Gennady Mikhasevich

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Gennady Modestovich Mikhasevich (April 7, 1947 – September 25, 1987) was a Soviet serial killer and rapist known as the Vitebsk Strangler. He is believed to have murdered at least 36 women between 1971 and 1985 in Vitebsk, Polotsk, and the surrounding countryside of the Byelorussian SSR.

Background
Mikhasevich was born in Ist village, Vitebsk Oblast. On the surface he appeared to be a good family man: a teetotaler, married with two children, a diligent worker, a member of the Communist Party, and involved in local volunteer groups. He also served in the army.

Crimes and method
The killings began after a breakup with his girlfriend. In May 1971 he encountered a young woman on a road near Vitebsk and killed her, apparently to vent his anger. He killed again in October 1971, and then two more women in 1972 near Vitebsk. Over the years, many murders were linked to him, often carried out to facilitate rape.

Mikhasevich usually strangled or smothered his victims. He attacked them in lonely places or, later, after luring them into his car (a red Zaporozhets) or into his workplace’s car. He used no firearms and relied on improvised tools, sometimes even a cord made from rye. He also robbed victims and sometimes kept items to give to his wife as gifts, or took ordinary household objects like scissors.

Investigation
In the 1980s, a young investigator, Nikolai Ignatovich, argued that all the killings near motorways were the work of one serial killer, not several separate cases. Police suspected the killer used a red Zaporozhets, and Mikhasevich, who helped with searches as a druzhinnik, gained inside knowledge of the investigation, helping him avoid capture.

1984 was a particularly deadly year, with 12 victims. To derail the inquiry, Mikhasevich sent anonymous letters to a local newspaper, signed by an imagined underground group, “Patriots of Vitebsk.” He left similar notes at a new crime scene, this time signed the same way. Handwriting analysis eventually matched him among more than half a million samples.

Arrest and trial
Mikhasevich was detained on December 9, 1985. Police found him at his brother-in-law’s house, with luggage ready for a family trip and four plane tickets to Odessa. A search of his home uncovered belongings of murdered women. Psychiatrists found him sane and diagnosed him as a psychopath. After initially denying the crimes, he confessed and was sentenced to death, executed by firing squad in 1987 at Pishchalauski Castle in Minsk.

Impact
His case shocked the USSR because it exposed police corruption and how investigators had sometimes closed cases quickly. By the time Mikhasevich was finally caught, 14 other people had already been convicted for crimes he committed, and a few were sentenced to death and executed for offenses they did not commit.