Bakhtiyor Atazhanovich Matyakubov (; ; ; born April 9, 1973), known as The Uzbek Chikatilo (;), is an Uzbekistani serial killer and rapist who killed at least ten women across Russia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine during a four-month killing spree. Convicted for his respective crimes in Ukraine and Russia, he has been sentenced to life imprisonment in both countries.
Early life
Bakhtiyor Atazhanovich Matyakubov was born on April 9, 1973, in the Uzbek SSR. According to his family and relatives, he was a very aggressive child who frequently beat up his parents and siblings, and often had fights in school. During these assaults, he reportedly always donned a pair of white gloves, with which he seemed to have a peculiar fascination with.
He was first arrested for robbery and rape at age 17, for which he served a short prison term. For the next few decades, he would be repeatedly imprisoned for similar offences until his eventual release in 2006, whereupon he moved to Moscow, Russia, to find a job. Matyakubov would soon be arrested for robbery in Khimki and sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment, of which he served only 12 and was released for good behavior in 2014. According to his own claims, he moved in with a fellow countrywoman in November of that year, but had a falling out when he learned that she was corresponding with another man. Matyakubov later claimed that he felt as if "the earth is leaving under [his] feet" and stalked his roommate to the Kursky railway station, where he planned to kill both her and her companion. He stopped himself from doing so due to the amount of potential witnesses and his desire not to be arrested.
Murders
By New Year's Day, Matyakubov had moved into his brother's rental apartment. To celebrate the occasion, he borrowed his brother's Hyundai and began cruising around Moscow. When he reached the Lyublino Metro Station, he noticed 36-year-old Yulia Anpilova, the manager of a real estate company who seemingly wanted to hitchhike home. He offered to pick her up and she accepted, willingly going into his car. Along the way, Matyakubov asked her if she was married and had children, to which she replied that she was and had two – this was a lie, as Anpilova had never married nor had children. Her response angered Matyakubov, who considered it improper for married women to get into the cars of random strangers, causing him to drive out of town, find an isolated area and forcefully drag her out of the car. Upon doing so, he viciously stabbed Anpilova several times with a Sherkhan-brand knife, killing her. He then covered the body with a sheepskin coat and hid it in a nearby ditch, with the body remaining undiscovered until his arrest. In his later testimony, Matyakubov would claim that he felt "relieved" that there was "one less prostitute in Moscow."
That same night, he travelled to the nearest airport and booked a flight to Tashkent, Uzbekistan. On the following day, he went into a pharmacy and attacked the female clerk, raping and strangling her to death. Six days later, he went into a sewing shop, where he raped and killed a store employee – on that same day, he travelled to Samarkand and did the same thing to another woman. Reportedly, he even beheaded one of them.
Matyakubov is not known to have committed any murders in February, and by March 3, he had gotten on a bus bound for Kyiv, Ukraine. On the following day, he was walking along a forested area near the Teremky Metro Station when he came across 47-year-old Natalya Onipchenko, who was walking her dog. After following Onipchenko to an isolated area, he asked her if her dog could bite, and when she replied in the negative, Matyakubov pulled out his knife and stabbed her twice in the chest. After killing Onipchenko, he dragged the body to the nearby bushes and sexually assaulted it. He then tore off her earrings and stole her mobile phone before fleeing. For reasons unknown, Matyakubov did not sell the phone and instead started using it for himself. Just two days later, he was walking around in a park when he came across 77-year-old Klavdia Lepetyukha, whom he confronted and stabbed approximately 20 times. Like the previous victim, Matyakubov sexually assaulted her body, and later stole her earrings and mobile phone.