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Mikhail
Viktorovich POPKOV
A.K.A.: "The Wednesday Murderer"
Classification: Serial
killer
Characteristics:
Policeman - Rape - Necrophilia
Number of victims: 24 - 29 +
Date of murders:
1992 - 2000
Date of arrest:
June 23, 2012
Date of birth:
March 7, 1964
Victims profile:
Women (25 of
whom were aged 19 to 28 and four who were aged 35 to 40)
Method of murder:
The victims were reportedly axed, stabbed, or strangled to death
Mikhail Viktorovich Popkov (Russian: Михаил
Викторович Попков; born March 7, 1964) is a suspected Russian serial
killer and former policeman who is allegedly responsible for the
murders of at least 24 women.
Biography
Mikhail Popkov was born on March 7, 1964 in Russia.
He worked as a policeman before later becoming a security guard. He
has a wife and a daughter. His wife was also in the police and
provided an alibi for Popkov several times. It has been speculated
that Popkov had been targeting women who resembled his reportedly
alcoholic mother who abused him in his childhood.
From 1992 to 2000, Popkov is suspected of murdering
up to 29 women. He would pick up slightly intoxicated women who were
just leaving bars or parties, using his police car and uniform to gain
the victims' trust in some of the murders. Popkov would then drive
them to the forest where he raped and murdered them.
The victims were reportedly axed, stabbed, or
strangled to death. One of the victims was decapitated and another's
heart had been ripped out. He would rape the victims after they were
deceased as well.
One of Popkov's victims survived his attack and
later identified a photo of him. However, police chose to believe
Popkov's wife, who had provided an alibi. Popkov claimed he stopped
killing when he became impotent and attracted syphilis. He had been
labeled "The Wednesday Murderer" by police, referring to the day when
many of the bodies were found.
He was arrested on June 23, 2012 when he went to
Vladivostok to buy a car after having his DNA sampled, along with
3,500 other police officers. He was suspected of killing at least 29
women, 25 of whom were aged 19 to 28 and four who were aged 35 to 40.
All of the victims were residents of Angarsk, Irkutsk Oblast. He
confessed to 24 murders and was later charged with them on October 31,
2013.
At the questioning Mikhail Popkov said he stopped
after a sexually transmitted disease left him impotent and he lost the
will to rape and kill.
Wikipedia.org
Ex-policeman nicknamed 'werewolf' confesses to
murdering 24 women in Siberia
By The Siberian Times reporter
06 November 2013
'Perfect husband and father' axed, stabbed or
strangled full-figured women 'who resembled his mother'.
The married serial killing former cop, Mikhail
Popkov, 49, forced victims to strip naked before killing them and
having sex with their blood-soaked bodies. He has been charged with,
and confessed to the murder of 24 victims, but police had suspected
him of a total of at least 29 killings and one attempted murder.
Of these, 25 were aged 19 to 28, and four were from
35 to 40. He selected victims who were full-figured, and not tall, say
police sources.
He beheaded at least one woman and gouged the heart
out of a victim.
Popkov claimed he suddenly stopped killing after he
'became impotent', suggesting a sexual motive to his murder spree.
Typically, his victims were slightly intoxicated when he lured them to
their deaths. He snared them after they had been to bars or parties.
He is suspected of seeking revenge on his mother who was an alcoholic
and allegedly abused him in his childhood.
At least one crime expert believe he committed more
than the 24 murders he admits, and may have been behind unexplained
killings as far away as Vladivostok where he travelled frequently
after leaving the police, say reports. Originally labelled the
'Wednesday Murderer' because many of his victims were found early on
this day of the week, his reign of terror continued from 1992 to at
least 2000. Police have been unable to prove any killings since then,
even though he was only finally arrested on 24 June 2012.
One detective hunting him labelled him a
'werewolf'. His first murder happened 'spontaneously', Popkov told
investigators.
'I just felt I wanted to kill a woman I was giving
a lift to in my car', he said. Popkov, married with one daughter was
finally caught after analysis of the DNA of 3,500 policemen and former
policemen in Irkutsk region, where the murders took place. As a
result, they obtained a 100% match with his sperm that was found on
some of his victims.
Earlier, police were severely criticised for
failing to catch a sexually-motivated killer, and ignoring vital
evidence. He murdered the women with a slipknot, knife, awl,
screwdriver or an axe which he used up to 17 times on some victims. He
used his police uniform and car to gain the trust of at least some of
his victims. Key clues came from a failed attack on a teenager called
Svetlana M, 15 years ago. She was 15 at the time but looked older,
said police.
On 26 January 1998, she told how a police car
stopped near her and offered to give her a lift. He took her into
woodland where he forced her to take off all her clothes. He then
smashed her head against a tree. She lost consciousness and next day
was found alive near the village of Baikalsk, somehow surviving
despite being naked in sub-zero temperatures. She awoke in hospital.
