Documentary history of crimes of a maniac from Ukraine.
Anatoliy Onoprienko, known as the “Cherkassy Maniac,” was a Ukrainian serial killer whose crimes captured the world’s attention in the late 20th century. Born in 1959, Onoprienko began his brutal career as a killer in the late 1980s.
His victims ranged in age and gender. Between 1989 and 1996, Onoprienko committed at least 52 murders using a variety of methods, including strangulation, shooting and drowning. His victims were both men and women, as well as children.
Onoprienko was arrested in 1996 after a large-scale operation by Ukrainian law enforcement agencies. During interrogations, he pleaded guilty to multiple murders. In 1999, he was sentenced to multiple life sentences without the possibility of release.
Onoprienko’s story has been the subject of much discussion and research both in Ukraine and abroad. His case demonstrated the importance of law enforcement work and drew attention to mental health and prevention work in the community.
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Anatoly Onoprienko was born on July 25, 1959 in Ukraine in Zhitomir region. Anatoly’s family was not much different from the neighbors’…. His father participated in the Great Patriotic War, after which he worked and received two convictions for minor crimes. Anatoly had an older brother Valentin.
The mother worked in the collective farm. The father abused alcohol and left the family when the youngest son was one year old. In 1962 his mother died of heart failure. In the first time after the death of his mother Anatoly was brought up by his grandparents.
But soon was given to an orphanage. Later, the maniac will tell that he realized the situation and was very much offended by his living father and brother. In the orphanage, the boy’s life was terrible – he was teased and beaten by older pupils.
It was during this period of his life that the future maniac Onoprienko began to show excessive cruelty. Growing up Anatoly began to beat his fellow orphans. Sometimes he used sharp objects. In addition, he was seen in petty theft. After graduation from the institution, the future
Criminal lived for some time with his father, who managed to get married for the third time. Then he left, but a few years later he returned and tried to establish relations. However, his father did not want to communicate with him.
Anatoly could not boast of a good education – he finished only eight grades in the orphanage, after which he entered Mayskiy Forest College. In this educational institution, the future serial killer somehow miraculously managed to survive for two years. Onoprienko showed no interest in his studies.
Already being a college student Anatoly managed to regularly drink strong alcoholic beverages, systematically get into fights and steal. After studying for two years, the young man joined the army, where he failed to gain respect among his coworkers. Later he will recall that during the service he was regularly beaten and bullied.
Anatoly’s life changed dramatically after completing his military service. He entered the Naval College and could make a good career. During his service as a sailor he managed to visit many countries, had a stable and good income, was not deprived of girls’ attention. But in 1986 he had to leave the service forever.
The reason for this was problems with his superiors because of the complex character of Anatoly. After this event, the future maniac Onoprienko once again tried to start a normal life. He got a job in the fire department and got married. A son was born in the marriage.
At the time, many acquaintances envied this family, which seemed happy. He treated his wife and son well. Everything changed in 1989. The head of the family just disappeared one day in an unknown direction, taking all the savings from the house. In the winter of the same year, Anatoly
Onoprienko met in the city of Dolgoprudny with a local resident Sergei Rogozin. Quite quickly the men became comrades. Sergey had served in Afghanistan, at the time of that fateful meeting worked in a collective farm, had a wife and a daughter. The friends opened a common business in trade, and every day their relationship
Became closer and closer. Unexpectedly, Anatoly began to suggest to his comrade to start earning more, but not quite in a legal way. Onoprienko’s idea was to rob cars that stopped for the night on the highway. Rogozin hesitated for a while. However, he had already become so attached
To his friend that he could not refuse him. The first crime was committed on June 14, 1989. Anatoly wanted to find a car parked in a deserted place on the highway and rob it. His accomplice at that time was to drive slowly along the highway and,
After waiting for the signal, pick up the accomplice. In case of any problems Onoprienko allowed his friend to flee the scene of the crime. The criminals found a suitable car Zhiguli with a trailer in Sinelnikovsky district. Perhaps that night for the first time in his life fully revealed his dark nature maniac Onoprienko.
Anatoly went to the case with a winchester. The spouses were sleeping in the car. Onoprienko made no attempt to commit the theft surreptitiously. He immediately shot the man asleep, and he forced his wife out of the car and killed her as well.
The bodies of the murdered men were hidden in a forest belt. The car was driven away and then thoroughly searched together with an accomplice. Rogozin was ready to become an accomplice in the theft, but not in the double murder.
Noticing the mood of his comrade Onoprienko hinted to him that if he did not keep silent, his wife and daughter would suffer the fate of the travelers who had just been killed. One month after the first murder Onoprienko forced his accomplice
Ragozin to go to the highway again. The crime was committed on July 16, 1989. The criminals acted according to the same scheme as the first time. Their victims were another married couple. This time Onoprienko was pleasantly surprised by
The booty – the husband and wife carried with them many valuable things and a large sum of money. All this time Rogozin was very worried that he got involved in violent criminal activity. While Anatoly himself showed no signs of anxiety and seemed to be very happy.
The month of August came and Onoprienko suggested to his friend to go to Odessa to sell the loot. Agreeing to this trip, Rogozin unexpectedly became a participant in another robbery with mass murder. This time Anatoly chose a car with a family of five people in it.
