Yuriy Kuzmenko

{{Short description|Ukrainian serial killer and rapist}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox serial killer | name = Yuriy Kuzmenko | image = | image_size = | caption = | alt = | birth_name = Yuriy Mykolaivych Kuzmenko | other_names = "The Boiarka Maniac" "The Vasylkiv Maniac" "Elvis" "Elvis the Strangler" "Shatun" | birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1974}} | birth_place = Velyka Vil'shanka, Kyiv Oblast, UkSSR | death_date = | death_place = | cause = | conviction = Murder x13 Rape x13 | sentence = Life imprisonment | victims = 13–206 | beginyear = 2005 | endyear = 2009 | country = Ukraine | states = Kyiv | apprehended = 29 May 2009 | imprisoned = Romenskoye Colony No. 56, Vyshneve, Kyiv Oblast }}

'''Yuriy Mykolaivych Kuzmenko''' ({{langx|ru|Юрий Николаевич Кузьменко}}; born 1974), known as '''The Boiarka Maniac,''' nicknamed ''Elvis Presley'' or ''Shatun''<ref name="15c" /> ({{langx|ru|Боярский маньяк}}), is a Ukrainian serial killer and rapist who was linked to the rape-murders of at least 13 girls and women in the Kyiv Oblast between 2005 and 2009. Following his arrest, Kuzmenko himself claimed to be responsible for the murders of a total of 206 people, a claim that has never been verified.{{Citation needed|date=July 2025}}

The investigation into his crimes proved to be one of the most high-profile in the country's history, further complicated by the fact that two unrelated serial killers operated in the same area at the same time. The materials and methods used in the investigation were later intensely studied, and are currently utilized as a framework on similar cases.<ref name=amogus>{{Cite web|url=https://zaborona.com/interactive/maniak-posered-nas-ru/|title=МАНЬЯК СРЕДИ НАС, Часть первая|author=Dmitry Fionik|work=Zaborona.com|trans-title=A MANIAC AMONG US, Part One|language=ru|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20250710095659/https://zaborona.com/interactive/maniak-posered-nas-ru/|archivedate=10 July 2025}}</ref>

==Early life== Yuriy Kuzmenko was born in 1974 in the village of Velyka Vil'shanka, Kyiv Oblast, and had a brother and sister. He grew up in an unstable family due to his father's antisocial behavior and frequent acts of aggression towards his mother. During his school years, Kuzmenko was fond of sports and was considered popular among his peers and neighbors. In order to assert himself, he often fought and beat up older boys.<ref name=el>''Elvis, the Strangler from Boiarka''</ref>

After graduating from school, he received a secondary vocational education as a carpenter. In the early 1990s, he was drafted into the Ukrainian Air Assault Forces, and after demobilization, he returned to the Kyiv Oblast and changed several jobs, mostly working as a low-skilled laborer.<ref name=el/> Throughout the years, he is known to have worked as a carpenter, tower crane operator, cab driver and security guard.<ref name=amogus/>

In the late 1990s, Kuzmenko got married and had two children, but the marriage did not work out and he soon divorced his wife, instead moving in with another woman, Olga Vanyukhova, who had a son from a previous marriage.<ref name=rather>{{Cite web|url=https://tayni.su/seriynyy-ubiytsa-luchshe-by-menya-rasstre.html|title=Серийный убийца: лучше бы расстреляли!|work=Tainy.su|date=20 May 2013|trans-title=Serial killer: "I'd rather be shot."|language=ru|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20250710101851/https://tayni.su/seriynyy-ubiytsa-luchshe-by-menya-rasstre.html|archivedate=10 July 2025}}</ref> Prior to his arrest, they lived on Yasnaya Street in the city of Boiarka.<ref name=rev>{{Cite web|url=https://vilneslovo.com/zhivotnyye-luchshe-lyudey-otkroveniya-samykh-opasnykh-seriynykh-ubiyts/|title=Животные лучше людей? Откровения самых опасных серийных убийц|author=Denis Markiv|work=Vilneslovo.com|date=2021|trans-title=Are Animals Better Than Humans? Revelations From the World's Most Dangerous Serial Killers|language=ru|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20250427140014/https://vilneslovo.com/zhivotnyye-luchshe-lyudey-otkroveniya-samykh-opasnykh-seriynykh-ubiyts/|archivedate=27 April 2025}}</ref>

