Sergey Petrovich Shcherbakov (; 1961/2 – September 26, 1988) was a Soviet serial killer and rapist. In 1985, he killed 6 people: five women, one of whom was pregnant, and a teenager girl, all in Leninsk-Kuznetsky. He was eventually sentenced to death and executed for his crimes.
Biography
Early years
The exact date and birthplace of Sergey Shcherbakov is unknown. In 1985, he was 23 years of age, and his mother worked at a factory. As a child, Shcherbakov was a quiet and inconspicuous boy. After graduating from the 8th grade at school, he entered a vocational school and afterwards drafted into the army, where he stole ammunition. Shcherbakov was in love with a girl, but she decided not to wait for him to return from the army and instead married another man. Angered, Shcherbakov motivated his future murders with this.
When demobilized, Shcherbakov moved to the private sector of Leninsk-Kuzntesky, working as an underground electrician at the Yaroslavsky mine. He married a divorced pregnant woman named Irina, whose former husband was a prisoner. Shcherbakov, jealous from his wife's past, systematically beat and tortured her. Despite this, Irina gave birth to a child from her ex-husband. Annoyed, he eventually lost interest in Irina and began roaming the streets, beating passers-by and stealing hats. Shcherbakov's wife thought he had a mistress, and wanted to make a love spell so that her husband would lose interest in women.
Murders
Shcherbakov soon really lost sexual interest in surrounding women. In 1985, he committed a series of murders. The killer attacked the victims mainly in the dark, killing them with blows from a hammer (in one case, he also used a wire to strangle, in others he stabbed the victim, but she survived). Shcherbakov wore a hammer in his trouser pocket or carried it in a pram (in this case, the killer told his wife that he was transporting building materials for an extension of the house). He initially did not rape his victims, but then began doing it. In the mid-1980s, the Leninsk-Kuznetsky private sector was very poorly lit, which made it easier for the criminal to commit his attacks.
Shcherbakov committed the first murder on May 7, in the area of School No. 10. The victim was 27-year-old pregnant woman Tatiana Berdyugina. She was in the pathology department of the local hospital for the preservation of her fetus, but was released for the May holidays. At the murder scene, only a matchbox with a spot of blood was found. After the murder of Berdyugina, reinforced police patrols took the streets of Leninsk-Kuznetsky. Night raids were organized, with law enforcement officers acting as bait for the criminal.
A tailor's wife named Vera Chulyukova became Shcherbakov's second victim. The murderer assassinated the victim a few meters from her house, hitting her on the head several times with a hammer. He also took 10 rubles and personal items from Chulyukova, including two bags. The victim regained consciousness, however, this was noticed by the killer who was planning on leaving the scene, instead returning and finishing the job. When the ambulance took Chulyukova, she was still alive, but died the following week. The victim left behind a young daughter. Elena Korshunova, who lived nearby, had witnessed the murder. She heard a scream coming from Chulyukova's house and looked out of the window. Thanks to the street light and shadows, she noticed on the wall of the neighboring house, lit by a lantern, a figure hitting another one on the head with a hammer, then dragging it on the ground.