Absolute Crime
  • Home
  • Books
    • Cold Case Crime Series >
      • Jeff Davis 8
      • The Martyr of El Salvador
      • Annihilation In Austin
      • The Axeman
      • The Galapagos Murder
      • Young, Queer, and Dead
      • Getting Away With Murder
    • Murder and Mayhem Series >
      • America's First Serial Killers: A Biography of the Harpe Brothers
      • Deadly Darlings: The Horrifying True Accounts of Children Turned Into Murderers
      • The Butcher Baker: The Search for Alaskan Serial Killer Robert Hansen
      • The Teacup Poisoner: A Biography of Serial Killer Graham Young
      • Mary Cecilia Rogers and the Real Life Inspiration of Edgar Allan Poe's Marie Roget
      • Miscarriage of Justice: The Murder of Teresa de Simone
      • No Guns Allowed On Casual Friday: 15 Of the Scariest Co-Workers You Will Never Want to Work With
    • Stranger Than Fiction Series >
      • Exposing Jack the Stripper: A Biography of the Worst Serial Killer You've Probably Never Heard Of
      • The Perfect Crime: The Real Life Crime that Inspired Hitchcock’s Rope
      • The Sapphire Affair: The True Story Behind Alfred Hitchcock's Topaz
      • The True Story Behind Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds
      • The True Story Behind Alfred Hitchcock’s The Wrong Man
      • The True Story Behind Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho
      • Stranger Than Fiction: The Real Life Stories Behind Alfred Hitchcock's Greatest Works (Box Set)
    • Murderers >
      • The Gay Slayer: The Life of Serial Killer Colin Ireland
      • Murdering Mormons: 15 Mormons Who Defied the Cross
      • Wrestling With Madness: John E. Du Pont and the Foxcatcher Farm Murder
      • Murder Under the Rising Sun: 15 Japanese Serial Killers That Terrified a Nation
      • Dirty Cops: 15 Cops Who Turned Evil
      • Unsportsmanlike Conduct: 15 Professional Athletes Turned Into Murderers
      • 'Til Murder Do Us Part: 15 Couples Who Killed (Volume One)
      • 'Til Murder Do Us Part: 15 Couples Who Killed (Volume Two)
      • 'Til Murder Do Us Part: 15 Couples Who Killed (Volume Three)
      • The Real Life Taxi Driver: A Biography of Arthur Herman Bremer (The Real Inspiration of Travis Bickle)
      • Hungry For Humans: 15 Shockingly True Stories of Cannibalism
      • Sex, Drugs, and Murder: 15 Music Murder Scandals That Shocked the World
    • Scary Bitches Series >
      • Murder In Stilettos: Ladies of the Night Who Murdered
      • In Love and Murder: Crimes of Passion That Shocked the World
      • Married to Murder: The Bizarre and True Accounts of People Who Married Murderers
      • Scary Bitches: 15 of the Scariest Women You'll Ever Meet!
      • More Scary Bitches! 15 More of the Scariest Women You'll Ever Meet!
      • Even More Scary Bitches! 15 More of the Scariest Women You'll Ever Meet!
      • Bitches Gone Killer! An Anthology of 45 of the Scariest Women You'll Ever Meet!
      • Gorgeous Gangsters: 10 Female Drug Lords Who Changed the Illegal Drug Trade Industry
    • Deadly Darlings >
      • Murdering Mommy: 15 Children Who Killed Their Own Mother
    • Current Event Series >
      • The Beltway Sniper Attacks
      • School Massacre
      • Pushed Too Far
      • Pirates of Somalia: The Hijacking and Daring Rescue of MV Maersk Alabama
      • How to Steal a Million: The True Stories Behind the Greatest Art Heists of All Time
      • Stealing Hollywood: The True Story of Teen Burglars Known As the Bling Ring
      • The Fruitvale Station Shooting
      • The HTTP Murders: 15 Cyber Killers You Never Want to Meet Online
      • A Biography of Richard Beasley: The Craigslist Killer
      • You've Been Hacked: 15 Hackers You Hope Your Computer Never Meets
      • High Crimes and Low IQs: 50 of the Dumbest Criminals
      • Holy Sinner: 15 Preachers Who Fell From Grace and Became Criminals
      • Children of Evil: What Happened to the Children of 15 of the Worst Leaders
      • Wrongfully Accused: 15 People Sentence to Prison for a Crime They Weren’t Guilty Of
      • Found: 15 Stories About the Survival and Rescue of Kidnapping Victims
      • Before 9/11: A Biography of World Trade Center Mastermind Ramzi Yousef
      • Cells in Hell: The 15 Worst Prisons on Earth
      • Lights, Camera, Kill! 15 Celebrity Murder Scandals That Shook Hollywood
      • The Death Row Cookbook: The Famous Last Meals (With Recipes) of Death Row Convicts
    • Historical Crimes Series >
      • Bessie Perri: Queen of the Bootleggers
      • No Surrender!
      • A History of Torture: From Iron Maidens to Vlad's Impalin
      • Bloddy Valentine: The Bloody History of the Saint Valentine's Day Massacre
      • The Real Life Sherlock Holmes: A Biography of Joseph Bell (The True Inspiration of Sherlock Holmes and the Pioneer of Forensic Science)
      • The Other White Meat: A History of Cannibalism
      • The Lonely Hearts Vampire: The Bizarre and Horrifying True Account of Serial Killer Bela Kiss
      • I am Jack The...: A Biography of One Scotland's Most Notorious Killers - Thomas Neill Cream
      • The Real Life Indiana Jones: The Biography of V. Gordon Childe - The Man Who Inspired a Cinematic Icon
      • The Assassination of the President of the United States: The Forgotten Assassination Attempts of U.S. Presidents
      • The Martyr: Jean Bastien-Thiry and the Assassination Attempt of Charles de Gaulle
      • The Mad Butcher of Kingsbury Run: The Remarkable True Account of the Cleveland Torso Murderer
      • The Assassination of Fidel Castro: The Secret History of Assassination Attempts On Fidel Castro
      • Riot! The Incredibly True Story of How 1,000 Prisoners Took Over Attica Prison
      • The American Sniper: A History of America’s Shadow Warriors
      • The Trail's End: The Story of Bonnie and Clyde
      • The Real Gangs of New York
      • The Real Life Fugitive: Sam Sheppard and the Original Trial of the Century
    • Human Trafficking >
      • Slaves of Berkeley: The Shocking Story of Human Trafficking In the United States
      • Delivery of Death: The Shocking Story of the Ranong Human-Trafficking Incident
      • The Pirate Hunter: The True Account of American Librarian Ted Schweitzer Pursuit to Free Refuge At the End of Vietnam
      • Comfort Women: A History of Japanese Forced Prostitution During the Second World War
      • Made In USA: One Man’s Dream to Manufacture Cheap Clothes…At All Costs
    • Before They Were Criminals
    • Organized Crime Series >
      • The Fighting Parson
      • Maple Syrup Mafia
      • Public Enemy #1: The Biography of Alvin Karpis--America's First Public Enemy
      • Sam the Cigar: A Biography of Sam Giancana
    • Fiction >
      • Mallory Masters Series >
        • Death Smiles
        • The Golden Skull
        • Kranium
        • The Guillotine Falls
      • Hollywood P.I. Series >
        • At Dawn She Dies
    • German Books >
      • Blutrünstige Drecksstücke: 15 der schaurigsten Frauen, die jemals gelebt haben!
  • Free
    • Crime Shorts >
      • Yoo Young-chul
      • Pedro Lopez
      • Yang Xinhai
      • Moses Stihole
      • Andrei Chikatilo
      • Dean Corll
      • Alexander Pichushkin: The Chessboard Killer
      • Miyuki Ishikawa
      • Dorothea Puente and the Boarding House of Death
      • Futoshi Matsunaga
      • George Stinney Jr., the Youngest Person Ever Sent to the Electric Chair
      • Philadelphia Poison Ring
    • Free Books
  • About
    • About
    • Submissions
    • How to Cite
    • Contact
  • Mailing List