In 2002, Kuzmenko was arrested for a robbery committed near the Hryshko National Botanical Garden in Kyiv, for which he was convicted and sentenced to a year in prison.<ref name=15c>{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsru.com/crime/03Jun2009/presleyrapistukr.html|title=На Украине арестован насильник и убийца по кличке Элвис Пресли: 15 трупов, 20 скелетов|work=NEWSru|date=3 June 2009|trans-title=Rapist and murderer nicknamed Elvis Presley arrested in Ukraine: 15 corpses, 20 skeletons|language=ru|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20250710093202/https://www.newsru.com/crime/03Jun2009/presleyrapistukr.html|archivedate=10 July 2025}}</ref> During his prison stint he worked as a carpenter, and was paroled after eight months for good behavior. He then returned to Boiarka, where he retained a good reputation among friends and acquaintances.<ref name=amogus/>

==Murders== ===Modus operandi=== Sometime after his release from prison, Kuzmenko started committing murders, all of which he did in using a certain ''modus operandi''. Driving around in his Lada Riva, he would look for potential victims on the streets or at public transportation stops, and would then offer them a ride.<ref name=amogus/> Alternatively, he would outright ambush them near woods or on the outskirts of villages near railroad tracks and train stations. Due to his tall stature, athletic build and attractive appearance, he easily earned the trust and comfort of victims.<ref name=amogus/>

If he found a potential victim, Kuzmenko would drive to a deserted area where he would rape the victim, only killing them if he was sure they had seen his face clearly. He strangled most of the victims, and is known to have stabbed to death only one.<ref name=el/> Most of the attacks were committed along the Kyiv-Fastiv train route in the Kyiv-Sviatoshyn and Vasylkiv Raions.<ref name=amogus/>

In terms of victim preference, Kuzmenko's only apparent criteria was if the victim was female – he demonstrated no apparent preference for age, height, social status, ethnicity or any other category.<ref name=200c>{{Cite web|url=https://ua-reporter.com/news/pod-kievom-orudoval-manyak-na-schetu-kotorogo-okolo-200-trupov-foto|title=Под Киевом орудовал маньяк, на счету которого около 200 трупов (фото)|author=Alexander Korchinsky|work=UA Reporter|date=29 March 2010|trans-title=A maniac was operating near Kyiv, responsible for about 200 corpses (photo)|language=ru|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20250710101929/https://ua-reporter.com/news/pod-kievom-orudoval-manyak-na-schetu-kotorogo-okolo-200-trupov-foto|archivedate=10 July 2025}}</ref> Most of the times he acted in a very organized manner, planning ambushes and even constructing temporary huts to wait for a potential victim, but occasionally just attacked spontaneously and without premeditation.<ref name=rev/>

===Proven crimes=== {| class="wikitable centre" style="margin-bottom: 10px;" ! scope="col" |Date of attack ! scope="col" |Victim ! scope="col" |Age ! scope="col" |Location ! scope="col" |Additional notes |- |26 May 2000 |Unnamed |Unknown |Kyiv |Robbery |- |24 September 2001 |Unnamed |Unknown |Kyiv |Robbery |- |10 August 2003 |Unnamed |Unknown |Hatne |Robbery/Rape |- |27 August 2003 |Unnamed |Unknown |Vyshneve |Rape of a female security guard |- |28 August 2003 |Unnamed |Unknown |Kriukivshchyna |Rape of a female security guard |- |9 June 2004 |Unnamed |Unknown |Kriukivshchyna |Rape committed while working as a boiler room guard |- |10 March 2005 |Unnamed |"young" |Korchi |Robbery/Rape. The victim testified that she was riding on a train and noticed Kuzmenko, to whom she took a liking. After arriving at the train station in Korchi, she started walking to the village and went through a forest – at that time, Kuzmenko, clad in a stocking and gloves, attacked, raped and robbed her.<ref name=200c/>

During her testimony, the victim claimed that the attacker resembled American singer Elvis Presley, and the identikit reflected that, leading to the attacker getting the moniker "Elvis".<ref name=amogus/> |- |25 May 2005 |Lidiya Ivanovna Ditkovskaya |68 |Hlevakha |Robbery/Rape/Manslaughter. On that date, Kuzmenko set up an ambush in some bushes along a forest trail before attacking Ditkovskaya as she was returning to her ''dacha''. He hit her on the head, dragged her into the bushes and raped her, but claimed that he had no intent of killing her.<ref name=200c/>

