Serial Killer Stalks Moscow Forest Park

Police are searching for a serial killer who has murdered five women in the past two months in Losiny Ostrov, a quiet and clean forest preserve in northeastern Moscow.


Police believe that the five women murdered in the park between Oct. 8 and Nov. 28 were victims of one serial killer. But they have been reluctant to publicize the case for fear the information will help the killer.


"This is unusual for Moscow. It really goes beyond the limits," said Sergei Protsek, spokesman for the eastern district police.


All of the victims were between 18 and 35 years of age and were murdered as they were walking alone during working hours on shortcut pathways through the forest. It is not yet clear whether they were raped, but they all had serious knife wounds on their bodies. Police would not release the names of the victims.


The murders have terrified residents of two apartment buildings located on a road about one kilometer inside the park and separated by a 10-minute walk through the woods from the nearest bus or train stops. One of the five victims lived in this complex, and another resident narrowly survived an attack.


A mathematics teacher for gifted children was murdered at 10 a.m. on Nov. 28 while taking a shortcut to the bus stop through the woods. Another resident, a 32-year old woman, identified as Zoya, escaped after being struck on the head, according to neighbors.


The father-in-law of the murdered woman, who also lives in the apartment buildings, said he blamed the murders on violent videos that have penetrated Russian consumer culture.


"We feel a terrible pain over the loss of our daughter, but when you look at the world, there is a kind of blackness that falls on people of this world." said the father-in-law, who would not give his name.


Twice a day he accompanies his wife and his grandson to the bus stop. "It's not hard for me, it's not scary." he said. "But it's disturbing to see what the world is coming to."


Residents have asked local officials to open a bus route along the lane that leads to their buildings but they have received no response.


Family members and neighbors now escort women and children through the park.


Yekaterina Chulkova, another resident of the apartment blocks, whose husband discovered the first victim when he went out to feed his goats, says the victim's face was slashed beyond recognition. She said that the woman, not a resident of the appartment blocks, was a 19-year old medical student, married and five months pregnant. She left school early one day because she felt ill and was murdered while taking a shortcut to her destination through the forest.


Police have posted identikit sketches of the killer on the doorways of the apartment buildings and on the entrance to a tuberculosis hospital on the border of the park. The killer is described as 18 to 21 years old, thin, 185 centimeters tall with medium length hair.


He wears sport pants, a nylon jacket and a dark baseball cap. The wanted poster says the killer is poorly dressed and "has the appearance of someone who is mentally ill or a drug addict."


But contacted by telephone, police said that they have several different sketches and there was no official suspect.


On Tuesday, police in official and civilian uniform were out in force on Yauznaya Alleya, the lane from the apartments through the park. Police also guarded the entrance to the tuberculosis hospital and patrolled the lane by car.


"Police are using huge resources in this case." said Kirill Mazorin, press secretary for the Moscow Criminal Investigations Department. He said that women should carry self-defense chemical and electrical devices or not walk alone in the park.


Residents of the two buildings say they enjoy the clean air and the peace and quiet of the area, but are now afraid to walk in the forest alone. That doesn't stop skiers and dog walkers from spending time in the park on the weekends.


"They live somewhere else, they're not from here," said one 40 year-old woman, who lives in the apartment blocks. "It's quite possible some people haven't heard about the serial killer."