Andrei Chikatilo: The 90th anniversary of the ‘Rostov Butcher’s’ birth

Andrei Chikatilo, the notorious serial killer known as the ‘Rostov Butcher,’ was born 90 years ago on October 16, 1936, in the village of Yablachne, Sumy Oblast, in what was then the Ukrainian SSR.

Chikatilo, a former teacher and Communist Party member, committed a series of murders across the Soviet Union between December 1978 and November 1990. While he confessed to 55 killings, a court in Rostov-on-Don found him guilty of 52 murders, including 21 boys, 14 girls, and 17 young women.

The investigation was marred by significant errors. Chikatilo was detained in 1984 but released after a blood type mismatch between his profile and biological evidence; investigators later discovered discrepancies in how the testing was conducted. These failures allowed him to continue his crimes and led to the wrongful execution of another man for a murder later linked to Chikatilo.