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| Alexander Pitshushkin confesses in court to 62 murders (photo: tv/rufo) | |
Donnerstag, 20.09.2007
Bizevski Park serial killer: Experiments on his victims
Moscow. More and more grisly details are emerging during the trial of the serial killer Pitshushkin: The ‘Maniac of Bizevski Park’ conducted experiments on his victims. He tortured them with a home-made gun and wooden stakes.
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As is common with serial killers, Alexander Pitshushkin’s world view is seriously distorted. While the state prosecution accuses him of 49 murders, the man the press dub the ‘Maniac of Bizevski Park’ insists the real number is 62.
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Pitshushkin thinks highly of himself
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According to his lawyer Pavel Ivannikov, Pitshushkin thirsts for acclaim: “Pitshushkin wants to be famous” the lawyer explained to Russian media. “That’s why he has confessed to all these murders. I think in actual fact he has committed a lot fewer,“ says Ivannikov, who is seeking a milder sentence for his client.
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Pitshushkin displays obvious narcissistic traits. He refused to speak in front of the court in Moscow until his demand to be transferred from the Butyrka prison to the Matroskaya Tishina prison had been met. Pitshushkin apparently thought that important prisoners – such as jailed oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky – are sent to Matroskaya Tishina.
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His first victim was a friend
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The trial against Alexander Pitshushkin has attracted enormous publicity. The preliminary proceedings have only just begun, and the media are already full of stomach-churning details about the 33 year old’s killings.
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His first victim was his childhood friend Mikhail Oditshuk. In 1992, the then 18 year old Pitshushkin suggested to his friend that they commit murder together. Oditshuk turned the proposal down, whereupon Pitshushkin decided his friend would be his victim.
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The victim brought the murder weapon with him
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Pitshushkin’s typical pattern when murdering was established right at the start, and subsequently repeated with little variation up till 2006. He invited his friend to drink with him in Bizevski park, to drown his sorrows over his dog having died. The first time, in contrast to subsequent crimes, Pitshushkin strangled his friend Mikhail – with a cord that he had asked Mikhail to bring with him. Then he threw the corpse down an open drain.
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Following this murder, Pitshushkin lay low for nine years. It was only in 2001 that he launched the series of murders that earned him the name ‘Maniac of Bizevski Park’.
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Death in the drains. This was the drain in which most of his victims died.
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| Death in the drains. This was the drain in which most of his victims died. (photo: tv/rufo) |
From 2001 to his arrest in 2006, investigators claim that Pitshushkin killed ten or more people each year. He always followed the same pattern: He lured his victims, usually old men, to the park woods – with an invitation to drink with him a toast in memory of his recently deceased dog. When alcohol had rendered his victim incapable of self-defence, he shoved them down the drain opening.
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Investigators say that alcohol and head injuries resulting from the fall meant that victims could not extricate themselves, and they drowned in the drainage waters.
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Increasing brutality
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Pitshushkin usually found his victims at the Kachovskaya metro station in the south of Moscow. Investigators realised that most of Pitshushkin’s victims were homeless people. He assumed no one would miss or look for them.
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Only in 2002 did Pitshushkin change his pattern: He started taking an iron pincer or a hammer with him, with which he struck victims on the head.
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Three escaped
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Three victims nevertheless escaped. 23rd February, 2002, Pitshushkin invited a woman to drink with him in the park. When she was drunk, Pitshushkin struck her several times on the head and threw her down the drain. But the woman managed to escape through a second drain opening. A thirteen year old boy and an elderly man later escaped in the same way.
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By autumn 2002, Pitshushkin had begun to experiment, and vary his pattern. Now he used a home-made gun to shoot victims in the head. He apparently used jacketless lead bullets typical for starting guns.
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Madness beyond all comprehension
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In 2003, Pitshushkin had two chance encounters on the street with victims who had escaped – the thirteen year old boy and elderly man. These chance meetings scared Pitshushkin into making a two year long interlude in his killing spree.
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It was only in 2005 that he again started killing. Now he became ever more brutal, the state prosecutor told the jury yesterday.
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To make sure his victims were really dead after assaulting them, he no longer threw them in the drain, but drove a stake or a vodka bottle into their heads.
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Betrayed by his cell phone number
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In 2006, the first article appeared reporting that the maniac of Bizevski Park had been arrested. According to the state prosecutor, this so enraged Pitshushkin that he decided to show that the ‘real’ killer was still at large.
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Pitshushkin then killed five further victims in quick succession. Four of them, according to the prosecution, were acquaintances. It was only after killing his former work colleague, Marina Moskaleva, that the Bizevski maniac was arrested.
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Before going with him for a walk, Marina had left a friend Pitshushkin’s telephone number. The authorities used this number to trace Pitshushkin.
(cj/.rufo/Moscow)
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