Viktor Mokhov

Mokhov Victor Vasilievich (Russian: Мохов Виктор Васильевич)(born 22 June 1950 in Skopin, Ryazan Oblast) is a Russian criminal who in 2000 kidnapped 2 girls, 14 and 17 years old, and kept them in a basement for almost 4 years.

Mokhov lived in the Russian city of Skopin about 90 km from Ryazan. He was employed as a metalworker in the Skopin automobile assembly plant. He is described as having been a good worker, always ready to help. His foreman often held him up as an exemplary worker. Towards the end of the 1970s he was married, but divorced after only 3 months. At the time of the kidnapping he was living with his mother, and had no children.

At his house Mokhov built a garage with a bunker. The site ryazan.ru describes the structure thus:

The entrance to the bunker was carefully hidden from curious snoopers - it couldn't be accessed through the garage door; you had to go around to the side and using a screwdriver pry back a metal sheet held down by magnets. Then at ground level there was a concrete landing with a hatch. A stairway down a narrow passage led to the next landing and a concrete wall with two side hatches. One of these, made of iron with a padlock and two latches, served as the entrance to the sex chamber.

Mokhov's first known abduction occurred in December 1999, when a sixteen-year-old girl and her boyfriend visited him. He gave them alcohol, and then began to make advances towards the girl. She rejected his advances and left. He then followed her out into the street, hit her in the head, and dragged her back to his bunker. Over the course of 2 weeks he kept her in the bunker and raped her, until she managed to escape. However, she did not report the incident.

On September 30, 2000, fourteen-year-old schoolgirl Katya Martynova and Lena Samokhina, a seventeen-year-old student at a Ryazan professional-technical institute, were returning from a disco in Ryazan. Mokhov offered to give them a ride. With him was his friend (and accomplice), 25-year-old Yelena Badukina, who introduced herself as "Lyosha." (Badukina had short hair and looked somewhat like a man.) Offering them drinks, into which he had mixed a sedative, he brought them back to his place and, possibly with the help of Badukina, dragged one of them into the garage and the other one into the bunker. There he kept the girls for 44 months, raping them. When the girls were uncooperative, he would starve them, keep them in the dark, beat them with a rubber hose, or spray tear gas in the room. When the girls would comply and have sex with him, he would treat them better. In particular, he bought them a television set, tape recorder, paints, and some books.

On November 6, 2001, and again on June 6, 2003, Lena gave birth. In both cases Katya had to deliver the babies. Viktor took the children (both male) away from Lena (the first 2 months after birth; the second 4 months after birth) and left them at the entrances of multi-story apartment buildings. Both children are now in an orphanage.

Beginning in 2003 Viktor started taking the girls out for walks, one at a time. Once he ordered Katya to help him seduce a female student, to whom he presented Katya as a relative. Katya was able to give the girl an audio-cassette tape, ostensibly as a gift, and ask her to give it to the police. Inside was a note reading "Victor's not my uncle. He keeps us in the basement from September 2000 onwards. He can kill us and you. Take this note to the police." The girl gave the note to the police, and the police after some time located the missing girls and arrested Mokhov. Later Badukina was also arrested.

The girls spent a total of 3 years and 8 months in captivity. At the time of their liberation, Lena was 8 months pregnant. The child would later be stillborn.

Mokhov was sentenced by the Skopin municipal court to 17 years imprisonment in a penal colony according to Sect. 2 Art. 126 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Kidnapping of two or more persons") and Sect. 2 Art. 131 ("Rape of a minor"). His accomplice Yelena Badukina got 15 years. Mokhov appealed to the Ryazan regional court, but the regional court let the sentence stand without change.

The mother of the convict, 80-year-old Alisa Mokhova, denies that she knew anything about what happened. No charges have been filed against her.