Alexander Komin

Aleksandr Nikolayevich Komin (; 15 July 1953 – 15 June 1999), known as The Slaveholder (, ), was a Russian serial killer and kidnapper. At various times from 1995 to 1997, he kept six people as prisoners in a 9-metre-deep bunker under his garage. Four of his prisoners were eventually murdered.

Komin was featured in several documentaries, including "Cooperative Prisoner" (1998) from the series Criminal Russia, Bunker. The modern version (2015) from the series "The investigation was conducted..." and a documentary film which appeared on Japanese television from the series Maniacs of the 20th Century.

Life before the construction of the bunker Komin was born on 15 July 1953, in Vyatskiye Polyany, where he subsequently committed all of his crimes. Having graduated from an eighth-grade school, Komin was sentenced to three years imprisonment for hooliganism at the age of 18. While serving his sentence in a penal colony, Komin worked at the colony's garment factory. The work of a tailor pleased him so much that, after his release, he graduated from college in this speciality. However, it was hard for Komin to fulfil his ambitions in a small town, so he worked as a watchman, an electrician and a handyman as well.

As Komin later explained, while serving his sentence, he met a prisoner who was convicted of holding several homeless people in his basement, forcing them to work for him. He enjoyed having unlimited power over others, so Komin wanted to experience the same thing. He killed Talpayeva in the garage using the same brake fluid, but unlike Nazimova, he tormented her for several hours before that.

Arrest, trial and sentence Komin fell in love with Ganyushkina and wanted to formalize an official marriage with her. Kozikova and Melnikova, realizing that this was their chance to escape, persuaded Ganyushkina to agree. Komin threatened to deal with the 22-year-old woman if she tried to escape. Ganyushkina agreed, but when Komin left her for a few minutes in his apartment unattended, she ran to the police on 21 July 1997. Initially, the employees did not believe her, but when they named those in the bunker, they immediately demanded she indicate the bunker's location. Komin was arrested near his garage. He tried to stop the electricity in the ladder to try to escape, but Ganyushkina had reported this in advance. After Melnikova and Kozikova were discovered in the bunker, they were hospitalized, with both wearing a bandages around their eyes so that they would not be blinded by the sunlight, which they had not seen in two years.

Mikheev was arrested soon after Komin and began to testify, confessing to four murders, the illegal deprivation of liberty of three more people, the use of enslaved labour, and criminal entrepreneurship.

In 1999, the Kirov Regional Court sentenced Alexander Komin to life imprisonment and Alexander Mikheev to 20 years imprisonment. After the sentencing, Komin killed himself in his cell by cutting open his femoral artery.