Andrei Chikatilo Andrei was born on 16th October 1936 in Yablochnoye, Ukraine. He was born with hydrocephalus, a condition in which fluid accumulates in the brain. This caused him genital-urinary tract problems including bed-wetting into his late adolescence and, later, the inability to sustain an erection, although he was able to ejaculate. His father was taken as a prisoner by Germany during WW1 and upon returning, was ridiculed for his ‘cowardice.’ Andrei was also bullied by the kids at school for the same reason. When he was 15, he overpowered a young girl and the struggle made him ejaculate. He was humiliated by his classmates because of this and learned to associate sexual pleasure with pain. Eventually, his sister set him up with a girl whom he would later marry and have two children with. Chikatilo became a school teacher, however was bounced from school to school because of molestation charges. He ended up working as a supply clerk in a factory. In 1978, he began his string of murders. On December 22, Chikatilo lured a 9-year-old girl named Yelena Zakotnova to an old house which he had secretly purchased. He attempted to rape her, but failed to achieve an erection. When the girl struggled, he choked her and stabbed her three times in the abdomen. He strangled her into unconsciousness before throwing her body into a nearby river. Her body was found two days later. Although there was a lot of evidence pointing to Chikatilo; blood stains outside his house, neighbors witnessed him in the house, and a witness gave a description of a man who was talking to the girl at her bus stop which was very close to Chikatilo, another man was incarcerated and executed for the crime. Chikatilo soon realized that he need only to stab women in order to get sexual pleasure. He mostly targeted boys and girls coming off the bus, however sometimes he killed homeless women and prostitutes. They were always stabbed and often, he would gouge out their eyes. One victim, 10-year-old Olga Stalmachenok, was stabbed over 50 times before Chikatilo ripped open her abdomen and pulled out her intestines. By this time, four of the murders had been linked. In September of 1984, an undercover detective saw Chikatilo attempting to lure a child into the forest and was taken into custody. There was not sufficient evidence to convict him for the murders so he was sentenced to one year in prison for theft. He waited a while upon release to begin killing again, but when he did, it was linked to the unknown killer. He was spotted walking out of the forest and proceeded to wash his hands and face in a fountain. He was reported for the suspicious behavior but not taken into custody. When a body was found in the wood near where Chikatilo was seen exiting, he was put under surveillance. He was able to placed in certain towns at certain times when murders occurred through his employers. He was often at the bus stops making conversation with young children. On November 20, he was finally arrested. There was a bite wound on his finger which matched with the evident struggle at the crime scene of his last victim. Also, a knife and rope were found among his things. After 9 days, he confessed to 36 murders. over the next few days, he confessed to an additional 20 murders and led police to the body of Aleksey Khobotov. He was declared legally sane and fit to stand trial. During his trial, he was kept in a cage in the corner of the courtroom so the victims’ families could not attack him. He was eventually removed from the courtroom for disrupting. As the trial was coming to a close, a victim’s brother threw a chunk of metal at Chikatilo, hitting him in the chest. When security tried to arrest the man, the other victims’ families shielded him and he was not arrested. On October 14, he was convicted of 53 murders and 5 counts of sexual assault. He was sentenced to death. On February 14, 1994, he was taken to a soundproof room and executed with one gunshot behind his right ear.
