World’s worst cannibal serial killer ‘The Red Ripper’ who murdered 53 victims, ate their flesh, & had sex with corpses
THE CHILLING story of one of the world's worst cannibal killers who had sex with his victims' corpses and devoured their flesh of his is enough to send shivers down the spine of any true crime fan.
Dubbed 'The Red Ripper', the Soviet cannibal killer Andrei Chikatilo, went on a shocking murder spree that lasted 12 years - killing at least 53 women and children.
Born in 1936 in the Ukrainian SSR, the married man with two children, raped & slaughtered his victims in a terrifying bid to carry out his sick sexual fantasies.
After committing his first murder in 1978, a nine-year-old girl he raped, stabbed and strangled, Chikatilo's killings became more and more violent.
After the "thrill" of killing his first victim, the "maniac" killer mutilated his second victim with his teeth tearing off and eating her nipple and gouged out the eyes of another.
Carrying around his own "serial killer kit" hidden inside a briefcase, he would carve out his victim's genitals, sometimes the nose and tongue, and eat them.
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Chikatilo forced himself on his innocent victims, associating violence with sexual gratification, eventually attempting to have sex with corpses.
In a chilling confession, the serial killer revealed how he became sexually aroused after stabbing his schoolgirl victim.
He would escape justice on several occasions, being arrested and released due to a lack of DNA evidence and a false alibi provided by his wife, Feodosia Odnacheva.
His horrifying crimes would finally come to light in November 1990, when he was spotted by plain-clothed officers trying to talk to young boys on the street.
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The officers made a terrifying discovery while opening his briefcase - a knife, a length of rope, and a tub of vaseline.
CANNIBAL KILLER
Andrei Chikatilo was born in 1936 in the village of Yablunchne, Ukraine, then part of the Soviet Union.
Born to poor parents during a devastating famine, the starving family was forced to eat grass and leaves to survive.
Andrei was also told by his mother that prior to his birth, his older brother had been kidnapped and "eaten" by starving neighbours.
Although it was never established if this was true, it would be the first time that Chikatilo would become familiar with the idea of cannibalism.
He grew up constantly hungry while witnessing the horrors of war when Nazi Germany invaded Ukraine during WWII.
It's thought that he may have been present when his own mother was raped at the hands of German troops.
Chikatilo would also feel the public shame of his father after he was branded a traitor for being captured by Nazi troops when he was injured fighting for the Russian army.
At the time, those who were held as POWs were shunned when returning home for "allowing themselves to be imprisoned".
The evil killer grew into an ardent communist, before discovering he was suffering from impotence in his early teens.
He struggled to talk to girls during his time at school and blamed his failure to get into Moscow State University on his dad's tainted war record.
While taking part in national service in 1960, he was thought to have forced himself onto a young girl, who attempted to fight him off, and first discovered that he was excited by the violent act.
After a failed relationship due to his impotence, he went on to marry Feodosia Odnacheva after they were introduced by his sister.
In a 1993 interview, the killer revealed: "Girls were going behind my back, whispering that I was impotent.
"I was so ashamed. I tried to hang myself. My mother and some young neighbours pulled me out of the noose.
"Well, I thought no one would want such a shamed man. So I had to run away from there, away from my homeland."
Despite the couple struggling with intimacy, wife Feodosia gave birth to a baby daughter and four years later a son, who would follow in his father's footsteps and live a life of crime.
He went on to become a teacher, mocked and ridiculed by pupils when he failed to keep control of his rowdy class and was forced to resign after he sexually assaulted female and male students.
TASTE FOR BLOOD
All this led to the murderer approaching his first victim, nine-year-old school girl Lena Zakontnova.
He lured the girl into an old home he had recently purchased and attempted to rape her.
When she struggled, he choked her before ejaculating as he stabbed her three times in the stomach - her body was later dumped in a nearby river.
Chikatilo was arrested but was later released when his wife provided an alibi to cover his crime - despite all evidence linking him to the crime.
Labourer Aleksandr Kravchenko was found guilty of the shocking murder and was sentenced to death in 1983.
The evil killer was able to continue his deadly crime spree after he described the 'thrill' of his first kill.
In 1981 Chikatilo murdered his second victim, Larisa Tkachenko, and in the following year, he slaughtered thirteen-year-old Lyuba Biryuk.
He mutilated Larisa's body with his teeth and bit off one of her nipples after beating her to death.
Lyuba was stabbed 22 times before her eyes were gouged out and 10-year-old Olga Stalmatsjenok was disemboweled at the hands of her killer.
Chikatilo's killings became more frequent and increasingly more violent.
He would target vulnerable or homeless young women and children, stalking bus and train stations - often luring them into nearby woods.
By 1983, the cannibal had killed at least 20 and managed to escape justice when cops failed to link him to the crime scene with DNA evidence - despite having his name on file.
By 1984 he was arrested and placed under house arrest in September of that year after killing at least 30 people.
Moscow's finest detectives were assembled to identify the 'sex-crazed' killer and cops began patrolling trains and bus stations.
In September of 1984, he was arrested when two undercover officers arrested the father-of-two talking to a young woman at a bus stop in his hometown of Rostov.
Police learned of his twisted sexual preferences for children and were shocked by the chilling contents of his briefcase - a knife, rope and vaseline.
But cops failed to link him to any murders after a DNA blunder and he served just three months for minor offenses.
He went on to kill another 20 people - although the true number of his victims is unknown it is thought it eventually killed at least 56 victims.
Often the bodies were found with the sexual organ removed, which he is thought to have eaten after they were mutilated by the sick maniac.
He would eventually be snared in 1990 when he was caught again by undercover cops as he approached young boys on the street holding his 'serial killer' briefcase.
He was arrested on November 20 and remained silent for just over a week before confessing the terrifying murders.
The killer burst into tears initially admitting to 36 murders where he would mount the dead body to achieve orgasm - he later confessed to a further 20 killings.
Sick Chikatilo faced trial in April 1992 and was charged with 53 counts of murder, five charges of sexual assault against minors - the first major media event after the fall of the Soviet Union.
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He appeared in an iron cage and was found guilty of 52 counts of murder and was sentenced to death.
In 1994 he was executed by a firing squad that shot a single bullet behind his right ear.
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