Lipetsk strangler found the phones of the victims, but he remained free

In August 1998, on the remote outskirts of Lipetsk, in the Voronezh River, the body of a strangled woman was found. A criminal case has been opened. In the autumn, other bodies were found in the vicinity of the city. Similar circumstances of the attacks gave reason to look for one person. By the time the suspect was arrested, the case was consolidated.

The car lead appeared already in 1998. Witnesses remembered the first letter of the number “Zhigulya”. Investigator on especially important cases Sergey Shalyutin said that about a hundred people were interviewed on this orientation. Among them was Grey.

According to the materials of the case, presented by NEWSru, he worked as a driver and was engaged in private transportation. He took passengers to deserted places, beat and sexually abused them. Killed women not to report the attacks to the police, took their belongings.

The dead were no more than 28 years old, one was a minor. The crimes for which Sedykh received the first sentence were from 1998-2004.

Among the victims was a teacher. The former head of the criminal investigation department of the city Ministry of Internal Affairs Evgeny Sitnikov told reporters: colleagues escorted the woman to the tram stop and never saw her again. According to him, the victims differed in appearance, social status and lifestyle.

Two victims survived. Their testimony made it possible to clarify the signs of the man the police were looking for.

On May 7, 1999, about one o’clock in the morning, the woman stopped the ride and asked to take her to the center of Lipetsk. The driver said he was running out of gas and suggested that he go to the gas station first.

On the way, the passenger turned to the window and felt a strong blow to the back of the head. I woke up in a roadside ravine this morning. She was covered with foliage, a t-shirt pulled her neck. The circumstances of the attack, according to the victim, were later outlined by the former head of the regional criminal investigation unit Andrei Akeliev.

The woman remembered the “Zhiguli” of the sixth model and approximately described the attacker. She said they made a sketch. The search materials featured a light, presumably beige VAZ-2106.

But the victims could not identify the Greys. Sitnikov explained that they saw the driver in the dark.

Traffic police officers were on duty on highways near forest areas, recorded suspicious “six” and transferred information to the criminal investigation. Police officers in plainclothes depicted women who needed a ride. According to Akelev, these measures did not yield results.

On the night of November 27-28, 2000, a fish inspector Nikolai Voronin and two of his assistants were on duty in the area of the Trinity Bridge. About one o'clock in the morning they noticed "Zhiguli". We assumed that the poacher had arrived and decided to talk to the driver.

The man explained that he was driving the fishermen. Inspectors saw women's clothes in the car. The driver said they belonged to his wife. He was released. After a while, Voronin discovered the body of a woman in the river.

Akeliev later clarified that in the car was a female fur coat. After the discovery of the dead inspectors described the police car and the driver. We checked the owners of the six, including the Greys. The investigation did not lead to the arrest.

Until June 2008, Sedykh was checked three times, the last time in 2005. By then, suspicions were no longer just about the car.

As reported by NEWSru, during the search, the Sedykhs twice found mobile phones of the dead women. The driver explained every time that he bought the machines from strangers.

Suspicions weakened the results of early biological research. The traces on the bodies allegedly belonged to a man with a fourth blood type. The Greys had a third. According to Akelev, this discrepancy was of decisive importance during the inspection.

In June 2008, the phone of one of the victims was again registered in the network. The mobile operator gave information to the police. NEWSru reported that the device turned on a relative of the Sedykh, who found him in the garage.

The operatives left for the 24th district of Lipetsk. In the garage found a phone, clothes of the victims and a salad “six”. The orientations featured a light, presumably beige car.

The family offered explanations for the findings. Elena Sedykh told reporters that her husband bought a cell phone the day before for 150 rubles. Clothing, according to the family, could bring a relative who worked in the bath and took the things forgotten by customers.

However, not all the items found were associated with the dead. Sitnikov recalled that jewelry could not be identified. "We lacked objective evidence," he explained.

On June 4, 2008, Sedykh was detained. Two days later, the Gryazinsky District Court detained him.

For the investigation, biological samples preserved from old cases were used. They were sent for molecular genetic examination in Tambov.

According to newsru, genetic examination confirmed his involvement in eight episodes. In total, the Greys were charged with 12 murders.

The same publication reported that Sedykh began to confess after re-examination in Moscow. At the investigative actions, he accurately indicated the places of death of women, then retracted his words. Comprehensive psychological and psychiatric examination found him sane.

On 22 April 2009, investigators filed a final indictment. The case file consisted of forty volumes.

The trial in the Lipetsk Regional Court began on October 2, 2009 and was held in closed mode. The case was heard by Judge Alexander Carlin. Sedykh initially asked for a jury trial, but then refused the motion.

In court, he claimed that he incriminated himself under the influence of police officers. The court rejected that version. The defendant also contested genetic testing. A 250-page text was prepared for the debate.

On March 15, 2010, Sedykh said the last word: “I did not commit these crimes, so I ask you to excuse me.”.

On April 19, the Lipetsk Regional Court found him guilty of 12 murders and sentenced him to life imprisonment in a special regime colony.

He was also charged with eight rapes, nine sexual assaults and three thefts. On a number of articles on sexual assault and theft, the court exempted him from punishment due to the expiration of statutes of limitations. The final punishment remained life imprisonment. The victims were awarded a total of 3.4 million rubles in compensation for moral damage.

Two murders were checked before the first sentence of Sedykh, but they could not prove his involvement then. In October 2024, Roman Shipulin, deputy head of the criminalistics department of the Lipetsk department, told the newspaper “First Number”.

Forensics returned to these murders while working on unsolved cases from past years. According to Shipulin, new research has established the coincidence of the genetic profile of the Greys with the traces of the criminal in both cases. He continued to deny guilt and explained the origin of biological traces in his own way.

In June 2023, the investigation reported the completion of a new case. According to the prosecution, between December 1999 and January 12, 2000, Sedykh brought an 18-year-old passenger to the forest belt of the Gryazinsky district, raped, strangled and took her belongings.

The second crime was dated November 6, 2002. The woman’s body was found two days later on the territory of the Fashchev forestry.

On the tights of one of the dead found biological traces. The genetic profile was compared to the database. The other woman's belongings were found in the roommate of the Greys. She explained that she had received them as a gift.

For investigative actions, Sedykh was taken from the colony to Lipetsk. On June 11, 2023, he died in solitary confinement. The regional office of the UK confirmed the death and the inspection.

According to Shipulin, the court completed the consideration of the case after the death of Sedykh, finding him guilty of two more murders, two rapes and thefts.

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