The woman later regained consciousness and crawled until she came by a forester friend of hers. She was then driven to a hospital and treated, but unknown reasons, the local police refused to initiate an investigation into the attack.<ref name=200c/> |- |11 June 2007 |"Stepanushko" |Unknown |Vasylkiv |Rape/Murder |- |14 June 2007 |Unnamed |Unknown |Malyutinka |Robbery. Kuzmenko injured the victim's arm while snatching her bag. |- |August 2007 |"Donchenko" |Unknown |Boiarka |Robbery/Rape/Murder |- |10 September 2007 |Nina Maksimovna Korneeva |69 |Malyutinka |Robbery/Rape/Murder. Kuzmenko came across the victim while walking through a forest road after stepping off a train. He claimed to have forgotten the stocking he used as a mask at home, and instead decided to attack Korneeva with his face fully visible, initially intent on letting her live. However, he said that at one point Korneeva turned around and looked him directly in the eyes, prompting him to stab her several times with a knife.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://my-kiev.com/city/koshmar-iz-boyarki-istoriya-manyaka-yuriya-kuzmenko.html|title=Кошмар из Боярки: история маньяка Юрия Кузьменко|author=Vladyslav Levitsky|work=My-Kiev.com|date=17 April 2021|trans-title=Nightmare from Boiarka: the story of the maniac Yuriy Kuzmenko|language=ru|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20250710104534/https://my-kiev.com/city/koshmar-iz-boyarki-istoriya-manyaka-yuriya-kuzmenko.html|archivedate=10 July 2025}}</ref> |- |5 October 2007 |Unnamed |Unknown |Malyutinka |Robbery/Rape |- |2 June 2008 |"Sochenko" |Unknown |Korchi |Robbery/Rape/Murder |- |11 September 2008 |"Bilous" |Unknown |Boiarka |Robbery/Rape/Murder |- |17 November 2008 |"Metelskaya" |Unknown |Trostinka |Robbery/Rape/Murder |- |23 December 2008 |Raisa Petrenko |Unknown |Barakhty |Robbery/Rape/Murder. Kuzmenko picked up Petrenko, an employee at a local market, from a bus stop in Vasylkiv. He then drove her to the forest, where he raped and strangled her before dumping her body in a field.<ref name=200c/> |- |13 January 2009 |Anya Bondar |19 |Barakhty |Robbery/Rape/Murder. Kuzmenko met Bondar at a bus stop in Vasylkiv and offered to drive her to her desired destination. Instead, he drove her to an deserted area, where he raped and strangled her. She was his last known victim.<ref name=200c/> |}

==Investigation== As the murders continued, a specialized task force was set up to investigate them, headed by the Kyiv Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. More than 10,000 people were investigated as potential suspects and several thousand cars were checked, but few clues came about as to the killer's identity.<ref name=15c/>

The first time the theory of a serial killer was put forward was in 2007, when investigator Vasyl Paskal determined through a DNA test that the same was responsible for at least three of the murders in the Vasylkiv Raion.<ref name=amogus/> The killings were combined into one case at the turn of 2009, after further inspection of the crime scenes led investigators to conclude that five of the murders were linked to the same perpetrator. Since most of them were committed at a considerable distance from railway stations, the agencies requested satellite images of the areas from NATO. Investigator Ruslan Sushko later stated that NATO provided the Ukrainian agencies many images, paying $1,250 per image. With these images, they concluded that the killer drove either a Moskvitch or a Lada Riva that was either green, blue or red in color. In order to capture the perpetrator, the agencies organized several operations across wooded areas.<ref name=amogus/>

Following Bondar's murder, a witness came forward that provided crucial information. The man, a cab driver and former senior police inspector who knew the victim personally, said that he saw her enter a green-colored Lada Riva that was either 5th or 7th generation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://incident.obozrevatel.com/kiyany/crime/ubil-206-zhenschin-kak-lovili-samogo-zhutkogo-manyaka-kievschinyi.htm|title=Убил 206 женщин: как ловили самого жуткого маньяка Киевщины|work=Obozrevatel|date=5 October 2018|trans-title=Killed 206 women: how the most terrible maniac of the Kyiv Oblast was caught|language=ru|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20250710103745/https://incident.obozrevatel.com/kiyany/crime/ubil-206-zhenschin-kak-lovili-samogo-zhutkogo-manyaka-kievschinyi.htm|archivedate=10 July 2025}}</ref> In addition, he remembered one part of the license plate, the letters "VI".<ref name=amogus/> Based on this information, the investigators started searching for any such cars across the country. Out of a total 7,043 cars, only 50 were registered in the Kyiv Oblast – Kuzmenko was never considered a suspect, as he drove the car by power of attorney, and the real owner had an alibi for the day of Bondar's murder. After this, Paskal ordered that the investigators make a special questionnaire and distribute it across the Kyiv-Svyatoshynskyi and Vasylkiv Raions.<ref name=amogus/>

In May of the same year, law enforcement officers came to the house of Yuriy Kuzmenko in Boiarka, where they talked with him and found out that he was driving such a car. During the conversation, Kuzmenko, at the insistence of a local district police officer, gave a saliva sample for examination.<ref name=el/> His sample proved be a match, leading officers to consider detaining him for further questioning. However, Kuzmenko felt threatened after the visit, gathered his belongings and fled. While searching his house and garage, investigators found a bag with women's underwear of different sizes and styles, some of which had bloodstains.<ref name=el/>

