Russia Sentences ‘Volga Maniac’ Serial Killer to Life in Prison

The Supreme Court of Russia’s republic of Tatarstan on Thursday sentenced infamous serial killer Radik Tagirov, widely known as the “Volga Maniac,” to life in prison.  

Tagirov, a native of Tatarstan’s capital Kazan, was found guilty of murdering 31 elderly women and committing assault against another 33 between March 2011 and October 2012, according to Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes. 

Investigators claim that all the murders committed by Tagirov followed a similar pattern whereby he would identify a potential victim, a single elderly woman, and then gain access to her home by posing as a maintenance worker.

Tagirov beat and strangled his victims to death before taking all their valuables from their homes.

The “Volga Maniac” committed the crimes across 15 Russian cities, including Kazan, Ufa, Nizhny Novgorod and Moscow, according to investigators. 

Authorities said they had investigated more than 10,000 potential suspects and conducted over 5,000 expert studies before identifying and arresting Tagirov in 2020. 

Tagirov denied all charges against him in court despite pleading guilty during the investigation.

His lawyer Marat Ashirov vowed to appeal the court’s ruling on Thursday, according to the state-run news agency TASS.