Siberian ‘werewolf’ serial killer confesses to more murders - 81 total victims

A former policeman-turned-serial killer from the East Siberian city of Angarsk, Mikhail Popkov, has confessed to killing at least 59 more women, two years after he was given a life sentence for 22 murders

Popkov has for now been charged with 47 of the new murders he has confessed to

The total number of his victims may now go to as high as 81

The killer used axes, knives, awls, screwdrivers and slipknots as murder weapons. The victims were first knocked out and then typically raped and disfigured. One of the women had her heart carved out.

Popkov was detained in June 2012 in Vladivostok

Source
A former police officer in Russia was arrested in 2012, confessing to 22 murders. He has now apparently confessed to 59 more. It's really creepy to think that there are people out there who get away with doing things like this. There is a crazy amount of missing people all over the world - I even personally know of a girl who disappeared, never to be seen again.
In any case, perhaps the Black Dolphin will be getting a new tenant.

Werewolf?

Shame Russia doesn't have the death penalty.

originally posted by: IgnoranceIsntBlisss
Werewolf?

Yeah, werewolf?

originally posted by: Ohanka
Shame Russia doesn't have the death penalty.

Death is not enough punishment for that guy.

a reply to: Jefferton

Serial killers get names. Sometimes those names make perfect sense, and sometimes they are nonsensical. It is probable that specific details of the case would shed some light on the matter of the nickname that has been applied here. Perhaps one of the investigating officers opined, after interviewing the killer, that the man had eyes like a wolf, or perhaps the ferocity of the murders he committed had an animalistic quality to them, leading the press to ascribe some supernatural moniker to the man.

It makes for better headlines when one is reading of werewolves rather than just dangerously unhinged individuals with a thirst for blood. Its also worth pointing out that psychologically, it is easier for some people to digest information about a murderer of his sort, when the reportage applies some value to the man which puts him clearly apart from humanity. The further removed from the human race the reportage can place a serial killer textually, the easier it is for a person to read of. There is something fundamentally terrifying to some people, about the idea that serial killers are simply human beings with wiring which is broken in specific and fundamental ways, that they do not appear to be anything other than regular people, until they reveal themselves, that monsters do not always look like monsters.

a reply to: TrueBrit

Fred West most likely killed a hell of a lot more girl's than he was finally sentenced for, the police merely closed the case as finding all the body's would have cost far too much of there budget and he it is believed had been killing since was young, oddly his torture chamber had a large space near the foot of the bed ideal for a cine camera and of course shortly after he was arrested an adult cinema in Soho London burned down with several men inside, non of them got out so it is potential to speculate a link to the like's of the Saville ring etc and there death's being a form of damage control.

This guy differs in Russia in that he was a lone wolf killer or so it would seem, he abused and butchered countless defenseless woman over an unknown period but most likely his entire career and perhaps even before he became a police officer, Russia after the cold war was a country in turmoil and so people probably vanished all the time, they still do and there are the like's of cannibal killer's from time to time that come to light in Russia as well as large forests and even perhaps as in the far east of the Russian federation bride kidnapping's, sex slave trade with the muslim country's and even a whole network that may still be in place selling kidnapped girl's to the slave markets (And they do exist - criminal underworld style as well as in the Islamic republic's of the former soviet union) of Turkey and Arabia were young pretty blond slavic girl's fetch a high price.

This man was simply a depraved evil scum though, sadly I doubt he is the only one of his type operating there and there are probably many more just like him and perhaps worse.


They guesstimated that there were probably 3 to 5 fred west type characters in the UK at any given time so it is happening here as well in the supposedly first world and only god know's how many there are in the state's.

But God Bless the people that catch them and stop them.

a reply to: IgnoranceIsntBlisss

One of the detectives hunting him gave him that particular sobriquet. He is more well known as the Wednesday Killer, as that is the day of the week most of his victims were found.

Personally I'm not really surprised by this revelation. He was caught in 2012 but the last killing he was tied to was in 2000. Originally he admitted to 24 murders and was tied to 29. He claimed that he stopped after he became impotent and contracted syphilis.

It's hard to say how true this newest confession actually is. Personally, I think he's more likely pulling a Henry Lee Lucas. He's confessing to murders he never committed in hopes of getting better treatment in prison.

a reply to: trollz

A former policeman-turned-serial killer from the East Siberian city of Angarsk, Mikhail Popkov, has confessed to killing at least 59 more women, two years after he was given a life sentence for 22 murders

Ok so where are the bodies?

Just because he confessed to killing twice as many people as he was originally convicted of doesn't mean that it's true.

He's just looking for attention and he knows the media will respond and immortalize him for breaking some stupid murder record.

originally posted by: Ohanka
Shame Russia doesn't have the death penalty.

He'll likely spend a lifetime in a Hanibal Lector type box. They have very secure prisons there.

Actually, he's not nicknamed 'Werewolf' in Russia.
"Werewolf with shoulder straps" (commonly, just "Werewolf") is a russian idiom which has popped out around 90s. It's a name for rogue or corrupt police officers.

a reply to: recore

This is why I love this site. Thanks for that little nugget of knowledge!

~meathead