Andrei Romanovich Chikatilo

About me:

Andrei Chikatilo was one of the world's most prolific and barbaric serial killers. Born on October 16, 1936 in the Ukraine, he witnessed the devastation of his country at the onset of World War II. His mother, Anna, repeatedly told him of an older brother Stephan who had been murdered and cannibalized in the Ukrainian famine in the 1930s. Although he was extremely tall and attractive, Chikatilo was always shy with girls and believed himself to be impotent. But, in 1963 his younger sister Taytana introduced him to a friend named Fayina. They married that same year. Together they had two children, a daughter Ludmilla in 1965 and a son Yuri in 1969. Chikatilo would graduate from Rostov University and became a teacher for a brief time. But he became molesting students which led to his expulsion from the profession. By the end of 1978, Chikatilo would murder his first victim, Lena Zakotnova, in Shankty, Russia. Although pausing for three years, he killed his second victim in 1981. Over the next nine years, Chikatilo tortured, murdered and cannibalized 51 more women and children. He was finally captured on November 20, 1990 after committing three murders in the town. Chikatilo confessed to 55 serial killings, but was charged with 53 murders. His trial opened on April 14, 1992 with victims' relatives screaming for retribution. Chikatilo acted like a raving maniac throughout its duration, rolling his eyes, moving back and forth, contorting his face, and spitting curses at both the spectators and the judge. On October 14, 1992, Andrei Chikatilo was convicted of 52 murders, one charge dropped for lack of evidence, and five counts of child molestion. The next day, October 15, he was given 52 death sentences and taken to Novocherkassk Prison. After sixteen months, Chikatilo was executed in the prison in the Rostov-on-don region of Russia by a bullet to the back of his head on Valentine's Day, February 14. 1994.