After he fled, Kuzmenko's wife gave law enforcement officers the address of his sister and brother's residences in Barakhty and Kyiv, where they soon organized ambushes. Initially, Kuzmenko hid at his sister's house, before traveling to Kyiv to visit his brother.<ref name=el/>

==Arrest, investigation and trial== On 29 May 2006, Kuzmenko was arrested without incident at the doorstep of his brother's house in Kyiv.<ref name=15c/> During the first interrogation, Kuzmenko expressed his willingness to cooperate with the investigation and confessed to 11 murders. In the following days, he was escorted to the crime scenes to provide a reconstruction of how he carried out the murders.<ref name=alhas>{{Cite web|url=https://www.zhitomir.info/news_41308.html|title=В деле киевского маньяка уже 140 томов, а семья не верит, что он насиловал и убивал|work=Zhitomir.info|date=2 June 2009|trans-title=The Kyiv maniac case already has 140 volumes, but the family does not believe that he raped and killed|language=ru|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20250710101839/https://www.zhitomir.info/news_41308.html|archivedate=10 July 2025}}</ref> In order to ensure his safety and prevent reprisals from angry locals, Kuzmenko was forced to wear a helmet and armor, and was escorted not only by local law enforcement, but also by members of the Berkut and Kobra special forces.<ref name=amogus/>

When pressed for a motive, Kuzmenko claimed that he started developing an inferiority complex at the turn of 2000, deciding to spend most of his time in the woods to reassert himself. At around that time, he started committing robberies and rapes, initially leaving the victims alive, but with time, he developed an addiction to killing. He was unable to explain what caused him to sexually assault the elderly victims, nor why he did not wear a condom during the rapes, despite knowing that leaving traces of his semen would eventually lead to his capture.<ref name=amogus/>

Once the investigation was completed, Kuzmenko was charged with 13 murders, several of the rapes and multiple robberies, with the case file totaling more than 140 volumes.<ref name=alhas/> The trial began in the spring of 2011 and was held behind closed doors. On 25 May 2011, Kuzmenko was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to life imprisonment. During sentencing, he expressed no visible emotion, despite the fact that he appeared listless and disinterested throughout the court sessions.<ref name=rather/>

==Aftermath and current status== Following his conviction, Kuzmenko was transferred to the Romenskoye Colony No. 56 in Vyshneve, where he remains to this day.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wrt.sud.ua/ru/news/ukraine/115202-desyatki-zhertv-stali-izvestny-podrobnosti-o-manyake-kuzmenko|title=Десятки жертв: стали известны подробности о маньяке Кузьменко|work=Sud.ua|date=19 February 2018|trans-title=Dozens of victims: details about the maniac Kuzmenko have become known|language=ru|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20250710103626/https://wrt.sud.ua/ru/news/ukraine/115202-desyatki-zhertv-stali-izvestny-podrobnosti-o-manyake-kuzmenko|archivedate=10 July 2025}}</ref>

Ever since his conviction, there has been a debate about the true number of Kuzmenko's victims. He himself claimed to have murdered a total 206 young girls and women, and while most investigators believed this to be an embellished number, the task force was forced to admit that there were multiple cases where prosecutors refused to press charges against Kuzmenko.<ref name=amogus/> One example involved an 18-year-old woman that went missing from a disco during the winter, only to be found dead in a pond soon afterwards. Authorities refused to press charges, as they believed that the girl died by suicide.<ref name=amogus/>

According to the head of the Kyiv Special Task Force, the bodies of around 56 young girls and women were found around the area in early 2008, some of whom were suspected to be victims of Kuzmenko. However, since he had a poor memory and struggled to recall details about the victims, they were unable to conclusively link him to most of these crimes. Investigator Ruslan Sushko also speculated that some victims' remains might have been scattered by wild animals or buried by local police officers to improve solved crime statistics, a practice that Sushko claimed was standard for regional law enforcement agencies.<ref name=amogus/>

==In the media and culture== Kuzmenko's crimes were covered on the episode ''[https://yandex.ru/video/preview/18247466900267443896 Elvis, the Strangler from Boiarka]'' ({{langx|ru|Элвис душитель из Боярка}}) from the TV series ''Criminal Ukraine'' ({{langx|ru|Украина криминальная}}).

==References== {{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuzmenko, Yuriy}} Category:1974 births Category:Living people Category:21st-century murderers Category:Ukrainian serial killers Category:Ukrainian rapists Category:Ukrainian people convicted of murder Category:People convicted of murder by Ukraine Category:People convicted of rape Category:People convicted of robbery Category:Ukrainian prisoners and detainees Category:Prisoners and detainees of Ukraine Category:Ukrainian prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment Category:Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Ukraine Category:Violence against women in Ukraine Category:People from Kyiv Oblast