ALEXANDER PICHUSHKIN: THE CHESSBOARD KILLER


Born in 1974, life was fairly normal for Russian child and future serial murderer Alexander Pichushkin. Normal at least until one day when he fell off a swing and was hit on head by the swing on its way back. While it may seem like a minor childhood accident, Pichushkin's family claims that the event marked a change in his demeanor. Instead of being a normal, sociable child, Pichushkin became aggressive and impulsive. This change was so drastic that his mother transferred him to a school that focused on children with learning disabilities. Unfortunately, this resulted in Pichushkin being bullied by other children.

As Pichushkin grew older, his maternal grandfather recognized that he wasn't being challenged in his classes, despite his obvious intelligence. Pichushkin moved in with his grandfather and amongst the many new pursuits he was exposed to, he showed a fondness and talent for chess. As a result, Pichushkin spent a lot of time in Bitsa park- a large, natural park in southeast Moscow- where he played exhibition games with older gentlemen. Unfortunately, Pichushkin was still bullied by other children. If that wasn't enough to exacerbate Pichushkin's problems, his grandfather also died, driving him to drink in what may have been an attempt to manage his emotions.

While Pichushkin may have looked like just a sad figure to many, he was also engaging in some more insidious activities. Pichushkin would carry a video camera with him and when he ran into other children he would record himself threatening them. Pichushkin committed his first murder in 1992 while still a student, but went through a long lull where he didn't kill anybody. It wasn't until 1999 that the 25-year-old man began to kill in greater numbers.

Most of his victims were people who lived on the margins of society- the homeless, addicts, etc.- which made it so that bodies were found without their disappearance ever having been reported. According to Pischushkin, he would lure them to secluded areas in Bitsa park under the pretense of sharing vodka while toasting the death of his dog. After the victims were intoxicated, he would strangle them, drown them in sewage, or drop them from balconies. Often, he would even ram the vodka bottle they had been drinking from into his victims' head, assuring their death. Pichushkin was finally caught when he murdered one of his ex-coworkers- a woman who informed her boyfriend she would be spending some time with Pichushkin, leaving his phone number.

Some footage from the metro station caught Pichushkin and the victim together, leading to his arrest. Pichushkin eventually confessed to 60 murders -11 more than the police found bodies for. During the trial, he described how killing made him feel powerful and that he felt it was necessary for him to kill to survive. He initially claimed he wanted to kill 64 people- one for each square on a chess board- but later said he would've kept on killing had he not been caught.

In 2007, Pichushkin was convicted of 49 murders and 3 attempted murders, with the sentence being life in prison with the first 15 years being spent in solitary confinement.

If You Like This Article, You May Also Like This:

Picture
Picture
Picture
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.