Anatoly Onoprienko

Anatoly Onoprienko Анатолій Онопрієнко
Anatoly Onoprienko mugshot
Background information
Birth name	Anatoly Yurievich Onoprienko
Also known as	The Beast of Ukraine The Terminator Citizen O
Born	July 25, 1959 (1959-07-25) (age 52) Zhytomyr, Ukrainian SSR
Killings
Number of victims:	52
Span of killings	1989–1996
Country	Ukrainian SSR Ukraine
Date apprehended	April 16, 1996

Anatoly Yuriyovych Onoprienko (born Ukrainian: Анатолій Юрійович Онопрієнко on July 25, 1959) is a Ukrainian serial killer. He is also known by the nicknames "The Beast of Ukraine", "The Terminator" and "Citizen O". After police arrested the 37-year-old former forestry student on April 16, 1996, Onoprienko confessed to killing 52 people.^[1][2]

Birth and childhood

Anatoly Onoprienko was the youngest of two sons; his brother, Valentin, was 13 years his senior. His father, Yuri Onoprienko, was decorated for bravery during the Second World War. When Anatoly was 4 years old, his mother died. He was cared for by his grandparents and aunt for a time before being handed over to an orphanage in the village of Privitnoe. In one interview, Onoprienko later said that this predetermined his destiny - and remarked that 70% of those who are brought up in orphanages end up going to prison in later life.

Crimes

When finally arrested by police, Onoprienko was found to be in possession of a hunting rifle and a number of other weapons, which matched the murder weapons used in several of the killings, together with a number of items which had been removed from murder victims. While in custody he eventually confessed to eight killings between 1989 to 1995. At first, he denied other charges, but ultimately confessed to the killing of 52 innocent victims over a six-year period. While in custody, he claimed that he killed in response to commands he was given by inner voices.

Methods

The killings followed a set pattern. He chose an isolated house, and gain the attention of the occupants by creating a commotion. He would then kill all occupants starting with the adult male, before going to find and kill the spouse and finally the children. He would then usually set the buildings alight in an attempt to cover his tracks. He would also kill any witness unlucky enough to cross his path during his murderous rampages. The first to die were a family of four in Bratkovychi. Another family of five and two witnesses were killed not long after in the same village. When police imposed a security cordon around Bratkovychi, he then moved to other villages to continue killing.

Capture and conviction

In March 1996, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and Public Prosecutor's Office specialists detained 26-year-old Yury Mozola as a suspect of several brutal murders. Over the course of three days, six SBU members and one representative of the Public Prosecutor's Office tortured (burning, electric shocking and beating) Mr Mozola.^[3] Mozola refused to confess to the crimes and died during the torture. Seven responsible for the death were sentenced to prison terms.^[4] Seventeen days later, the real murderer, Anatoly Onoprienko, was found after a massive manhunt, seven years after his first murder. This happened after he moved in with one of his relatives and his stash of weapons was discovered. Onoprienko was quickly booted out of the house. Days later, from the information received, Onoprienko was captured.

Onoprienko murdered 43 victims in 6 months.

References

1. ^ "Accused Ukrainian serial killer makes surprise request at trial". CNN. 1998-11-30. Archived from the original on 2008-05-19. http://web.archive.org/web/20080519073812/http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/europe/9811/30/ukraine.serial.killer/index.html. Retrieved 2008-09-10. 
2. ^ Commarasamy, James (1998-11-23). "The lives changed by Onoprienko". BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/219734.stm. Retrieved 2008-09-10. 
3. ^ "State security agents appeal torture convictions". PRIMA News Agency. 2000-12-07. http://prima-news.ru/eng/news/news/2000/12/7/19636.html. Retrieved 2008-09-10. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ "Ukrainian Ombudsman brings a suit against Prosecutor’s office and Cheka agents". PRIMA News Agency. 2002-03-19. http://www.prima-news.ru/eng/news/news/2002/3/19/9050.html. Retrieved 2008-09-10. ^{[dead link]}

External links

• Full Onoprienko's biography
• Village Laski - birthplace of serial killer Onoprienko. PHOTOS
• Anatoly Onoprienko at crimelibrary.com
• The interview of Onoprienko's lawyer Ruslan Moshkovsky in Russian

Persondata
Name	Onoprienko, Anatoly
Alternative names	Онопрієнко, Анатолій (Ukrainian)
Short description	Serial killer
Date of birth	July 25, 1959
Place of birth	Zhytomyr, Ukraine
Date of death
Place of death