For years police suspected the killer's job was a
metalworker, driver, railway employee or heating station engineer. Or
even a cemetery worker. Even Svetlana's evidence was not properly
acted upon and only much later did the police understand that the
killer was one of their own. Born in 1964, he worked as a policeman
before becoming a security guard for Angarsk Oil and Chemical Company
- big city industrial complex, and later for a private security
agency.
His wife Elena, 47, was also in the police, and his
26 year old daughter Ekaterina is a schoolteacher. It is not believed
his family - who thought of him as a 'perfect husband and father' -
were accomplices, even though on two occasions his wife gave him
alibis when suspicion focused on him.
One victim gave Popkov syphilis. The police knew
the dead victim had the disease, and also discovered that Popkov had
contracted it.
'It was enough just to perform a DNA test of this
man but the police interrogated Popkov's wife who composed an alibi
for her husband,' said Nikolai Kitaev, an ex-police investigator who
is critical of the handling of the probe. 'Later he became more
careful and carried on with his horrific crimes.'
The next occasion was the case of Svetlana M, the
survivor. 'She was unconscious because of severe head injuries. Police
did not start a criminal investigation for a long time despite
numerous complaints from the girl's mother'. Svetlana was questioned
'and told in detail about her rapist-policeman and his car'.
She was shown a picture of him and his police car.
'She clearly confirmed it was him. But again, the police trusted
Mikhail's wife - once more she composed an alibi for him and the
criminal investigation was stopped and sent to the archives', Kitaev
said.
Kitaev is convinced there are at least a dozen more
cases in police files that are likely to be Popkov's victims. Many of
the details from the crime scenes match his modus operandi, he said.
One of the investigators who probed the Popkov case, Mikhail Zavorin,
described in 2003 the traits of the killer they were still hunting:
'He is charming and sociable. Women like him but he is a beast inside,
and it is always hard to fight a werewolf.'
The Siberian Times spoke to the sister of victim
Tatiana (Tanya) Martynova, 20, whose body was found with Yulia
Kuprikova 29 October 1998 by the road in the suburb of Angarsk town.
'It happened 15 year ago but the pain does not go away - it was me who
presented Tanya a ticket to go to a concert, and she was killed after
attending it', said Viktoria Chagaeva, 46, who owns a beauty salon in
Angarsk.
Her sister was married with a small child, and her
husband Igor, then 24, was against her going to the concert, but she
went with a girlfriend, Yulia Kuprikova, 19. 'On the morning of 29
October, Igor called me saying Tanya had not come back home.
'I got truly scared. It was the first time, she had
never done this before. There were no mobile phones at that time, we
could only call Yulia's parents thinking Tanya must have stayed
overnight there for some reason. But Yulia's parents said she had not
come home either.'
They went to the police and were told that they
should wait three days before the young women could be listed as
missing. That night a shepherd found their naked bodies near Meget, a
village close to Angarsk.
'It was 1am when Tanya's husband Igor and I came to
the police. We did not tell our mother yet. Igor was absolutely
devastated and only repeated - 'She was killed, she was killed'. I was
shocked too, but I simply could not believe it and replied - 'what are
you talking about?' Later we were told that their bodies were found
next to each other, both girls were raped, cut and chopped.
'The experts told us that at first they were killed
then raped. My elder brother Oleg went to the morgue to identify
Tanya. He had flown from Moscow immediately. He felt sick when saw the
body, she was so mutilated. He was almost green when he came out of
there - he just could not say a word. I did not dare to go in and
look.'
They discovered Tanya and Yulia had gone for a
quick drink with friends. Then they were offered a lift by a
policeman. 'Only the fact that this bastard was in a police uniform
explains why Tanya got into his car. Many people attended Tanya's
funeral. It felt as if the whole town was there. Our poor mother lost
her consciousness several times, she needed a lot of medicine to cope.
'Igor was in almost the same condition. Tanya's
coffin was open, her face was not hurt. He damaged the back of her
skull, and her body was heavily cut. Yulia's coffin was closed, her
face was cut up and disfigured'.
Their mother Lubov 'could not cope with Tanya's
death. 'She felt as if she had died with Tanya, life became useless
for her. She lived only because she was visiting various mediums one
by one, looking for the killer and wasting her money. Nobody gave her
any serious information but she kept doing it. She died in 2007 aged
66 from a heart attack. I think her heart could not cope with the pain
any longer'.
After Popkov's arrest last year, Viktoria realised
she vaguely knew him. They had both been involved in biathlon at the
same sports ground.
'I was stuck with horror when I saw the picture of
this maniac in the paper and online,' she said. 'My sister's killer
was looking into my eyes. I immediately felt as if I'd met him.