Without hesitation, he killed them all, and then intended to burn the corpses. Noticing that one of the victims was still moving, the maniac killed her in cold blood with a hunting knife. After committing this crime Onoprienko almost fell into the hands of the police. The criminal was driving a stolen car, which
Aroused the suspicion of traffic police officers. However, after a short chase Anatoly managed to escape. Maniac Onoprienko suffered very badly from the murder of five people. Later he will tell that he sympathized with his own victims and even at some points thought of suicide.
After a while, Anatoly got fake documents and traveled around Europe. After visiting several countries, Onoprienko stopped in Germany. Several times he was deported back to Ukraine, but with new fake documents he immediately returned. Anatoly worked in Germany as a kitchen worker, dishwasher, gardener and tried to apply for
Political asylum, but was refused. Unexpectedly, Onoprienko came up with what he thought was a “brilliant” idea. He decided that if he went to the local prison, he would certainly get citizenship. The criminal began to engage in petty theft and twice he managed to be in European prisons in Germany and Austria.
However, he never managed to change his citizenship. Four years later, Anatoly Onoprienko was once again deported to Ukraine. He decided to stay in his homeland and not to return to Europe. At that time the situation in Ukraine was very difficult – inflation was rampant,
It was very difficult to get a job, the crime rate was incredibly high. Onoprienko had no savings and was afraid of being arrested. He felt very tense. On May 31, 1994, Anatoly was unexpectedly detained at the train station. But already in the police station,
He was surprised to realize that no one suspected him of the crimes he had committed. The reason for the arrest was purely due to his inadequate behavior. The police officers did not even realize that Anatoly was a serial maniac. Because of his strange behavior, the man was sent to a psychiatric clinic,
Where he stayed for 3 months. During his inpatient treatment, Anatoly escaped several times, but each time he was brought back. After completing the course of therapy, the patient was discharged with a diagnosis of schizophrenia. Onoprienko once again traveled to Germany,
And then came to his brother Valentin, who at that time lived in Zhytomyr region. The relative met Anatoly surprisingly cordially and allowed him to stay with him for a while. Onoprienko was not able to get a job, and did not particularly seek to do so.
At the same time, he constantly felt envious of the wealth of others. He knew only one proven way to get rich quickly and more and more often thought about returning to the criminal craft. In 1995, Anatoly decided to commit a crime.
He stole from his acquaintance hunting rifle, knife, ammunition and some related equipment. Very soon, in the fall of 1995, the killer again went on a bloody hunt. In two months he killed 7 people in cold blood. The arrogance and cynicism of the criminal was astounding.
Anatoly could spend several hours at the scene of a crime, taking incredible pleasure in it. It seemed that he was afraid of absolutely nothing. Murder became for the criminal a full-fledged alternative to normal work. Usually he would commit the murder of an entire family, after which he would rest for a week
Or two and then go in search of new victims. In mid-January 1996, the investigators who had been investigating all similar crimes finally became convinced that mass murders followed by robberies were committed by a single person. All similar cases were combined into a series.
Anatoly Onoprienko turned into a maniac, completely lost his head from his impunity. His crimes became more and more horrible and cynical. The killer continued to commit crimes in cold blood, leaving almost no evidence. A series of brutal murders caused popular unrest and sheer panic among the civilian population.
Several times innocent people were arrested as suspects. Remarkably, Onoprienko himself was detained three times and each time he was quickly released. On April 14, 1996, due to the presence of circumstantial evidence, law enforcement officers obtained an arrest warrant for Anatoly Onoprienko. The criminal at that time was living
With his common-law wife Anna. During searches in the apartment of the woman found a huge amount of stolen items. There was no doubt about the guilt of the suspect. None of the people who knew him personally could believe that Onoprienko was a maniac.
Photos of victims and crime scenes would horrify any sane person. While Anatoly looked perfectly normal and good-natured. He knew how to make a good impression. Initially Onoprienko was charged with forty murders. When the criminal began to testify he confessed to committing 52 crimes. The maniac’s case took up 98 volumes of investigative materials.
Anatoly amazed the investigators with a perfect memory. Telling about his atrocities, he often mentioned very small and insignificant details. The trial of the murderer began on November 23, 1998. The case caused a wide public resonance. The suspect had to be carefully protected from the furious crowd, which tried to literally tear him apart.
Together with Onoprienko, Sergei Rogozin also found himself in the dock. Anatoly himself gave up his accomplice during the investigation. Rogozin was sentenced to twelve years in prison. The court found Anatoly Onoprienko guilty of committing 52 murders and sentenced him to death. The maniac fully admitted his guilt.
But he refused to say the last word. At the announcement of the verdict Onoprienko showed the judge an obscene gesture and then drew a cross on his forehead with his finger. At the time of the end of the trial Anatoly had time to celebrate his thirty-ninth birthday.
As it might seem – justice had been served…. But an absurd coincidence intervened – in 2000 the President of Ukraine signed a moratorium on the prohibition of the death penalty. Later, the country’s leadership personally tried to obtain permission to execute Onoprienko as an exception. But because of this change in legislation,
The death penalty for the killer of 52 people was replaced by life imprisonment. The maniac spent all these years in solitary confinement. There are rumors that several attempts were made on the killer. Anatoly himself was quiet. He read a lot. He refused to work and communicate with journalists.
Anatoly Onoprienko died on August 27, 2013 from heart failure. Relatives of the maniac never visited him in prison and did not want to organize a funeral. Horrific serial crimes – this is the category to which the murders committed by the maniac Onoprienko belong. Victims of this criminal are entire families.
Including very young children.