
He's confessed to murdering 48. Now Russia's chessboard killer will admit to 11 more
Alexander Pichushkin is one of the world's most notorious serial killers.
The Russian was jailed for life in 2007 for killing 48 people.
But now he has said he is ready to confess to 11 more murders, Russia 's penal service said on Saturday.
Pichushkin, now 50 years old, targeted his victims, often homeless people, alcoholics and the elderly, around Bitsevsky Park, a large green place in southern Moscow.
His killings lasted from 1992 to 2006.
He was nicknamed "the chessboard killer" by the Russian media.
This was because he told detectives in a confession that he had hoped to put a coin on every square of a 64-square chessboard for each of his victims.
Pichushkin has been held at the Polar Owl prison, in Russia's remote Arctic north, since being sentenced.
In a statement published on the Telegram messenger app on Saturday, Russia's penal service said that Pichushkin had told investigators he was ready to confess to 11 more murders of men and women.
Pichushkin has long been suspected of additional murders to those for which he was convicted.
He claimed during his trial to have killed 63 people, but prosecutors only charged him with 48 murders and three attempted murders.
If convicted of the additional murders, it would make Pichushkin Russia's second most prolific serial killer on record, behind Mikhail Popkov, a former policeman convicted of 78 murders.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Reuters
44 minutes ago
- Reuters
Ukraine's drone attacks temporarily halt flights in Moscow, across Russia
June 10 (Reuters) - Ukraine's overnight drone strikes have forced a temporary suspension of flights in all airports serving Moscow and the country's second-largest city St. Petersburg, but caused no damage, Russian officials reported on Tuesday. Russian air defence units destroyed a total of 102 Ukrainian drones overnight, the Russian defence ministry - which reports only how many were downed, not the number Ukraine launched - said on the Telegram messaging app. Nearly half of the drones were destroyed over the Bryansk region that borders Ukraine, the ministry said. Three drones were downed over the Moscow region and two over the Leningrad region, of which St. Petersburg is the regional capital. Russia's civil aviation authority Rosaviatsia temporarily halted flights at all four major airports serving Moscow and St. Petersburg's Pulkovo Airport, as well as at airports in nine other cities to ensure safety, it said on Telegram. Flights in Moscow and some other cities were restored by Tuesday morning, but restrictions were still in place in St. Petersburg at 0430 GMT. Regional governors, who wrote about the attacks on Telegram, did not report any damage caused by the attacks.


Scottish Sun
8 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Russia using horror AI kamikaze drone that ‘chooses its own target' as Ukraine now faces blitz of over ‘500 every night'
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) VLADIMIR Putin has begun deploying kamikaze drones that select their own targets using AI in a fresh assault on Ukraine. The country now faces over 500 attacks every night, just days after Kharkiv was rocked overnight by a downpour of missiles. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 5 Fire and smoke rise in Ukraine following a Russian drone and missile strike Credit: Reuters 5 Kyiv is seen engulfed in flames following a Russian drone attack Credit: Reuters 5 Reports said the UAV-V2U is being used to close in on the northeastern city of Sumy, while Putin ramps up drone production and builds new launch sites. Some 70 units a day are now being made compared to just 21 last year, according to Ukraine's military intelligence. This is largely thanks to help from China, the agency has said, as the UAV is "mostly assembled from Chinese-manufactured components." Beijing has repeatedly denied supplying drones or weapon components to Russia, whilst Trump and Biden have both hit China with sanctions to stop it getting access to computer chips. Marking a new escalation in the war, the drones use camera images to navigate and AI to independently locate targets. The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine said: "The key feature of the drone is its ability to autonomously search for and select targets using artificial intelligence. "Its computing system is based on the Chinese Leetop A203 minicomputer, with a high-speed processor assembly built on the NVIDIA Jetson Orin module." This comes just hours after drones and missiles were launched at Kyiv as Russian Tu-22M3 strategic bombers were reportedly unleashed to rain hell on the infamous Snake Island in the Black Sea. Moscow launched a massive strike on Rivne using its Tu-22M3 and Tu-95MS strategic bombers to hit Dubny airbase. Squadrons of these fighter jets were targeted and destroyed last week in Kyiv's daring Operation Spiderweb. Russia bombs Kyiv killing 4 in blitz as Putin plots revenge for Op Spiderweb Another key Ukrainian military airport - Hostomel - was also attacked as Putin sought revenge for the humiliating attack. Polish armed forces command said Nato fighter jets were patrolling due to 'intensive air attack by the Russian Federation on Ukrainian territory'. Just days ago, Kharkiv was rocked overnight as 48 kamikaze drones, along with missiles and guided bombs, slammed into residential areas, according to the city's mayor. 