Irina Viktorovna Gaidamachuk (Russian: Ирина Викторовна
Гайдамачук) (born 1972) is a Russian serial killer who killed 17 elderly women
between 2002 and 2010.
A Serial killer, who was addicted to alcohol – She posed as
a social worker to gain entry to the flats of her victims to steal money for
vodka. All her victims were other women
aged between 61 and 89, beaten to death with an axe or hammer, in and around
the City of Krasnoufimsk, Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia. She has been sentenced to
20 years in prison on June 12, 2012, and will be eligible for release in 2015
(with Good Behaviour) and finally when her sentence has been completed in 2030.
Biography
Gaidamachuk was born in the town of Nyagan. At a young age,
she became addicted to alcohol. Subsequently, her parents were deprived of
parental authority. She moved to Krasnoufimsk in the early 1990s, where she met
a man with whom she later had two children. Her husband Yuri reportedly refused
to provide Gaidamachuk with money for fear that she would spend the money on
alcohol.
The Murders
The majority of Gaidamachuk's crimes were committed in Krasnoufimsk.
Similar crimes had been committed in Yekaterinburg, Serov, Achit and
Druzhinino. Another woman, Marina Valeeva, was initially suspected for the
crimes and after pressure from authorities, Valeeva initially confessed to the
murders of Gaidamachuk's elderly victims.
At the Court
Gaidamachuk was charged with 17 counts of murders and 1
attempted murder.
Forensic psychiatric examination conducted in GNTSSSP
Serbsky showed that Gaidamachuk, although she showed some variation in the
mind, was legally sane. In February
2012, the court case began. Gaidamachuk gave a confession to the indictment
during the preliminary investigation; but, contested this throughout her
trial. On June 12, 2012, Gaidamachuk was
sentenced to 20 years in prison.
Further: Russian
serial killer Irina Gaidamachuk jailed
A court in the Russian city of Yekaterinburg has sent serial
killer Irina Gaidamachuk to prison for twenty years. Gaidamachuk, 40, killed
seventeen elderly women so she could rob them.
Gaidamachuk attacked her victims in the Urals region
pretending she was a social worker so they let her into their flats. Once
inside, she attacked the women with an axe or hammer. The first murder was in
2003 and Gaidamachuk was not detained until June 2010. She confessed. The investigation was troubled by the gender
of the perpetrator; the possibility of a female killer was not considered until
a woman survived. After the lone survivor's account, police still considered it
possible the killer was a man dressed as a woman. Innocent woman Irina Valeyeva
was arrested and confessed. More than 3,000 people were questioned before
Gaidamachuk was caught. She changed tactic for her final victim, Alexandra
Povaritsyna, 81, opting to pose as a decorator. Police followed up descriptions
from neighbours of the bogus tradeswoman. The youngest victim was 61 and the
oldest 89. Gaidamachuk was deemed sane.
She said her motive was obtaining money for vodka. She must pay expenses for
her prosecution. "I lived with her
for 14 years but never suspected anything" said Gaidamachuk's husband,
Yury. Yury has since begun a new relationship. Irina has two children. Russia's
worst woman serial killer dubbed 'The
Satan in a Skirt' after murdering 17 pensioners in eight year reign of
terror. Alcoholic killer Irina
Gaidamachuk claimed she carried out her horrific crimes to steal money for
vodka. Victims had their skulls smashed
in with a hammer or axe by Gaidamachuk who pretended to be a social worker. Police initially believed only a male killer
could be so cruel, but investigation turned on account of sole survivor
In depth biography
Mother of two Irina Gaidamachuk dubbed 'Satan in a Skirt',
posed as a social worker to gain entry to the flats of her victims. After securing their trust, the 41-year-old
killed them by smashing their skulls with a hammer or an axe. Then she robbed her victims, who were between
61- and 89-years-old, for the small amounts of cash in their purses. In all her
murders, police say she only gathered a total of around £1,000 from her
victims. Sometimes she killed for as little as £20. She confessed to police: 'I
did it for money. I just wanted to be a normal mum, but I had a craving for
drink. 'My husband Yury wouldn't give me money for vodka.
'A court in Yekaterinburg, which is Russia's fourth biggest
city, heard evidence from psychiatrists that she was sane when she committed
her murders. Only one pensioner managed to escape, giving police the vital clue
that the granny killer was a woman. A police source said: 'We believed at first
that only a man could be so cruel as to slaughter in this way.'
In fact, during a bungled investigation, in which the town
of Krasnoufimsk was living in fear, officers also believed the killer could be
a man dressed as a woman. They also arrested the wrong woman, Irina Valeyeva,
then 29, extracting a confession from an entirely innocent person.
After questioning more than 3,000 people they finally
arrested the real killer in 2010. For her final victim instead of posing as a
social worker, she offered to redecorate 81-year-old Alexandra Povaritsyna's
flat. After she bludgeoned the pensioner to death, neighbours gave a
description of the painter and police arrested her. Gaidmachuk was known as an
ordinary mother, who helped out at her younger daughter Anastasia's school. One
friend said: 'I simply cannot believe Irina is a mass murderer. She was a kind
and gentle mother, always eager to help.' Her husband Yury, who has since moved
in with a new partner, said: 'I lived with her for 14 years but never suspected
anything.' But there was outrage among her relatives of her elderly victims
that the killer was only sentenced to 20-years in prison. One said: 'It's
little more than one year for each murder. She never deserves to be freed.' The judge said he exempted her for five years
of the maximum 25 years 'because she is a mother'. But her lawyer Suren
Sarkisyan demanded greater leniency, and has vowed to appeal the sentence.
