Copycat Case:
On April 5, 2011, two youths, Artem Anufriev (Russian: Артем Ануфриев) (born 1992) and Nikita Lytkin (Russian: Никита Лыткин) (born 1993), known as the Academy maniacs (Russian: Академовские маньяки) were arrested in connection with six murders and attacks on residents in Akademgorodok in Irkutsk, Russia. The attacks, which involved a mallet and knife, began in December 2010. Both were arrested after a video recording showing a female body being mutilated with a knife was found on a camera belonging to Litkin's uncle, who had become suspicious. According to media reports, the youths were influenced by reading about the Dnepropetrovsk maniacs on the Internet. A psychiatric examination found them sane, and they told doctors they chose weak people as their victims. On April 2, 2013, Anufriev was sentenced to life imprisonment, and Litkin to 24 years in prison.
Chilean Documentary (2010)
On August 2, 2010, the Chilean television channel MEGA broadcast a documentary about the case. It was entitled Los maníacos del martillo (The hammer maniacs) and ran for 1 hour and 25 minutes as part of the investigative series Aquí en Vivo (Here, Live). Journalist Michele Canale flew to Dnipropetrovsk and interviewed a range of people involved in the case.
The parents of Suprunyuck and Sayenko maintained the innocence of their children, while detectives involved in the case gave their recollections, and repeated the lack of confirmation for the theory that the murder videos had been shot as snuff films for sale overseas. Lidia Mikrenischeva, an elderly lady who survived a hammer attack and helped to identify the killers in court, was also interviewed. She recalled being struck on the head from behind and falling to the ground, but her life was saved when the dogs accompanying her barked loudly and scared off the attackers. Natalia Ilchenko, the mother of the first known victim Ekaterina Ilchenko, recalled finding her daughter unrecognizable after the hammer attack, and commented that the killers should not be compared to animals because they killed for fun.
The documentary was notable for showing a wide range of previously unseen photographs and video material from the case. From an anonymous source, the makers obtained a longer and unedited version of the cell phone video showing the murder of Sergei Yatzenko on July 12, 2007. Suprunyuck and Sayenko are seen standing at the woodland roadside next to their Daewoo Lanos taxi, waiting for a suitable victim to arrive, and discussing what they are going to do. At one point, Suprunyuck is seen looking through binoculars for any approaching vehicles. He can also be seen posing with a hammer, which he conceals inside a yellow plastic bag. After twenty minutes, Sergei Yatzenko arrives on a bicycle, and is knocked to the ground before the attack in the woods next to the road begins. Yatzenko's children were asked to take part in the documentary, but declined. According to the commentary, at least five more murder videos are known to exist. The Yatzenko video was shown to the Chilean horror film director Jorge Olguín, who was so disturbed that he was unable to watch all of it. The documentary also showed brief excerpts from a five minute video of the murder of another victim of the maniacs, an unidentified man. At one point in the video, the killers comment that the man has a gold tooth. The man was killed with blows to the head and a knife, with some of his personal belongings taken as trophies.
The documentary also showed a video recording of the confession of Viktor Sayenko, in which he admits that robbery was a motive for some of the killings. A video of Alexander Hanzha was also shown, with his face bruised after alleged mistreatment by the police. Michele Canale attempted to obtain an interview with the killers in prison, but was denied by the Ukrainian authorities. A range of motives for the killings was examined, and it was concluded that despite the court verdict, there are still unanswered questions about the case
The parents of Suprunyuck and Sayenko maintained the innocence of their children, while detectives involved in the case gave their recollections, and repeated the lack of confirmation for the theory that the murder videos had been shot as snuff films for sale overseas. Lidia Mikrenischeva, an elderly lady who survived a hammer attack and helped to identify the killers in court, was also interviewed. She recalled being struck on the head from behind and falling to the ground, but her life was saved when the dogs accompanying her barked loudly and scared off the attackers. Natalia Ilchenko, the mother of the first known victim Ekaterina Ilchenko, recalled finding her daughter unrecognizable after the hammer attack, and commented that the killers should not be compared to animals because they killed for fun.
The documentary was notable for showing a wide range of previously unseen photographs and video material from the case. From an anonymous source, the makers obtained a longer and unedited version of the cell phone video showing the murder of Sergei Yatzenko on July 12, 2007. Suprunyuck and Sayenko are seen standing at the woodland roadside next to their Daewoo Lanos taxi, waiting for a suitable victim to arrive, and discussing what they are going to do. At one point, Suprunyuck is seen looking through binoculars for any approaching vehicles. He can also be seen posing with a hammer, which he conceals inside a yellow plastic bag. After twenty minutes, Sergei Yatzenko arrives on a bicycle, and is knocked to the ground before the attack in the woods next to the road begins. Yatzenko's children were asked to take part in the documentary, but declined. According to the commentary, at least five more murder videos are known to exist. The Yatzenko video was shown to the Chilean horror film director Jorge Olguín, who was so disturbed that he was unable to watch all of it. The documentary also showed brief excerpts from a five minute video of the murder of another victim of the maniacs, an unidentified man. At one point in the video, the killers comment that the man has a gold tooth. The man was killed with blows to the head and a knife, with some of his personal belongings taken as trophies.
