Isabella Mueller (crime writer)
A horrific series of murders targeting defenceless elderly women took place in Russia between 2002 and 2010. During this period, no fewer than 17 elderly women aged between 61 and 89 were bludgeoned to death with a hammer or an axe in the Russian town of Krasnoufimsk in the Sverdlovsk Oblast, in order to rob them. Given the brutality of the crimes, the Russian police assumed the perpetrator was a man, a assumption that would later prove to be a grave mistake, which is why the murder spree lasted eight years. For in truth, a woman was behind the murders. She was Irina Gaidamachuk, a mother of two and a wife, who was born on 22 May 1972 in the town of Nyagan. Even as a child, Irina turned to the bottle, drinking not only litres of vodka but also taking drugs. Irina’s parents were unable to cope, which is why they lost custody of her. At the age of 18, Irina moved to Krasnoufimsk, where she wanted to make a fresh start without alcohol or drugs. There she met her future husband, Yuri, with whom she had two children. Everything seemed perfect, but Irina simply couldn’t give up alcohol. As Yuri wouldn’t give Irina any money for vodka, she hatched a diabolical plan. Chance came to her aid. For when Irina helped an elderly lady across the road, the woman invited Irina to her home as a thank you. The elderly pensioner would have been better off not doing so, as Irina bludgeoned her to death with a vase and made off with the meagre sum of 23 euros from her handbag. But that was enough for Irina, as it bought her vodka. From then on, Irina pretended to be a social worker so she could gain access to the elderly ladies’ homes. Once inside the house, she would take her hammer or axe from her handbag and bludgeon the unsuspecting elderly ladies to death. She would then steal the money from their handbags to buy vodka. To cover her tracks, Irina would sometimes set fire to their houses. For a long time, the Russian police were in the dark as to who the ‘granny killer’ was. This was mainly because the police assumed the perpetrator was a man, until an elderly lady managed to escape Irina in 2010, who had intended to murder her with her hammer. The elderly lady immediately alerted the police. Shortly afterwards, the body of 81-year-old Alexandra Povaritsnya was found. Alexandra’s neighbour was able to give a detailed description of the woman who had visited Alexandra on the day of the murder. This led the police to track down Irina, who confessed to all the murders during police questioning, stating she had committed them to fund her alcohol addiction. Irina Gaidamachuk, dubbed by the press as ‘Satan in a Skirt’ and ‘the Monster of Krasnoufimsk’, was sentenced in June 2012 to 20 years’ imprisonment for 17 murders and one attempted murder. For the victims’ families, the sentence felt like a mockery. However, under Article 57 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, women and men under the age of 18 or over the age of 65 cannot be sentenced to life imprisonment. The 20-year sentence was therefore the maximum penalty Irina could receive.
