Nikolai Dudin

Nikolai Arkadievich Dudin (born December 22, 1973 in Mikhalkovo, Ivanovo Oblast), known as the "Grim Maniac", is a Soviet-Russian serial killer who killed 13 people in the town of Furmanov between 1987 and 2002.

Nikolai Dudin was born on December 22, 1973 in the village of Mikhalkovo, Ivanovo Oblast. Dudin suffered greatly because of his father's beatings in his childhood, as well as specific skills that his father instilled in him, such as teaching him hunting at a young age and even cutting up the warm carcasses of dead animals. In the end, all of this led to Nikolai shooting his father with a sawed-off shotgun on December 3, 1987. Arkady Dudin's body was well hidden, but after a year Nikolai was arrested for rape, and confessed to his father's murder. The court considered that at the time of the murder, Nikolai was still under 14 years of age, and did not execute him, instead imprisoning him for 7 years. Subsequently, he was repeatedly penalized for defiance of the administration, trying to organize a riot and escape, attempting to kill a prisoner from a neighboring cell, as a result of which he was again convicted and released in 2000, 12 years after the conviction.

The next murder Dudin committed was on February 15, 2002. His victim was an employee of the Furmanov telecommunications company. In a state of intoxication, he struck her with a hard blunt object on the head, breaking the base of the skull, as a result of which the victim died. Dudin subsequently claimed that he had wanted to rob her. On the same day, he committed a double murder, this time the victims being two employees of a local sewing shop. As it later turned out, the drunk Dudin had decided to get acquainted with the girls, but they rejected his advances, prompting him to stab them with a knife, causing a total of 28 wounds on the first woman, and 32 on the second.

The killer committed the following murders during the May holidays: on the night between May 1st and 2nd, 2002, a resident of the city disappeared without a trace, her body being discovered only after Dudin was arrested. On May 8, he committed a triple murder. In a state of intoxication, he leaned on the face of a house on Kremlyovskaya Street, bringing it down. The owner of the house, Andrei Polozov, was present, and Dudin pulled out his sawn-off and opened fire. Then he shot the wife and killed their 11-year-old daughter with a knife. On May 10, Dudin committed another triple murder under similar circumstances. The situation in the city was heated, and panic ensued, as Dudin committed a double murder shortly after.

On July 17, 2002, the killer was captured red-handed with a new murder attempt. On August 6, 2002, he wrote a confession, explaining his motive was that he killed people who humiliated his dignity. In December 2003, Dudin was sentenced to life imprisonment in a special regime colony by the Ivanono District Court. The Supreme Court of Russia then upheld the verdict without change. He is currently serving his sentence in the White Swan prison.