30 Facts About Alexander Pichushkin

Alexander Pichushkin was born on 9 April 1974 in Mytishchi, Moscow Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, and grew up on 2 Khersonskaya Street in Moscow proper.

Alexander Pichushkin lived there with his mother Natalia Elmouradovna, his younger half-sister, her husband, and their son in a two-bedroom apartment on the fifth floor.

Alexander Pichushkin is remembered to have been an initially sociable child.

However, this changed following an incident in which Alexander Pichushkin fell backwards off a swing, which then struck him in the forehead as it swung back.

Since Alexander Pichushkin was still a child, the damage would have been more severe, as a child's forehead provides only a fraction of the protection for the brain compared to an adult's.

Alexander Pichushkin moved into his grandfather's home and was encouraged to pursue intellectual pursuits outside of school.

Alexander Pichushkin was taught how to play, and after demonstrating his ability was introduced to the exhibition games against elderly men who played publicly in Bitsa Park.

An outstanding chess player, Alexander Pichushkin found a channel for his aggression when dominating the chessboard in all of his games.

Alexander Pichushkin was left to return to his mother's home, after which he enrolled as a student.

Alexander Pichushkin continued to play chess both at home and in Bitsa Park, now joining the other men in drinking vodka, though unlike them he could play without being greatly affected by the alcohol.

Russian media have speculated that Alexander Pichushkin was motivated, in part, by a macabre competition with another notorious Russian serial killer, Andrei Chikatilo, who was convicted of killing fifty-two children and young women over a twelve-year period.

Alexander Pichushkin has said his aim was to kill sixty-four the number of squares on a chessboard.

Alexander Pichushkin later recanted this statement, saying that he would have continued killing indefinitely had he not been stopped.

Alexander Pichushkin arranged to meet his classmate, Mikhail Oditchuk, in Bitsa Park to jointly hatch a plan to kill sixty-four people.

Witness testimony provided to the police stated that Oditchuk was last seen with Alexander Pichushkin, walking in the direction of the park.

Alexander Pichushkin ceased killing for several years until 1996 when Russia placed a moratorium on the death penalty.

On 17 May 2001, Alexander Pichushkin was in Bitsa Park playing chess with a 52-year-old man named Yevgeny Pronin.

Pronin accompanied him to an isolated area in Bitsa Park, whereupon Alexander Pichushkin pulled out a bottle of vodka and offered him a drink.

The men made a toast to the dog, after which Alexander Pichushkin struck Pronin in the head with the bottle.

Once Pronin was dead, Alexander Pichushkin threw his body into a nearby well.

Between May 2001 and September 2005, Alexander Pichushkin attacked thirty-six victims; three of his victims survived their injuries.

Alexander Pichushkin would kill his victims by repeated blows to the head with a hammer, and would then push a vodka bottle into the gaping wound in their skulls.

In June 2006, Alexander Pichushkin offered to go for a walk with his 36-year-old coworker, Marina Moskalyova.

Once apprehended, Alexander Pichushkin led police officers to the scenes of many of his crimes in Bitsa Park and demonstrated a keen recollection of how the murders were committed.

Alexander Pichushkin was filmed reenacting his crimes in great detail, a process which is a regular part of Russian criminal investigation.

Alexander Pichushkin revealed that some of the murders he committed were not done using his preferred method, but by throwing his victims down into the sewer lines beneath Bitsa Park.

Alexander Pichushkin claimed that deciding whether his victims should live or die made him feel like God.

Alexander Pichushkin was convicted on 24 October 2007 of forty-nine murders and three attempted murders.

Alexander Pichushkin asked a Russian court to add an additional eleven victims to his body count, bringing his claimed death toll to sixty, and three surviving victims.

Alexander Pichushkin appealed his sentencing, claiming it was "too harsh" and asking for a reduction to twenty-five years.