***
According to: Dmitry
Antonenkov, edited by Karina Ayvazova - En.gazeta.ru
[http://www.en.gazeta.ru/]
“Serial killer case hearings start in Ekaterinburg”
Ekaterinburg city court has started hearings on the case of
40-year old Irina Gaydamachuk, who is accused of murdering 17 pensioners. In
June 2002, a series of horrifying murders started in the small town of
Krasnoufimsk which later spread to the rest of the Sverdlovsk region. The first
victim, an old woman from Krasnoufimsk, died after she got hit on the head by a
blunt object. Later pensioners from other towns were killed in a similar way.
Investigators found out that the murderer preferred to number their victims –
they wrote number of every victim on the walls of their house entrances. In
2005, investigators believed that the killer was a disguised man. One of the witnesses
told them the killer was a woman with blond hair. Investigators searched for
the criminal in various ways, including checking all the blond women in the
region. They even sought the help of psychics, but received no results.
Investigators found Irina Gaidamachuk after another murder in May 2010. She was
restoring a flat of one of the victims, but had no passport or official job.
After a long process of questioning the woman confessed. Gaidamachuk was tested
on psychological problems, but doctors found none.
She was sentrenced to 20 to 25 years in prison – 1.5 years
for each victim. This is maximum jail term for women in Russia.
***
‘Blonde with a hammer’ killed 17 pensioners over 8
years Rt.com
[http://www.rt.com/]
A female serial killer that brutally murdered 17 pensioners
in the Urals has been brought to trial by local police. For over eight years,
40-year-old single mother Irina Gaidamachuk was attacking old ladies in the
Sverdlovsk region. When questioned, the murderer said that she committed the
crimes because she did not want to work. As the investigation found out,
Gaidamachuk targeted lonely women aged 61-89. For several days, should would
watch her potential victims to find out when they left home, where they went,
and whether the pensioners were visited by any relatives.
Having gathered all the information, she knocked on the
victim’s door, saying she was a social worker. When the victims trustfully let
the neatly dressed woman in, the killer knocked them on the head with a hammer,
searched their flats and took away whatever money she found. In some cases, the
killer attempted to cover her traces by setting the flats on fire, leaving an
iron on or opening a gas tap. It was only for the vigilance of the victims’
neighbors that all the fires were kept under control. In 2010, after eight
years of brutal murders, a lucky coincidence helped capture the serial killer.
“At some point, Gaidamachuk decided she would never be caught, and started
searching for victims among the people she knew,” investigator Kirill Melenkov
told Komsomolskaya Pravda. “Her last victim hired her to make repairs. That’s
how we managed to find the killer. She also started leaving notes, ‘Be home at
11.00, a social worker will visit.’ A simple handwriting test helped identify
the murderer.” Investigation continued for five years, with police questioning
3,000 witnesses and 21 victims; the officers conducted more than 2,000 forensic
examinations. The criminal case against Gaidamachuk consists of 436 charges,
and psychiatric tests ruled that she is mentally competent.
***
'The Satan in a Skirt' confesses to 17 murders
By Andrew Osborn - Telegraph.co.uk [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/]
A Russian woman dubbed 'satan in a skirt' has confessed to
murdering seventeen female pensioners for cash in a brutal eight-year murder
spree
Irina Gaidamachuk, a 40-year-old mother of two, said she had
murdered the female OAPs in the Sverdlov region south-east of Moscow for money,
robbing them of sums as little as the equivalent of £20. "The detainee has
confessed to the murders," Alexander Shulga, a spokesman for the
investigators working on the case told the daily Rossiiskaya Gazeta newspaper.
"The proof of her guilt is that during an investigative experiment she
pointed out the exact addresses where the crimes took place and described the
situation including all the details. In addition, her fingerprints matched the
prints left at several murder scenes." Dubbed 'satan in a skirt' by local
media in her home town of Krasnoufimsk, her killing spree lasted from 2002
until 2010 and reportedly only came to an end after a suspicious neighbour
tipped off the police. In each case, she gained entry to her elderly victim's
flat using subterfuge before lashing out at their heads with a hammer or an
axe. She would then ransack their flats to make it look like a burglary,
sometimes even setting a fire, before making off with any cash. Her hauls
varied from the equivalent of just £20 to £330. Mrs Gaidamachuk, who is now
waiting to go on trial, apparently told police that she needed the money for
her basic living needs as she did not want to work. Her victims varied from the
age of 61 to 86 years old. Only one woman, an elderly pensioner called Bilbinur
Makshaeva, is said to have survived. She reportedly told police that her
would-be killer had posed as a social worker to gain access to her flat. A
psychological test showed that Miss Gaidamachuk was of sound mind.
- Would a sane person act like an animal? Think about it, female murderess who kill
other woman, can be as vicious (and some times, even more vicious) as their
male counterparts, if another human being acts like an animal, regardless of
the sex of that person, society should treat them like an animal. - Bird
