Criminology - The Cannibal

Disclaimer; This article was written for the purpose of education on crime. Reader discretion advised

Alexander Spesivtsev, is a Russian serial killer/cannibal that killed and ate from 14 to 82 people. Russian criminology experts believe that he is one of the most brutal and dangerous maniacs that ever was on the territory of Russia. His crimes were assisted by his mother in front of the eyes of his sister. People have nicknamed him the “Siberian Ripper” and “The Novokuznetsk Monster”. They still experience fear and want to hope that the killer will forever be behind bars and never be freed.

Alexander Spesivtsev was born underweight in the city of Novokuznetsk, USSR, on March 1st, 1970. As a child, Alexander was frequently ill. Until the age of 12 he slept in the same bed with his mother. His alcoholic father physically abused Alexander and his mother until she kicked Alexander’s father out of the house and fully devoted her life to her son. Unfortunately her child was growing sick, aggressive and withdrawn. At older age Alexander became even more inadequate. He painted the walls of his building with all kinds of inappropriate words and pictures. He was very aggressive to his classmates and bullied them with lots of creativity. His mother however never paid attention to his actions and was attributing this to a teenager’s behavior to dominate among other students. She never took teachers warnings seriously and refused to talk to them. A sense of permissiveness and impunity completed the formation of Alexander. He was sure that his mother would always protect him, no matter what he did. Obviously, he had no friends in his entire childhood due to his aggressive behavior.

Alexander’s mother, Lyudmila Yakovlevna was working as a manager at school, but she was fired because she had stolen plumbing equipment. After that she started working as a secretary for a lawyer in court. She always brought home photographs of corpses from cases. Spesivtsev loved looking at the photographs for hours, he was even passionate (in a sexual way) to this, as he told to his mother. His mother was happy to see a smile on his face. She decided she must do whatever she can to make him happy.

In 1991 Alexander met Evgenia Guselnikova. She was four years younger than Spesivtsev. They had a very romantic relationship with roses, chocolate and poems. His mother and sister wished them to “live happily in love” and moved to another apartment. The romantic relationship ended up quickly. The couple fought over some nonsense and that's when Spesivtsev lost control and beat her. She started crying and told him that their relationship is over. Spesivtsev could not restrain himself so he beat her even harder and locked her in the apartment. Within a month, Alexander systematically beat and mocked Eugenia in every possible way. And only after this time, the parents of Guselnikova turned him over to the police. The girl was found bedridden in very serious condition. Despite the efforts of doctors, Eygenia could not be saved. Officially she died from Sepsis. Her whole body was covered with purulent wounds and it was hard for the doctors to determine the actual cause of death.

Alexander did not go to jail. The commission found him mentally ill, so instead of the prison the killer went for treatment in Orel psychiatric facility. He was diagnosed with schizophrenia and two years later he returned home with signs of remission. No notes have been made about his discharge and law authorities still believed that he was in the psychiatric facility.

Alexander was angry at the whole world and just wanted revenge. Spesivtsev returned to his homeland, opened a hunt for the inhabitants of Novokuznetsk, and in early 1996, 2 girls aged 20-25 years became his new victims. After rape, beatings and murders, Alexander dismembered the corpses.

His mother knew about her son’s killings and started helping him by burying victims. She put the remains in buckets and late at night when there were no lights she buried the remains in the wasteland.

In April-May 1996, Alexander met six boys at the construction site of store. He lured them into his apartment by offering to steal from an apartment that he has the keys from. He opened the apartment and pushed the twelve year old boys inside the living room. They tried to fight but he stabbed them with a knife, killing them. A few days later he lured two girls aged 12 and 14 with a business offer to sell soap that he will be supplying to them. His mother helped Alexander to dump the remains into the river.

With each murder, Spesivtsev's mental disorder progressed. There was not enough money for even food in the family so he began to feed the remains of the victims to a diver dog, and then he tried to cook human meat and ate some of the pieces himself.

In June 1996 four people became victims of the maniac cannibal. Two girls, one woman in her 40’s and a man about 35 years old, the last two were never identified. All of them were killed, dismembered and cut loin parts. In July, nineteen year old Natalia found her death. In August, two 12-year-old girls were killed.

The investigation of the terrible murders committed by Spesivtsev began after the remains of corpses belonging to children aged 9 to 14 years were found near the banks of the small Siberian river Aba. Experts could not establish the identity of all the victims, but realized that a maniac was operating in the city. First of all, the law enforcement checked those who had previously served their sentences in a prison or a psychiatric hospital, but Alexander was not on this list due to the rush to discharge and the negligence of doctors. Soon a series of brutal rape and murder of children similar in handwriting took place in the city of Toliatti. The maniac was located quickly - it turned out to be the unemployed Oleg Rylkov . At first he was mistaken for the maniac from Novokuznetsk, but soon the last three victims disappeared in the city.

