Andrei Zakharchenko

Andrei Leonidovich Zakharchenko (born 1978), known as the Kartaly Arsonist Maniac, is a Russian serial killer and arsonist who set fires around his hometown of Kartaly from the 2000s until 2014, killing 11 people. He was later convicted of these crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Early life Andrei Zakharchenko was born in 1978 in Kartaly, Chelyabinsk Oblast. His parents were alcoholics who often beat him and did not care about raising him, leaving the young boy to do mostly whatever he wanted. During his school years, he was an outcast and unpopular with girls and was also bullied due to his slim build and short stature. This led to Zakharchenko losing all interest in his studies and receiving mostly mediocre grades.

After completing the ninth grade, Zakharchenko began a life of crime. In the 2000s, he was repeatedly prosecuted for theft and once for murder, for which he served a prison sentence. After his most recent release, Zakharchenko struggled to find employment due to his prison record and resorted to working in manual labour and stealing to survive.

Zakharchenko's next murder occurred in September 2012. The victim was a middle-aged acquaintance whose identity was never established. While the two men were drinking, they got into a quarrel during which Zakharchenko struck him numerous times using his hands, feet and a stone, causing the man to lose consciousness. On 29 February 2016, the Chelyabinsk Regional Court found him guilty on all counts and sentenced Zakharchenko to life imprisonment. In addition, he was ordered to pay 2.5 million rubles to the victims' family members and an additional 470,000 rubles for property damage. All of his appeals were denied by the Supreme Court, and he is now serving his sentence at a special regime colony.