Irina Gaidamachuk | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers

Irina Viktorovna GAIDAMACHUK

A.K.A.: "Satan in a Skirt"

Classification: Serial killer
Characteristics: Addicted to alcohol - Posed as a social worker to gain entry to the flats of her victims to steal money for vodka
Number of victims: 17
Date of murder: 2002 - 2010
Date of arrest: June 2010
Date of birth: 1972
Victims profile: Women aged between 61 and 89
Method of murder: Beating with an axe or hammer
Location: Krasnoufimsk, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia
Status: Sentenced to 20 years in prison on June 12, 2012





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Irina Viktorovna Gaidamachuk (Russian: Ирина Викторовна Гайдамачук) (born 1972) is a Russian serial killer who killed 17 elderly women between 2002 and 2010. Biography Gaidamachuk was born in the town of Nyagan. At a young age, she became addicted to alcohol. Subsequently, her parents were deprived of parental authority. She moved to Krasnoufimsk in the early 1990s, where she met a man with whom she later had two children. Her husband Yuri reportedly refused to provide Gaidamachuk with money for fear that she would spend the money on alcohol. Murders The majority of Gaidamachuk's crimes were committed in Krasnoufimsk. Similar crimes had been committed in Yekaterinburg, Serov, Achit and Druzhinino. Another woman, Marina Valeeva, was initially suspected for the crimes and after pressure from authorities, Valeeva initially confessed to the murders of Gaidamachuk's elderly victims. Court Gaidamachuk was charged with 17 counts of murders and 1 attempted murder. Forensic psychiatric examination conducted in GNTSSSP Serbsky showed that Gaidamachuk, although she showed some variation in the mind, was legally sane. In February 2012, the court case began. Gaidamachuk gave a confession to the indictment during the preliminary investigation; but, contested this throughout her trial. On June 12, 2012, Gaidamachuk was sentenced to 20 years in prison. Wikipedia.org Russian serial killer Irina Gaidamachuk jailed WikiNews.org June 6, 2012 A court in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg has sent serial killer Irina Gaidamachuk to prison for twenty years. Gaidamachuk, 40, killed seventeen elderly women so she could rob them. Gaidamachuk attacked her victims in the Urals region pretending she was a social worker so they let her into their flats. Once inside, she attacked the women with an axe or hammer. The first murder was in 2003 and Gaidamachuk was not detained until June 2010. She confessed. The investigation was troubled by the gender of the perpetrator; the possibility of a female killer was not considered until a woman survived. After the lone survivor's account, police still considered it possible the killer was a man dressed as a woman. Innocent woman Irina Valeyeva was arrested and confessed. More than 3,000 people were questioned before Gaidamachuk was caught. She changed tactic for her final victim, Alexandra Povaritsyna, 81, opting to pose as a decorator. Police followed up descriptions from neighbours of the bogus tradeswoman. The youngest victim was 61 and the oldest 89. Gaidamachuk was deemed sane. She said her motive was obtaining money for vodka. She must pay expenses for her prosecution. "I lived with her for 14 years but never suspected anything" said Gaidamachuk's husband, Yury. Yury has since begun a new relationship. Irina has two children. Russia's worst woman serial killer dubbed 'Satan in a Skirt' after murdering 17 pensioners in eight year reign of terror Alcoholic killer Irina Gaidamachuk claimed she carried out her horrific crimes to steal money for vodka Victims had their skulls smashed in with a hammer or axe by Gaidamachuk who pretended to be a social worker Police initially believed only a male killer could be so cruel, but investigation turned on account of sole survivor By Will Stewart - DailyMail.co.uk June 5, 2012 Mother of two Irina Gaidamachuk dubbed 'Satan in a Skirt', posed as a social worker to gain entry to the flats of her victims. After securing their trust, the 41-year-old killed them by smashing their skulls with a hammer or an axe. Then she robbed her victims, who were between 61- and 89-years-old, for the small amounts of cash in their purses. In all her murders, police say she only gathered a total of around £1,000 from her victims. Sometimes she killed for as little as £20. She confessed to police: 'I did it for money. I just wanted to be a normal mum, but I had a craving for drink. 'My husband Yury wouldn't give me money for vodka. 'A court in Yekaterinburg, which is Russia's fourth biggest city, heard evidence from psychiatrists that she was sane when she committed her murders. Only one pensioner managed to escape, giving police the vital clue that the granny killer was a woman. A police source said: 'We believed at first that only a man could be so cruel as to slaughter in this way.' In fact, during a bungled investigation, in which the town of Krasnoufimsk was living in fear, officers also believed the killer could be a man dressed as a woman. They also arrested the wrong woman, Irina Valeyeva, then 29, extracting a confession from an entirely innocent person. After questioning more than 3,000 people they finally arrested the real killer in 2010. For her final victim instead of posing as a social worker, she offered to redecorate 81-year-old Alexandra Povaritsyna's flat. After she bludgeoned the pensioner to death, neighbours gave a description of the painter and police arrested her. Gaidmachuk was known as an ordinary mother, who helped out at her younger daughter Anastasia's school. One friend said: 'I simply cannot believe Irina is a mass murderer. She was a kind and gentle mother, always eager to