Anatoly Nikolaevich Biryukov (Russian:
Анатолий Николаевич Бирюков, ca. 1939–1979) was a Russian serial
killer, responsible for the kidnappings and subsequent murders of five
infants from Moscow in the fall of 1977.
Biryukov kidnapped and murdered his first victim on
16 September 1977, when he took off with a stroller that had been left
briefly unattended in front of an infant formula store on Marshal
Biryuzov Street in Moscow (Улица Маршала Бирюзова). Later that day,
the missing stroller was found empty and the baby was found dead in a
the hallway of an apartment building on the same street.
Biryukov kidnapped his second victim (a
three-months old girl) on 19 September 1977 when he seized a stroller
from in front of the "Children's World" store ("Детский мир") on
Prospekt Mira. At this point the Soviet authorities realized they had
a possible serial perpetrator, and launched a large operation looking
for the missing baby. The body of Biryukov's second victim was found
in a landfill near Mamyrov (Мамыри) on October 17, and it showed signs
of having suffered sexual assault before death.
Three additional infant victims are attributed to
Biryukov before he was foiled in an attempt he made in October in
Chekhov. In the aftermath of the attempt, he was chased after by
citizens who later described him to the investigators, leading to
Biryukov's arrest. Biryukov was sentenced to death. The sentence was
appealed to the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR in 1978, but he was
executed in 1979.
The murders were the subject of episode 206, titled
"Empty stroller" (Russian: "пустая коляска"), of the NTV show "Следствие
вели...". Participants included two eye witnesses, the mother of one
of the victims, two state investigators and the perpetrator's defense
attorney. According to the presenter of the NTV show, Leonid Kanevsky,
the Soviet regime avoided publicizing the Biryukov case, in part
because Anatoly's father, Nikolai Biryukov, was a Soviet general who
had been decorated a Hero of the Soviet Union during World War II.
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