Alexander Pichushkin: The Chessboard Killer

Alexander Pichushkin, often known as "The Chessboard Killer," was born on April 9, 1974, and is a Russian serial murderer who is thought to have killed up to 60 people in Bitsa Park in southwest Moscow. Little is known about his childhood and adolescence, but one notable aspect of his early years is the fact that he was struck in the forehead by a swing when it swung back after he fell backward off of it at a young age. Some specialists hypothesised that this accident may have injured his frontal lobe, which ultimately may have contributed to his aggressive behaviour.

Following the incident, his behaviour evolved. What was once thought of as a friendly child, now become aggressive and impetuous. He may have been more aggressive since he was bullied as a young child. Pichushkin experienced repeated verbal and physical abuse from other students at his school. His mother made the choice to move him from his regular school to one that catered to students with learning problems.

However, Pichushkin and his grandfather had a close bond. Pichushkin's grandfather was the first to recognise that he had more to contribute, noting that despite his high level of intelligence, his potential talents are being wasted in school because he isn't participating in any stimulating activities. His granddad then did  took care of him and let him live in his home. He pushed Pichushkin to engage in more scholarly pursuits away from the classroom. He was then taught how to play chess, a game in which he had a keen interest. He was introduced to demonstration games in Bitsa Park in Moscow where he competed against more seasoned elderly guys after learning the game and showcasing his skills.

He quickly honed his craft as a player. It was a method of managing his rage by directing it towards the games.

His Grandfather's Death

Sadly, at the conclusion of his adolescence, his grandfather passed away, dealing Pichushkin a devastating emotional blow, which he took extremely hard. He was currently coping with emotional suffering as well. He moved back to his mother's house after losing his grandfather, and he quickly enrolled in school. But his grandfather's passing had more than one impact on him. He lost a mentor and a father figure, and he turned to binge drinking as a coping mechanism.

When Pichushkin returned, something more evil was also there in Bitsa Park where he continued to play chess. He began to think evil and terrible ideas and to have a twisted view of God. According to reports, when he anticipated interacting with kids, he would threaten them and record it on tape. He once seized a child by the leg while holding them upside down and declared, "You are in my power now... I am going to drop you from the window... and you will fall 15 meters to your death."       

What started the killings?

When Pichushkin committed his first murder, he was only a teenager. According to Pichushkin's televised admission, he shoved a boy out of a window in 1992 while still a student. He subsequently remarked, "This first murder, it's like first love, it's unforgettable."

Mikhail Odichuk, one of his acquaintances, was accompanied by him on a "killing expedition." They started to move around in search of a victim. Pichushkin killed Odichuk when she noticed he wasn't taking it seriously. He said that despite the police questioning him about the death of his companion, nothing truly happened.

One of the most prolific Ukrainian serial killers, Andrei Chikatilo, was already in prison for the murder of 52 individuals at the time of that slaying. The following article has information on him: Andrei Chikatilo 

According to Russian media, Pichushkin was driven by a murky rivalry with Chikatilo, hoping to gain more notoriety and commit more murders. He said he wanted to murder 64 people—the total squares on a chessboard—but subsequently admitted that he would have carried on killing if he hadn't been discovered.

Pichushkin appeared to be living a regular life while his God complex fuelled his thirst for blood. He worked as a grocery employee. Even one of his victims was picked up there. Nearly all of his victims were discovered in the park as they were waking. He operated in the same way every time. either getting them drunk or sneaking up on them and striking them dead. I would occasionally awaken with the urge to murder and went to the woods that day. I enjoyed witnessing the victims' suffering, he admitted to investigators.

Always, the dead were thrown in a nearby sewage plant. But as the number of his victims grew, he grew angry that no one was talking about his murders. He increased his murders as a result, scattering the bodies across wider areas.

By 2003, locals, particularly those who lived close to the park, began to worry that a serial killer was still at large. Pichushkin was dubbed "The Bittsa Beast" and "The Bittsevsky Maniac" in newspapers.

The killer was initially compared by Russian officials to the Ukrainian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, but they refrained from drawing any firm conclusions or speculating on the killer's identity.

The Killing Spree

Long after his initial murder, he intensified his murderous activities. In 2000, he started ruthlessly attacking others. The majority of Pichushkin's victims were elderly homeless individuals who were not likely to be reported missing. He used to seduce them with vodka, and once they were drunk, he would whack them in the head with a hammer to kill them. He used to insert vodka bottles into his victims' skulls or wood to ensure that none of them survived the attack. Always coming from behind to prevent blood from getting on his clothes, the attacks were vicious.

His only driving factors were pleasure and power. He argued that because he alone determines whether someone will live or die, killing made him feel like God. 

He once observed, "living without murdering is like living without nourishment for you. Since I was the one who first let them in to the other realm, I felt like the father to all of these people.

The Serbsky Institute's psychiatry specialists have determined that Pichushkin is permanently mentally damaged.

Bitsa Park, a sizable wooded region covering 22 square kilometres of southern Moscow, is the park where he carried out his killings. On October 15, 2005. Police in Moscow discovered Nikolay A. Vorobyov's body, who was 31 years old. The victim was struck in the head and had a bottle lodged there. Another victim's body is found one month later. The man was 63 years old. Two weeks later, Vladimir Dududkin and just a week after that another body is discovered.

Seven bodies have been found in all by Christmas. None of the victims appeared to have been robbed, but they all shared horrible head wounds and mutilation from having sticks of wood or vodka shoved into their skulls.

It was obvious that the Russian police were hunting a serial killer. The elite Murder Squad in Moscow handled serious crimes like this. Andrei Suprunenko, a seasoned investigator, was assigned to the case in February 2006, but no information regarding the potential identity of the murderer has surfaced to far. The crime scenes yielded evidence for the investigators, but the murderer left no footprints or fingerprints. They choose to enlist the assistance of the most qualified.

Professor Vladimir Vorontsov is a forensic scientist. He examined the victims and found several wounds on the face, back, and side of the heads. This was the assassin's mark. He nonetheless manages to identify the potential murder weapon—a hammer—in the absence of any more forensic evidence.

There was a Psychiatric Sanatorium beside Bitsa Park. The killer may have been a former patient who broke free and is now hiding in the park and killing others, according to investigators. Everybody was interrogated. The police questioned anyone they thought could be suspicious. However, nobody stood out as a potential suspect, thus the theory is abandoned.

He claimed to be carrying a hammer in his luggage for protection.  Although it appeared that the culprit was finally in police custody, his alibi was confirmed after 24 hours. He did not commit the murder.

A woman's body is found one week later. The number of bodies found to date has reached 12. It seems that the murderer had changed his targets and was now targeting ladies. The body of Larissa Kulygina is found in April 2006.

  The Eventual Arrest

Investigators also came across Metro video footage, which amply demonstrated that the victim was in Alexander Pichushkin's vicinity. For investigators, that was sufficient. They felt they had enough evidence to detain him and bring him in for interrogation regarding Marina Moskalyova's death. The arrest of Pichushkin occurred on June 16th, 2006.

He originally claimed he was not the person they were looking for and denied everything. But after only a few hours of questioning, Pichushkin admitted to killing Marina Moskalyova. Her murder's concluding details are starting to come together. On June 13, he met Marina, and they went on a picnic. They sat by themselves for hours as he debated whether or not to kill her, according to his confession. He eventually decided to take her life, as life would have become torture for him otherwise.

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