The documentary also showed a video recording of the confession of Viktor Sayenko, in which he admits that robbery was a motive for some of the killings. A video of Alexander Hanzha was also shown, with his face bruised after alleged mistreatment by the police. Michele Canale attempted to obtain an interview with the killers in prison, but was denied by the Ukrainian authorities. A range of motives for the killings was examined, and it was concluded that despite the court verdict, there are still unanswered questions about the case
The Victim in the Video
The man whose murder is recorded in the leaked video was identified as Sergei Yatzenko from the village of Taromskoye. His murder took place on July 12, 2007, and his body was found on July 16. Yatzenko was 48 years old. He had recently been forced into retirement due to a cancerous tumor in his throat. The treatment left him unable to speak for some time, but Yatzenko was unhappy with being unable to work and continued to find odd jobs around the village. He took on small construction projects, fixed cars, wove baskets, and cooked for his family. He was beginning to regain his voice when murdered. Yatzenko was married and had two sons and one grandchild. He also looked after his disabled mother.
At around 2:30 PM on the day of the murder, he called his wife to say he was going to fill his Dnepr motorcycle and visit his grandchild. He never arrived at his son's house, and his cell phone was turned off by 6 PM. His wife Lyudmila called a friend and walked around the village, afraid that her husband might have fallen ill or had a motorcycle accident. They could not locate any sign of him. They also could not file a missing person's report, since in Ukraine a person cannot be declared missing until at least 72 hours after last being seen. The next day, Lyudmila posted photographs of her husband around the village, and enlisted more local help to search the surrounding area. Four days later, a local who saw one of Lyudmila's posters remembered seeing an abandoned Dnepr bike in a remote wooded area by a garbage dump. He took Yatzenko's relatives to the scene, where they discovered his mutilated and decomposing body.
The fact that Yatzenko's murder was captured on video was unknown to the public until a court session on October 29, 2008. The unedited video of the murder was shown as part of a large presentation by the prosecution, causing shock in the gallery. The court agreed with the prosecution that the video was genuine, that it showed Igor Suprunyuck attacking the victim, and that Viktor Sayenko was the man behind the camera.
The video showing the murder of Sergei Yatzenko was leaked to a shock site based in the United States and dated December 4, 2008. Ekaterina Levchenko, adviser to Ukraine's minister of the interior, was critical of the leak, but admitted that control of videos on the Internet was "virtually impossible". Caitlin Moran of The Times watched part of the video and recalled her reaction in her column in January 2009. The video showing the murder of Yatzenko has acquired the name "3 Guys 1 Hammer".
At around 2:30 PM on the day of the murder, he called his wife to say he was going to fill his Dnepr motorcycle and visit his grandchild. He never arrived at his son's house, and his cell phone was turned off by 6 PM. His wife Lyudmila called a friend and walked around the village, afraid that her husband might have fallen ill or had a motorcycle accident. They could not locate any sign of him. They also could not file a missing person's report, since in Ukraine a person cannot be declared missing until at least 72 hours after last being seen. The next day, Lyudmila posted photographs of her husband around the village, and enlisted more local help to search the surrounding area. Four days later, a local who saw one of Lyudmila's posters remembered seeing an abandoned Dnepr bike in a remote wooded area by a garbage dump. He took Yatzenko's relatives to the scene, where they discovered his mutilated and decomposing body.
The fact that Yatzenko's murder was captured on video was unknown to the public until a court session on October 29, 2008. The unedited video of the murder was shown as part of a large presentation by the prosecution, causing shock in the gallery. The court agreed with the prosecution that the video was genuine, that it showed Igor Suprunyuck attacking the victim, and that Viktor Sayenko was the man behind the camera.
The video showing the murder of Sergei Yatzenko was leaked to a shock site based in the United States and dated December 4, 2008. Ekaterina Levchenko, adviser to Ukraine's minister of the interior, was critical of the leak, but admitted that control of videos on the Internet was "virtually impossible". Caitlin Moran of The Times watched part of the video and recalled her reaction in her column in January 2009. The video showing the murder of Yatzenko has acquired the name "3 Guys 1 Hammer".