Trial begins in the Urals for a man who beat seven people to death with a hammer 32 years ago

In Kamensk-Uralsky, 53-year-old Viktor Petrichenko went on trial for the brutal murder of seven people 32 years ago. The crime was solved thanks to modern forensic techniques.

At the end of 1992, Petrichenko, who was a vagrant, met the Gilev couple and their friend, Verzakov, at the Yekaterinburg railway station. Together, they went to Kamensk-Uralsky, where they planned to celebrate the New Year with the Ivanov family.

Thirty-seven-year-old Lyudmila Ivanova worked in a store, and her husband, Vladimir, was a bus driver. They had two children: a 12-year-old daughter, Sveta, and a 13-year-old son, Andrey. No one could have imagined how the holiday would end.

According to investigators, Petrichenko planned to rob the family. He spiked their alcohol with clonidine, drugged the adults and then killed them with a hammer. He then lured the children, one by one, into the kitchen and killed them there. Afterwards, the killer stole money, clothes, and valuables totaling around 86,000 rubles (approximately 150,000 rubles at the time).

A few days later, neighbors alerted the police because of a strange smell coming from the Ivanovs’ apartment. The scene officers found shocked even the most experienced investigators.

The case remained unsolved for a long time until 2025, when forensic experts reanalyzed the evidence collected at the crime scene. They conducted DNA profiling on samples lifted from cigarette butts, a bottle, and furniture, and carried out a fingerprint analysis using the PAPILLON system. These tests confirmed Petrichenko’s involvement in the mass murder.

The murderer was arrested in the Amur region, where he had been living under his real name with his wife and son. According to the prosecutor’s office, he fully confessed to the crime and now faces life imprisonment.

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