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Siberian woman 'to marry' notorious 'Chessboard Serial Killer' Alexander Pichushkin

By The Siberian Times reporter
03 February 2014

Monster is jailed for life for murdering as many as 60 victims mainly in Moscow's Bitsa Park.

'It was not immediately clear if Natalya has visited him in jail or whether their relationship is only on paper'. Picture: NTV

The blonde woman - named only as Natalya - claims it was 'love at first sight' with the jailed killer also known as the Bitsa Maniac, who has been described as Russia's worst-ever serial killer. When he was finally arrested, he was close to completing his morbid aim of one murder of every square on the chessboard. 

Natalya works in a children's shop in Nyagan, the Siberian birthplace of tennis star Maria Sharapova. 

'I go to bed thinking about him, I wake up thinking about him,' she told TV channel NTV in a remarkable interview.

She has been communicating with the mass killer - who is jailed for life in 2007 - for the past five years after the end of her own joyless marriage, she said. 

'My husband was beating me and cheating on me with a friend of mine,' she explained. 'I was trying to forget about it by getting myself drunk, sometimes it was going on for days, weeks, months. Everything changed when they showed the Bitsa Maniac on TV. 

'It was love from first sight. He became my ray of sunshine. I began writing, he answered, and we exchanged letters. In his letters, he told me in detail about the murders he committed, and how it was 'interesting for him to turn the living into the dead'. 

Siberian woman 'to marry' notorious 'Chessboard Serial Killer' Alexander Pichushkin


Siberian woman 'to marry' notorious 'Chessboard Serial Killer' Alexander Pichushkin

'In all cases I killed for only one reason. I killed in order to live, because when you kill, you want to live', Pichushkin once said. Pictures: NTV

While not expressing any condemnation of his terror campaign in the Moscow park, she 'is as proud of her groom as if he was a Hollywood star', reported NTV. 'I feel bad, I start walking about, kicking about all corners of my flat thinking constantly about him,' she said. Her colleagues know she is passionately in love with someone but have no clue as to her sweetheart's identity.

Pichushkin's trademark 'signature' was to wedge a bottle into the cracked skulls of his victims who were mainly elderly and often drunk men he befriended often with vodka in the large Moscow park. Other victims were women and children. Notoriously, he said: 'For me, life without killing is like life without food for you. I felt like the father of all these people, since it was I who opened the door for them to another world'.

Bullied and taunted as a 'retard' when he was at school, he  was taught chess by a grandfather who he loved and whose death may have triggered his fearsome killing spree. His victims were often killed with repeated hammer blows to the skull. 

'In all cases I killed for only one reason. I killed in order to live, because when you kill, you want to live', he once said. His final victim Marina Moskalyova, 36, in the spring of 2006, was his last. She had left a note for her son with his name and phone number on it. 

A metro ticket found on her body also led police to track her journey and he was seen with her on surveillance tape footage. He confessed at once, his only condition was doing it in front of TV camera, which investigators staged for him. The confession was then shown on NTV channel. 

Siberian woman 'to marry' notorious 'Chessboard Serial Killer' Alexander Pichushkin


Siberian woman 'to marry' notorious 'Chessboard Serial Killer' Alexander Pichushkin


Siberian woman 'to marry' notorious 'Chessboard Serial Killer' Alexander Pichushkin


Siberian woman 'to marry' notorious 'Chessboard Serial Killer' Alexander Pichushkin

Natalya 'is as proud of her groom as if he was a Hollywood star'. Pictures: NTV

He was convicted on 24 October 2007 of 49 murders and three attempted murders. He asked for 11 more victims to be added to his gruesome death toll.

Pichushkin was sentenced to life with the first 15 years to be spent in solitary confinement. 

He is now serving his sentence in a high security prison in northern Siberia. 

It was not immediately clear if Natalya has visited him in jail or whether their relationship is only on paper.

Comments (17)

nothing new , all serial killers have the admiration of women .
most women like the bad guys .
john , toronto
14/03/2022 20:59
2
3
She probably has hybristophilia. I see nothing wrong with how she looks. Maybe too much eye makeup?
Brenda, North Carolina
06/06/2019 22:58
5
0
She should at least admit to liking the killing, why else like this man? His pottery skills?
Yasmine Bell, Seattle
12/10/2017 02:57
9
1
What if she by free will or influenced by him decides to continue his "work"?
Sebastian Ionescu, Romania
28/08/2016 04:55
5
1
she looks like that girlfriend in the moor murder case...I wonder if there's something hereditary about these types....possible relationship between these two?
ludmilla sejko, authier, canada
18/07/2016 20:40
8
0
Very sad that people are like this. No light in their life; only darkness.
rick, la grange pk. ill
14/04/2016 12:27
8
2
First off this woman looks like she should be put on scene in a traveling freak show, she looks like death. No wonder why this woman's husband jumped in bed with her best friend, she probably crazy too but more normal than she as they all must have some sort of mental defect. Maybe she too also yearns for a vodka bottle to be gouged in her head? Good thing this woman hasn't yet or will not reproduce with this whacko, the world doesn't need to see what those two rejects would produce. Off with their heads!
JH19, Cape Cod, MA, USA
25/03/2016 03:47
11
3
It's like Richard Ramirez and Charles Manson. When Richard was married in prison, his wife said that if he was executed, she would commit suicide. And he was never executed - he died of natural causes!
George Best, Washington, United States
25/09/2015 22:06
3
2
She is as mad as he is!
Satori, Poland
25/06/2015 03:54
8
3
I think she needs to see a psychiatrist and the police needs to make an extensive screen of this woman.She is probably a heinous psychopath and very likely she may have killed a lot of innocent human beings .In all,I am pretty sure that there's something extremely wrong with the woman. Another thing about this lady is that she seems very likely in love with with murder and killing and her face gives you that impression.
Usama Eltantawy, Alexandria.Egypt
05/12/2014 03:03
19
8
I think she needs to see a psychiatrist and the police needs to make an extensive screen of this woman.She is probably a heinous psychopath and very likely she may have killed a lot of innocent human beings .In all,I am pretty sure that there's something extremely wrong with the woman. Another thing about this lady is that she looks horribly gory.
Usama Eltantawy, Alexandria.Egypt
05/12/2014 02:58
10
4
all i know about pishushkin jesus said he's going to hell because he killed people jesus loved,, no repent of the crimes, wasted soul who russia has awsome churchs even if you pray for him he`s finished
nomad, lake george ny
27/11/2014 23:56
4
4
Interesting motivation he had, what he said about how he killed and that made him want to live. Im not sure I fully understand him but he sounds psychotic, and this woman looks scary and murderous. How did he avoid the death penalty?
Christopher, Indianapolis, United States
22/10/2014 23:16
15
2
So will they be given the chance to make babies
Gupta, Guatamala
10/06/2014 20:24
8
5
oh what an utter nonsense she is
Jo, Australia
03/02/2014 15:50
13
2
12

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