- Статьи
- Society
- The number of the beast: the number of victims of the maniac Vladimir Mirgorod has reached 32
The number of the beast: the number of victims of the maniac Vladimir Mirgorod has reached 32
Serial maniac Vladimir Mirgorod may have new victims on his account, the Investigative Committee told Izvestia. Investigators have completed a new investigation, in which they accused him of murdering 16 people from 2000 to 2004. In 2012, Mirgoroda was already sentenced to life in prison for 16 other murders. Thus, 32 episodes have now been proven, but the maniac continues to talk about new ones. A psychological examination found him to be of limited sanity — at the time of the crimes he could not fully understand his actions, the Investigative Committee noted. Details of the new episodes can be found in the Izvestia article.
How was the investigation conducted in the new Mirgorod case
The number of victims of serial killer Vladimir Mirgoroda, who operated in Moscow in the early 2000s, may grow, the Investigative Committee told Izvestia. He now has 16 murders to his credit, proven during the first trial in 2012. And 16 more episodes are contained in the new case, the investigation of which has been completed by the investigators.
Vladimir Mirgorod first came to the attention of law enforcement agencies in July 2005.
Vladimir Mirgorod
— Then he was caught for gang rape — he and his friend put a female passenger in a car and abused her on the way. He was sentenced to six years. In early 2011, he got out, and when he went to check in with the precinct officer, they took his fingerprints and put them in the database. After that, there was a coincidence with a number of murders, and thus in 2012 he was convicted of 16 episodes," said Maria Kristininova, senior investigator and criminologist at the Department of forensic support of the investigation of the GSU IC in Moscow.
In January 2012, the Moscow City Court sentenced Mirgoroda to life in prison on charges of murdering 15 women and a teenager, as well as a series of violent sexual acts. The crimes were committed in 2002-2004.
After some time, employees of the capital's Investigative Committee studied the materials of criminal cases of murders of previous years, where they identified a similar method of committing crimes. Denis Bennihanov, head of the criminalistics department of the GSU of the Investigative Committee for Moscow, noted that the staging of Mirgorod for interviews and other investigative actions was planned back in 2020 (the maniac was serving his sentence in the Black Berkut special regime colony, later he was transferred to the Snezhinka colony for life prisoners in the Khabarovsk Territory).
—But the pandemic prevented us from doing that," he said. — We had to wait and prepare better for the meeting with him.
According to Maria Kristininova, the investigation began as a routine search for physical evidence: an additional molecular genetic examination was ordered, which revealed the genetic material of the previously convicted Mirgorod.
"His identity is known in investigative circles," she said. — It was a discovery for us when we found his genetics on the belongings of victims whose murders had not been solved. After that, together with my colleagues from among the operational staff, I developed an investigative and operational scheme for working with the convict. He was transferred to Moscow, and our goal was to establish psychological contact with him.
According to the criminal investigator, Mirgorod at first did not want to recall the crimes he had committed.
"He didn't want to remember those episodes, he didn't want to relive those emotions, he was ashamed," said Maria Kristininova. — But gradually he began to open up, he began to remember all the episodes. Only some pictures and flashes remained in his memory. We brought him maps and photos of places. Thus, for six months we have been reconstructing the picture of the crimes committed by him. At the same time, his confession was recorded.
How Mirgorod was killed
Initially, as the investigator noted, there was evidence for only one episode, but in the process of working with Mirgorod, it was possible to prove his involvement in 16 crimes.
"He remembered and told everything in detail, described the appearance of the victims, the events and the situation," she stressed.
According to the new indictment (Izvestia has it), the serial killer operated for four years — from 2000 to 2004. One of his victims in June 2000 was a drunk girl whom Mirgorod met in Moscow near a polyclinic. He offered her a drink, and then dragged her into the front garden, raped and strangled her.
According to investigators, the maniac committed the next crime in January 2001 on the territory of Khimki near Moscow. He offered to take a walk to a strange woman, and then, being drunk, beat up a new acquaintance and strangled her with a scarf on the banks of the Moscow Canal.
Eight months later, in the same area, he picked up a woman who was voting on the road. He offered her a drink, after which he raped and strangled her. The new episode is May 2002, the murder follows the same pattern, but this time Mirgorod tried to hide the traces of the crime: he covered the body with a car tire and set it on fire.
According to investigators, the perpetrator killed nine women from November 2002 to September 2003. Another victim of the attack managed to survive. Then Mirgorod took a break for more than six months and made another one only in April 2004. Then one more in May and June.
He still does not understand himself what drove him to commit crimes, what his motives were, Maria Kristininova explained. According to the psychological examination, he was found to be of limited sanity — at the time of the crimes he could not fully realize his actions.
— When committing the murders, he was heavily intoxicated. He is very charismatic, charming and courteous — he easily endeared himself to women. They all went with him voluntarily," the investigator explained.
Mirgorod, she says, cannot remember when he started committing crimes.
"Theoretically, there could be much more crimes, because he doesn't have an understanding of when he started and finished," she pointed out. — He cannot single out those who survived from the entire volume of women with whom he communicated. Now he says that after 20 years in prison, he has completely changed, and what he did were the mistakes of his youth.
Mirgorod continues to tell the investigation additional episodes, but it has not yet been possible to find the bodies.
"I've had hundreds of women, but I can't tell you who I strangled and who lived," the investigator quoted Mirgoroda as saying.
What threatens the maniac
The practice of investigating serial murders in Russia and the world shows that even after sentencing, including life imprisonment, additional facts and episodes of criminal activity are often revealed, said Vladimir Kuznetsov, chairman of the All-Russian Trade Union of Mediators.
"Modern technologies, such as molecular genetic examinations, make it possible to establish involvement in crimes of previous years, which makes it possible to detect new episodes even decades later," the expert recalled.
If new episodes are identified, a full-fledged investigation is conducted, new charges are brought and the case is brought to court. In the case of a new sentence, it is added to the existing punishment according to the rules of totality.
— In fact, this means that the life sentence remains unchanged, but the guilt of new crimes is legally fixed, — the lawyer explained. — This is important for the completeness of justice, the establishment of the truth in all episodes and consideration of the rights of victims whose cases may have previously remained unsolved.
According to the provisions of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, the imposition of life imprisonment means that a convicted person serves his sentence for the rest of his life. However, Article 79 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation provides for the possibility of parole after actually serving 25 years of punishment, subject to the conditions established by law, added Ulyana Volkova, a leading lawyer at Protector Law firm.
"In Russian judicial practice, there are rare cases of repeated life sentences," she said. — And in the case under consideration, taking into account the exceptional social danger of the criminal and the particular cruelty of the crimes committed, the court may decide to impose a second life sentence.
In this case, the prisoner's regime will be changed (transfer to a special unit or solitary confinement) and any possibility of his release will be excluded.
According to Vladimir Kuznetsov, the new courts will allow other criminal cases to be closed, ensuring justice for the victims and their families.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