The last teenage girls were lured into the lair of the Novokuznetsk monster by Lyudmila, and Alexander immediately killed Nastya, who was trying to escape, and her friends were tortured for a month. The maniac was not interested in just killing his victims. He chained them to a battery, beaten, raped, fed humanity and forced them to carve corpses. Such a terrible fate befell the fifteen-year-old Zhenya and Olya. For a month, the cannibal morally and physically destroyed the girls. At the same time, Spesivtseva’s sister periodically came to visit. She saw everything, but she did not report to the police. All these horrors occurred in the apartment building, the neighbors, who heard screams and groans, did not call the police, as they thought that the sounds were made by an unbalanced tenant.

Police managed to bring the serial killer to responsibility by pure chance, after the municipal service officers came to the apartment with a scheduled check for plumbing, Alexander refused to open the door to outsiders. With the help of the local police, the inspector entered a suspicious room, and their eyes saw a terrifying picture. There was a terrible smell of decomposition in the apartment, a pan with half-eaten human was found on the maniac's stove, and in the bathroom laid a child’s torso with no arms and no legs. The chest and legs of the child were right there, in a steel tank. In one of the rooms near the battery, law enforcement officers found Olga, who was in extremely heavy condition. The girl was taken to the hospital, but she died three days later, she had time to testify against Spesivtsev. In her testimony : “When Andrei (under the name Spesivtsev introduced himself with the victims) killed Nastya, at night he ordered us to cut the corpse into pieces so that it would be easier to hide. He gave us a hacksaw for metal, with it we cut a corpse, cut meat from bones with a knife. He himself did not do this, he only commanded. He fed the dog, meat and bones. Zhenya and I carried the cut-off parts to the bathroom, where we put them in the bath and the tank. Both the grandmother and the woman saw it all, where present in the apartment. All the rest of the days he beat us, Zhenya and I. He broke her hand, broke her head, several times he sewed her head himself with a simple needle and thread."

The cannibal wasn't at home. He climbed up to the roof and escaped while the police were cracking the door. However Spesivtsev wasn't used to life outside. He didn't enjoy freedom for very long. Just a couple of days later, the killer came to his house and hung around at the entrance, where he was arrested.

During a search of the apartment, law enforcement officers found more than 80 sets of adult and children's clothes stained with blood, as well as many jewelry and photographs. Despite the efforts of specialists from the genetic laboratory, it was not possible to establish the exact number of victims. In total, 19 murders were attributed to the maniac, but only the last 3 could be proven. In total, 82 sets of blood-stained children's and adult clothes, 40 jewelry and many photographs of children were found in the Spesivtsev’s apartment. Despite the fact that a whole genetic laboratory was taken to Novokuznetsk, which occupied the train car, the exact number of victims could not be determined.

At the interrogation, Spesivtsev confessed to 19 murders, but then, referring to a damaged mind, he refused his own words. However, the court recognized the maniac sane and sentenced him to imprisonment for the maximum possible time. Shortly before the final verdict was passed, Alexander again underwent a psychiatric examination. The opinion of doctors from the V.P. Serbsky Research Center changed the measure of restraint and determined the Siberean ripper in a hospital near Volgograd.

The maniac’s mother, 60-year-old Lyudmila Spesivtseva, willingly told the investigation about her involvement in the crime, but in the end she pleaded not guilty. The court sentenced the maniac's mother to 13 years in prison. Sasha’s sister was recognized as a witness and did not suffer any punishment. At the moment, Lyudmila Yakovlevna, who was released in 2008, lives with her daughter in the countryside, where no one knows them.

How could it be prevented ?

Ignorance could lead to deadly consequences. Looking back at Alexander’s early life, there has been multiple warning signs. As a child, Alexander showed symptoms for serious and dangerous mental disorders. Children who are withdrawn, show dominating behavior and seek excessive interest and pleasure from violence should seek expert attention immediately. Responsibility was not taken seriously. Police ignored the multiple complaints of neighbors for loud noise and odor. The doctor’s documentation was not accurate (such as when it was mistakenly believed that Alexander was discharged from the hospital). In addition, little adult supervision led to the young and vulnerable not being educated on safety (for example, going to a stranger's home). For the prevention of crime it is vital for each person to show dedication, awareness, accountability and integrity. Do the right thing.

The victims

1991 - Evgeny Guselnikova (b. 1975)

1996 - Elena Trunova (b. 1975)

1996 - Elena Kotkina (b. 1974)

1996 - Alexander Nosovets (b. 1986)

1996 - Nosovets Olga (b. 1985)

1996 - Dmitry Vorobyov (b. 1984)

1996 - Irina Vorobyova (b. 1982)

1996 - Elena Sachkova (b. 1983)

1996 - Natalya Voinova (b. 1977)

1996 - Shatalina Galina (b. 1984)

1996 - Tsvetaeva Olga (b. 1984)

1996 - Anastasia Burnaeva (b. 1983)

1996 - Barashkina Evgenia (b. 1983)

For more information;

https://peoplepill.com/people/alexander-spesivtsev/

https://www.facebook.com/paraplayground/posts/alexander-spesivtsev-the-siberian-cannibala-psychiatric-hospital-on-the-banks-of/629612007148733/

https://www.reddit.com/r/MorbidReality/comments/1804o3/alexander_spesivtsev_cannibal_from_novokuznetsk/

https://www.rebelcircus.com/blog/cannibals-duo-mother-son-cannibalized-children-neighborhood-democracy/