Anatoly Onoprienko
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Template:References Anatoly Onoprienko (Template:Lang-uk, born 1959) is a Ukrainian serial killer. He is also known by the nicknames "The Terminator" and "Citizen O." When police arrested the 37-year-old former forestry student on April 16, 1996, they finally ended Ukraine's worst killing spree.
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Crimes
Onoprienko, a native of Zhytomyr, was carrying a hunting rifle that matched the murder weapon in several of the killings and had jewellery and video equipment which may have belonged to some of his victims. While in custody he immediately confessed to eight killings between 1989 to 1995. At first he denied other charges, but soon admitted to being the murderer of 52 victims in a six-year killing spree. While in custody he claimed that his killing spree was commanded by "inner voices" he kept hearing.
Methods
The killings followed a set pattern. "The Terminator" chose an isolated house, shot everyone inside, including children, and torched the place. He would also kill any witness unlucky enough to cross his path during his murderous rampages. The first to die were a family of four in Bratkovichi. Another family of five and two witnesses were killed not long after in the same village. When police imposed a security cordon around Bratkovichi, "The Terminator" moved to other villages to continue killing.
Investigation
A manhunt was launched across Ukraine in March, 1996, after eight families were brutally murdered in their homes. Most of the victims were in remote villages in the Lviv region near the border with Poland. There were so many killings in one village that army troops were sent to patrol the streets. During this invesitigation, an innocent man was arrested and tortured to death for Onoprieko's crimes.
Capture and conviction
In March 1996, the USS and Public Prosecutor's Office specialists detained 26-year-old Yury Mozola as a suspect of several brutal murders. Seventeen days later, the real murderer, Anatoly Onopriyenko, was found after a massive manhunt, seven years after his first murder. Over the course of three days, six USS members and one representative of Public Prosecutor's Office tortured the arrested citizen. Mozola refused to confess to the crimes and died during the torture.
Onopriyenko murdered 52 victims in just 6 months in 1995-1996. He was sentenced to death on March 31, 1999, but because of Ukraine's intention to join the European Union, the death sentence was commuted to life in prison.