Looking at him, I could hardly breathe. Some minutes later I looked at
him another time and thought - oh my God, I know him! I was so
shocked, I even took a knife and cut his face in the newspaper, I
needed to let this horror out of me.
'I remember him as a tall slim man, he was always
alone, with a slippery and shifty glance. I think such people just
must not live. This beast took the life of my sister, who had so many
happy years in front of her. I cried a lot that day, but it is time to
be quiet and just wait. He will be punished by law and criminals in
jail will punish him too, I am sure he will pay for all the murders
one day....'
Dmitry, a former police colleague of Popkov's,
said: 'When I read about him in the press I literally choked, because
I used to work with him and thought I knew him. He was an absolutely
normal man. He liked biathlon; once on duty he shot a rapist during an
arrest. There was an investigation and he was not punished, the chiefs
considered he had taken fair action'.
Another ex-colleague Nikolai said: 'I used to work
closely with him for 5 years. He knew lots of jokes and stories, and
could be soul of the party'.
Angarsk psychiatrist Alexander Grishin said: 'There
are two groups of maniacs - organised and non-organised. Non-organised
maniacs are easy to catch, their crimes are quickly solved - they are
people with psychiatric pathologies, who live in their own world, they
are hiding from people, often untidy.
'Organised maniacs - Popkov is a good example - are
people with high mental abilities, socially adapted, often with
families, they find convenient jobs which secures them and gives time
for crimes. It is a hard job to catch such a maniac, it is hard to
spot such a person, even police enrolment tests are not good enough
for it. The fact that only drunk women attracted him could be the
result of his childhood problems and associations - his mother used to
drink alcohol and often abused him.
'Maybe in his childhood other drunk women abused
him too, and all this affected his behaviour later in his adult life
and led to such horrible consequences.'
Among Popkov's other victims were Maria Molotkova,
20, who worked at a water pumping station in Angarsk. She was found
dead in the forest after going missing on 17 August 1999. All the
workers from local water supply company came to her funerals. A few
days earlier, on 12 August, a beheaded body of a woman was found -
with six knife wounds. Her remains were discovered in a rubbish
container in Angarsk. She was a medical student.
Her head was found in a rubbish container in a
different district. Marina Lyzhina, 35 and Lilia Pashkovskaya, 37,
were buried in closed coffins on 8 June 2000. The Russian tradition is
for coffins to be open at the graveside so relatives can say a final
farewell. But they had been too severely disfigured, like many of
Popkov's victims.
Marina and Lilia were friends and worked the same
shop. On 2 June they went to see Marina's sister.
At midnight they started to go home. At first they
wanted to order a taxi but then changed their minds. It was a plesant
summer night, and they decided to walk. On 5 June, their bodies were
found in the forest near Veresovka village. Marina had a 14 year old
daughter, Lilia had two children, a 12 year old daughter and three
year old son.
Former Russian policeman dubbed The Werewolf
raped and slaughtered 24 women who 'resembled his mother'
Mikhail Popkov, 49, stabbed or strangled women over
at least eight years
'He sought revenge on drunk mother who allegedly
abused him as a child'
Used his uniform and patrol car to gain the trust
of some of his victims
'He beheaded at least one woman and gouged the
heart out of another'
Evaded detectives for years after they 'ignored
evidence from a survivor'
Brother of one victim 'felt sick because her body
was so mutilated'
Popkov finally arrested last year after 3,500
police officers took DNA test
By Will Stewart - DailyMail.co.uk
November 7, 2013
A former policeman known as a 'perfect husband and
father' led a secret life as serial killer who murdered at least two
dozen women in Siberia.
Mikhail Popkov axed, stabbed or strangled
full-figured women 'who resembled his mother' who allegedly abused him
in childhood, it was revealed today.
Russian investigators say the 49-year-old has
confessed to 24 murders, though police suspect him of at least 29 and
crime experts fear even more.
Nicknamed variously The Werewolf and the Wednesday
Murderer - after the day of the week when many of his victims were
found in forests - he eluded police for two decades as investigators
catastrophically ignored evidence that the mystery killer could be one
of their own officers who used his uniform to gain trust.
The father of one - who faces life in jail -
selected victims who resembled his mother, say Russian reports of the
case, which is centred on Angarsk in the Irkutsk region of Siberia.
Police earlier said that of the 29 he was suspected
of killing, 25 were aged 19 to 28, and four were from 35 to 40.
'He beheaded at least one woman and gouged the
heart out of a victim,' reported The Siberian Times.
'Popkov claimed he suddenly stopped killing after
he "became impotent", suggesting a sexual motive to his murder spree.
'Typically, his victims were slightly intoxicated
when he lured them to their deaths.
'He snared them after they had been to bars or
parties. He is suspected of seeking revenge on his mother who was an
alcoholic and allegedly abused him in his childhood.'
Investigators have established his killing spree
lasted from 1992 until at least 2000, but have been unable to prove
any killings since then.
