 6, 1990, Chikatilo killed his final victim, Sveta Korostik. When he emerged from the woods with blood on his face, he was questioned and released. On November 20, the police observed Chikatilo and arrested him. Between November 30 and December 5, 1990, Chikatilo broke under pressure and confessed to fifty-six murders. He was charged with fifty-three murders, as three victims were not found. The police previously had recorded only thirty-six killings.
Chikatilo stood trial on April 14, 1992, caged in the courtroom because of his disruptiveness. In October of 1992, he was found guilty of fifty-two murders and received a death sentence for each. He was executed by a gunshot to the back of his head on February 14, 1994.
Impact
At the time Andrei Chikatilo was at large, Soviet policy barred the media from reporting a killing spree; serial killers were seen as a Western phenomenon. As a result, the public did not know of any such danger. After Chikatilo’s conviction, the government was forced to publicize the serial killings and debunk the rumors that had surrounded the victims’ disappearances. Chikatilo’s crimes forced authorities to set aside propaganda and acknowledge that violence does not occur only in “hedonistic capitalist nations.”
Chikatilo’s notorious murders served as fodder for true crime novels as well as films, including Citizen X (1995) and Evilenko (2004). Similarities between Chikatilo and Hannibal Lector, the antagonist of Thomas Harris’s novel The Silence of the Lambs (1988), are discernible.
Bibliography
Krivich, Michail. Comrade Chikatilo. Fort Lee, N.J.: Barricade Books, 1993. A shockingly candid look into the life of Chikatilo.
Lourie, Richard. Hunting the Devil. New York: HarperCollins, 1993. An in-depth examination of Chikatilo’s crimes and the detective who caught him.
Vronsky, Peter. Serial Killers: The Method and Madness of Monsters. Goleta, Calif.: Berkley Trade, 2004. A comprehensive account of serial killers, their histories, and their motives.