Viktor Bolkhovsky

Viktor Nikolayevich Bolkhovsky (Виктор Николаевич Болховский; born 1959), known as The Necromancer Maniac (Маньяк-некромант), is a Russian serial killer and rapist.

Viktor Bolkhovsky was born in 1959 in Kemerovo Oblast, the third child in what was described as an average family with parents who took great care of their children.

Despite this, Bolkhovsky suffered from several traumatic events beginning in 1961, when the 2-year-old fell from a height of 3 meters, receiving a head injury and a concussion.

Due to complications brought on from this injury, he began to exhibit concerning behavior.

Relatives and acquaintances characterized Bolkhovsky as a withdrawn, introverted and impulsive child, and as a teenager, he developed a quick temper and was frequently aggressive towards others.

Bolkhovsky himself would later say that he attempted various methods to reduce his stress, but most often would go to the vegetable garden and dig a specific bed to calm himself down.

Despite his issues, Bolkhovsky did well at school and was well-regarded as a student.

After finishing the 8th grade, he enrolled at a vocational school in Beryozovsky.

At around this time, his parents divorced, leading to his mental state deteriorating further.

Bolkhovsky lost interest in studying and eventually had to drop out due to his failing grades.

In 1965, he left home and moved to the village of Sosnovye Rodniki, where his father and aunt lived after the divorce.

While living there, he got a job at a woodworking factory and a met a girl named Svetlana, who was a few years older than him.

A few months later, she became pregnant with his child, after which the 17-year-old Viktor married her.

In 1977, the couple had a daughter.

In the fall of that same year, Bolkhovsky was drafted into the Soviet Army, but was discharged for unknown reasons and ordered to return home after undergoing a medical examination.

In late 1977, Bolkhovsky was prosecuted for the first time after breaking a window of his neighbors' house, who had come to his wife's aid after hearing that Viktor was beating her.

He was found guilty and convicted, receiving 6 months of correctional labor as punishment.

After serving out the sentence in full, he returned to his wife and daughter, but due to his new criminal record, he had trouble finding a job.

Because of this, he soon began to excessively drink alcohol.

After serving a murder conviction for killing his wife in 1980, he sought out young women through lonely hearts ads, killing three women in Kemerovo and Zabaykalsky from 1998 to 1999.

He would later be convicted of these crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment.

In 1980, during a quarrel with his wife, Bolkhovsky beat and strangled her to death.

According to his own confession, while strangling Svetlana, he experienced an orgasm at the sight of his wife dying in his arms, after which he realized that he suffered from perverted sadistic tendencies.

He fled the area after committing the murder, but turned himself to the authorities eight days later and confessed to being the killer.

He was charged with non-aggravated murder, convicted, and sentenced to 9 years and 6 months imprisonment.

After serving 7 years of his sentence, Bolkhovsky was paroled and moved to Oktyabrsky, Irkutsk Oblast, where he found housing and a job at a repair and mechanical plant.

Mere months into his release, however, he would commit another crime.

In early 1988, Bolkhovsky got very drunk after the end of a working day, after which he broke a window frame and entered the apartment of a woman he did not know, who at the time was with her 6-year-old child.

Once inside, he fully undressed and attempted to assault the woman, but her screams attracted the attention of a male neighbor, who arrived to help and pushed the naked assailant onto the street.

Half an hour later, Bolkhovsky repeated the act on a different woman, but was again prevented from raping her by her brother, who also pushed him out on the street.

An hour after that, Bolkhovsky returned to his workplace and started wreacking things in the plant's utility room, as well as fighting with the manager and other employees.

When the police arrived to arrest him, he violently resisted, forcing the officers to tie him up and put him bound in the police car.

At the subsequent trial, Bolkhovsky hurled insults against the court, the victims, the prosecutors and investigators alike, claiming that he was drunk and could not remember anything.

In the end, it was ruled that the attempted rapes could not be proven with absolute certainty, due to which he was only convicted of hooliganism and sentenced to 6 years and 2 months imprisonment in a strict regime colony with compulsory treatment for his alcoholism.

While in prison, Bolkhovsky somehow managed to find the address of the investigator in his criminal case - upon doing so, he started sending threatening letters to her, saying that he would harm both her and her children.

In 1992, he was convicted of threatening a state official and was given an additional six months imprisonment.

During his incarceration, he got interested in the lonely hearts ads and corresponded with two women - one was a divorcee with children who suffered from a disability, and the other was a childless, but physically healthy woman.

When he was released in late 1994, Bolkhovsky went to the latter woman, initially working at a factory, but soon quit over a dispute about his wage.

He attempted to persuade his cohabitant to go into business, but she did not support his idea, after which Bolkhovsky stole her money and attempted to leave the city, but was arrested by police after the woman discovered that the money was missing.

At this trial, Bolkhovsky convinced the court that he intended to go into business and would eventually return the money, but he was nonetheless found guilty of theft and sentenced to 3 years imprisonment.