Popkov was finally arrested in June 2012 after
around 3,500 police officers, serving and retired, were forced to take
DNA tests.
He told officers: 'I just felt I wanted to kill a
woman I was giving a lift to in my car.'
The Siberian Times goes on to say: 'He murdered the
women with a slipknot, knife, awl, screwdriver or an axe which he used
up to 17 times on some victims.
'He used his police uniform and car to gain the
trust of at least some of his victims.'
Only one victim, known only as Svetlana M, escaped
his brutal attack when he left her for dead naked in the snow in
midwinter.
She told how an officer in a police car gave her a
lift, then took her to the forest where he forced her to strip before
crashing her head against a tree trunk.
The police did not investigate properly after
Popkov's wife Elena, now 47, who claimed he was a perfect husband and
father, gave him an alibi.
She also served in the police, and the couple have
a daughter Ekaterina, now 26, a schoolteacher.
Former policeman Nikolai Kitaev, who has criticised
the handling of the case, said that Svetlana M was shown a picture of
Popkov 'and clearly confirmed it was him' but investigators chose to
believe Popkov's wife.
Kitaev is convinced there are at least a dozen more
cases in police files that are likely to be Popkov's victims. Many of
the details from the crime scenes match his modus operandi, he said.
After leaving the force, Popkov became a security
officer but bought and sold cars on the side, and frequently travelled
to and from Vladivostok on Russia's Pacific coast.
'He had plenty of opportunity for other killings
but this has not been checked by police,' said one source.
Earlier, as policed fumbled to find the killer, a
detective predicted that they must be dealing with someone who 'is
charming and sociable. Women like him but he is a beast inside, and it
is always hard to fight a werewolf.'
Tatiana (Tanya) Martynova, 20, was found dead with
her friend Yulia Kuprikova, 19, on 29 October 1998 in an Angarsk
suburb.
'It happened 15 years ago, but the pain does not go
away - it was me who gave Tanya a ticket to go to a concert, and she
was killed after attending it,' said her sister Viktoria Chagaeva, 46,
who owns a beauty salon in Angarsk.
Tanya was married with a child and was having a
rare night out. Their bodies were found by a shepherd.
'It was 1am when Tanya's husband Igor and I came to
the police,' she said.
'Igor was absolutely devastated and only repeated -
"She was killed, she was killed".
'I was shocked too, but I simply could not believe
it and replied - "what are you talking about?"
'Later, we were told that their bodies were found
next to each other, both girls were raped, cut and chopped.'
Popkov has also been accused of raping the corpses
of his victims.
Chagaeva added: 'The experts told us that at first
they were killed then raped.
'My elder brother Oleg went to the morgue to
identify Tanya. He had flown from Moscow immediately.
'He felt sick when saw the body, she was so
mutilated. He was almost green when he came out of there - he just
could not say a word.
'I did not dare to go in and look.'
After the concert, the two women had been for a
drink. Like almost all his victims, he targeted women who had taken
alcohol.
Their mother Lubov died early, aged 66 in 2007,
unable to cope with the trauma, she said.
'She felt as if she had died with Tanya, life
became useless for her. She lived only because she was visiting
various mediums one by one, looking for the killer and wasting her
money.
'Nobody gave her any serious information but she
kept doing it.'
After Popkov's arrest last year, Viktoria realised
she vaguely knew the killer. They had both been involved in biathlon
at the same sports ground.
'I was stuck with horror when I saw the picture of
this maniac in the paper and online,' she said.
'My sister's killer was looking into my eyes. I
immediately felt as if I'd met him. Looking at him, I could hardly
breathe.
'Some minutes later I looked at him another time
and thought - oh my God, I know him. I was so shocked, I even took a
knife and cut his face in the newspaper, I needed to let this horror
out of me.
'I remember him as a tall slim man, he was always
alone, with a slippery and shifty glance.'
Dmitry, a former police colleague of Popkov's,
said: 'When I read about him in the press I literally choked, because
I used to work with him and thought I knew him.
'He was an absolutely normal man... he liked
biathlons... once on duty he shot a rapist during an arrest. There was
an investigation and he was not punished, the chiefs considered he had
taken fair action.'
Angarsk psychiatrist Alexander Grishin said: 'The
fact that only drunk women attracted him could be the result of his
childhood problems and associations - his mother used to drink alcohol
and often abused him.
'Maybe in his childhood other drunk women abused
him too, and all this affected his behaviour later in his adult life
and led to such horrible consequences.'
Among Popkov's other victims were Maria Molotkova,
20, who worked at a water pumping station in Angarsk. She was found
dead in the forest after going missing on 17 August 1999.
Friends Marina Lyzhina, 35 and Lilia Pashkovskaya,
37, were buried on 8 June 2000 after he picked them up in his police
car in the middle of the night as they were returning from a night
out.