Russia’s most notorious serial killer, Mikhail Popkov, known as the “Angarsk Maniac” and “the Werewolf,” has confessed to two additional murders committed in 2008, further solidifying his grim reputation as the country’s deadliest murderer in modern history.

According to the Russian Investigative Committee, Popkov admitted to strangling two young women along the Moscow Highway in the Irkutsk region. The women, lured into his car in a familiar tactic, were killed during what he described as an argument. Investigators released footage of the 61-year-old, handcuffed and escorted at the crime scene, as he detailed the chilling sequence of events.

Born in 1964 in Norilsk and later based in Angarsk, Popkov worked as a policeman and later a security guard. Exploiting his law enforcement background, he operated undetected for nearly two decades between 1992 and 2010. Often posing as a taxi driver, he preyed on women aged 16 to 50, raping and killing them with weapons ranging from axes to screwdrivers, before dumping their bodies in remote locations.

While Popkov claimed he sought to “cleanse the streets of prostitutes,” many of his victims did not match this profile. Experts diagnosed him with homicidal mania—a compulsive drive to kill with sadistic tendencies.

Popkov’s arrest in 2012 marked a turning point after DNA evidence and tire tracks from a police-used Lada 4×4 linked him to multiple murders. His convictions followed across several trials: in 2015, he was found guilty of 22 murders and two attempted murders and sentenced to life in prison; in 2018, after confessing to 59 additional killings, he was convicted of 56 more murders and handed a second life sentence; and between 2020 and 2023, he admitted to further crimes, earning additional prison terms totaling nearly 20 years.

Now, his tally surpasses 80 confirmed murders, with police sources suggesting the true number could be closer to 200, as Popkov occasionally confesses to new crimes, possibly to improve prison conditions.

Currently serving his sentences in a high-security colony in Mordovia, Popkov was transported back to Irkutsk for the latest investigation. Despite his confessions, he remains married, with his wife and daughter long unaware of his double life as a family man and serial killer.

The case continues to provoke public anger, with renewed calls for Russia to reinstate the death penalty, abolished in 1996. Authorities also confirmed that Popkov’s request to be released in exchange for serving in the war in Ukraine was denied.

Popkov’s confirmed toll exceeds that of notorious killers Andrei Chikatilo (52 victims) and Alexander Pichushkin (48 victims), making him the most prolific murderer in Russia’s modern history.

As investigators pursue his latest confessions, many believe the true scope of his crimes remains undiscovered, leaving behind a dark legacy that continues to haunt the Irkutsk region. (ILKHA)