help.' Her husband Yury, who has since moved in with a new partner, said: 'I lived with her for 14 years but never suspected anything.' But there was outrage among her relatives of her elderly victims that the killer was only sentenced to 20-years in prison. One said: 'It's little more than one year for each murder. She never deserves to be freed.' The judge said he exempted her for five years of the maximum 25 years 'because she is a mother'. But her lawyer Suren Sarkisyan demanded greater leniency, and has vowed to appeal the sentence. Serial killer case hearings start in Ekaterinburg By Dmitry Antonenkov, edited by Karina Ayvazova - En.gazeta.ru February 13, 2012 Ekaterinburg city court has started hearings on the case of 40-year old Irina Gaydamachuk, who is accused of murdering 17 pensioners. In June 2002, a series of horrifying murders started in the small town of Krasnoufimsk which later spread to the rest of the Sverdlovsk region. The first victim, an old woman from Krasnoufimsk, died after she got hit on the head by a blunt object. Later pensioners from other towns were killed in a similar way. Investigators found out that the murderer preferred to number their victims – they wrote number of every victim on the walls of their house entrances. In 2005, investigators believed that the killer was a disguised man. One of the witnesses told them the killer was a woman with blond hair. Investigators searched for the criminal in various ways, including checking all the blond women in the region. They even sought the help of psychics, but received no results. Investigators found Irina Gaidamachuk after another murder in May 2010. She was restoring a flat of one of the victims, but had no passport or official job. After a long process of questioning the woman confessed. Gaidamachuk was tested on psychological problems, but doctors found none. She now faces 25 years in jail – 1.5 years for each victim. This is maximum jail term for women in Russia. ‘Blonde with a hammer’ killed 17 pensioners over 8 years Rt.com January 17, 2012 A female serial killer that brutally murdered 17 pensioners in the Urals has been brought to trial by local police. For over eight years, 40-year-old single mother Irina Gaidamachuk was attacking old ladies in the Sverdlovsk region. When questioned, the murderer said that she committed the crimes because she did not want to work. As the investigation found out, Gaidamachuk targeted lonely women aged 61-89. For several days, should would watch her potential victims to find out when they left home, where they went, and whether the pensioners were visited by any relatives. Having gathered all the information, she knocked on the victim’s door, saying she was a social worker. When the victims trustfully let the neatly dressed woman in, the killer knocked them on the head with a hammer, searched their flats and took away whatever money she found. In some cases, the killer attempted to cover her traces by setting the flats on fire, leaving an iron on or opening a gas tap. It was only for the vigilance of the victims’ neighbors that all the fires were kept under control. In 2010, after eight years of brutal murders, a lucky coincidence helped capture the serial killer. “At some point, Gaidamachuk decided she would never be caught, and started searching for victims among the people she knew,” investigator Kirill Melenkov told Komsomolskaya Pravda. “Her last victim hired her to make repairs. That’s how we managed to find the killer. She also started leaving notes, ‘Be home at 11.00, a social worker will visit.’ A simple handwriting test helped identify the murderer.” Investigation continued for five years, with police questioning 3,000 witnesses and 21 victims; the officers conducted more than 2,000 forensic examinations. The criminal case against Gaidamachuk consists of 436 charges, and psychiatric tests ruled that she is mentally competent. 'Satan in a skirt' confesses to 17 murders A Russian woman dubbed 'satan in a skirt' has confessed to murdering seventeen female pensioners for cash in a brutal eight-year murder spree By Andrew Osborn - Telegraph.co.uk October 29, 2011 Irina Gaidamachuk, a 40-year-old mother of two, said she had murdered the female OAPs in the Sverdlov region south-east of Moscow for money, robbing them of sums as little as the equivalent of £20. "The detainee has confessed to the murders," Alexander Shulga, a spokesman for the investigators working on the case told the daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper. "The proof of her guilt is that during an investigative experiment she pointed out the exact addresses where the crimes took place and described the situation including all the details. In addition, her fingerprints matched the prints left at several murder scenes." Dubbed 'satan in a skirt' by local media in her home town of Krasnoufimsk, her killing spree lasted from 2002 until 2010 and reportedly only came to an end after a suspicious neighbour tipped off the police. In each case, she gained entry to her elderly victim's flat using subterfuge before lashing out at their heads with a hammer or an axe. She would then ransack their flats to make it look like a burglary, sometimes even setting a fire, before making off with any cash. Her hauls varied from the equivalent of just £20 to £330. Mrs Gaidamachuk, who is now waiting to go on trial, apparently told police that she needed the money for her basic living needs as she did not want to work. Her victims varied from the age of 61 to 86 years old. Only one woman, an elderly pensioner called Bilbinur Makshaeva, is said to have survived. She reportedly told police that her would-be killer had posed as a social worker to gain access to her flat. A psychological test showed that Miss Gaidamachuk was of sound mind.