'We have a lot of damage,' Ihor Terekhov said. More than 50 explosions rocked Kharkiv, with the mayor adding it was 'the most powerful attack' on the city of the 39-month war. In the latest terror strikes on civilians, 18 multi-story buildings and 13 private houses were hit and damaged. In Kyiv, a dramatic tower block video filmed by a resident showed the terror of another Putin strike on civilians as flames from the exploding drone shot some 80ft up the building. Three were killed and at least 21 wounded, including a six-weeks-old baby, and a 14-year-old girl. A woman, 26, trapped under a slab of concrete was eventually freed three hours after the strike, and was seen being stretchered to an ambulance. Ukraine's foreign minister Andrii Sybiha described how hundreds of drones and missiles "rained down" on his country overnight. He wrote in a social media post: "Kharkiv had a particularly terrible night. "People were injured and killed, and the energy infrastructure was also damaged." Sybiha added there were further strikes in the Donetsk, Dnipro, Ternopil and Odesa regions. 5 The Kursk region after being struck by a Russian drone attack Credit: Reuters


Daily Mirror
14 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Man mauled by bear recalls moment he heard his bones crunching in animal's jaws
Artyom Kodenkov, 31, cheated death after a brown bear attacked him in the Primorsky region of Russia - he is now recovering in hospital after being left with severe injuries all over his body A Russian man who survived a brown bear attack has described the terrifying moment he heard his bones crunch in the animal 's jaws. Artyom Kodenkov, 31, revealed from hospital how he cheated death in the country's Primorsky region. With his head bandaged from wounds inflicted by the predator, the survivor told a local TV station how he ran across a bear protecting two cubs. "I was climbing a hill," he said. I heard it growling, and half a second later it was in front of me on its hind legs, as tall as me. We started to fight, rolled down the hill, flew about 10 metres [33ft], and it immediately bit me on the head. "I heard my bones crunching in its jaws." He added: "I defended myself desperately." Artyom said he thought about his wife and daughters during the encounter - and while he knew the odds were stacked against him surviving alive, he didn't give up fighting. "I thought about my children, I thought that I had to live," said Artyom. "I didn't give in to him, he wanted to rip my stomach apart. I didn't let him. With my hands and feet, I fought him off. I even unclenched his fangs with my fingers…" At some point, he said blood was gushing from him and he thought this was the end, as he no longer had power to fight back against the beast. "[In the end] I just gave up, and that's it," he said. "I thought, let him tear me, do what he wants. I had no strength to fight." Eventually, this saved him as the bear thought Artyom was dead, and just wandered off, he explained. "The bear walked away," he said. Exhausted with blood pouring from him, but unable to move, he called for help while fearing no-one would hear, or the bear might return. He said: "I was shouting 'Help!' There were some blokes in the forest. They came to my aid, dragged me to the road, and got me to the nearest village. I wasn't thinking about anything really, just about my children - that I had to stay alive." Artyom was rushed from Lenino village to Chuguyevka hospital with lacerations on his face, head, neck, legs, and thighs and broken facial bones. Later he was moved to Regional Clinical Hospital No. 2 in Vladivostok city for specialist treatment. Maxillofacial surgeons restored his face using titanium plates. Face surgeon Aleksei Romanchuk said: "We also carried out additional surgical treatment, applying all the principles of plastic and reconstructive surgery as far as possible in the case of bite wounds. I believe the patient is going to be just fine." The victim will remain in hospital for several weeks before being reunited with his family. Last year, a raging brown bear mauled a father and son to death after breaking into their home in the Primorsky region just hours after it killed 35 dogs in a shelter. Hunting inspectors were immediately ordered to track down and kill the bear after it was feared it could strike again - and hours later, they found and shot the predator. Police had cordoned off the village and stood guard to protect terrified locals. A night curfew was also imposed.