Bakhtiyor Matyakubov

Bakhtiyor Atazhanovich Matyakubov (; ; ; born April 9, 1973), known as The Uzbek Chikatilo (; ), is an Uzbekistani serial killer and rapist who killed at least ten women across Russia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine during a four-month killing spree. Convicted for his respective crimes in Ukraine and Russia, he has been sentenced to life imprisonment in both countries.

Early life Bakhtiyor Atazhanovich Matyakubov was born on April 9, 1973, in the Uzbek SSR. According to his family and relatives, he was a very aggressive child who frequently beat up his parents and siblings, and often had fights in school. During these assaults, he reportedly always donned a pair of white gloves, with which he seemed to have a peculiar fascination with.

He was first arrested for robbery and rape at age 17, for which he served a short prison term. For the next few decades, he would be repeatedly imprisoned for similar offences until his eventual release in 2006, whereupon he moved to Moscow, Russia, to find a job. Matyakubov would soon be arrested for robbery in Khimki and sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment, of which he served only 12 and was released for good behavior in 2014. According to his own claims, he moved in with a fellow countrywoman in November of that year but had a falling out when he learned that she was corresponding with another man. Matyakubov later claimed that he felt as if "the earth is leaving under [his] feet" and stalked his roommate to the Kursky railway station, where he planned to kill both her and her companion. He stopped himself from doing so due to the amount of potential witnesses and his desire not to be arrested. Her response angered Matyakubov, who considered it improper for married women to get into the cars of random strangers, causing him to drive out of town, find an isolated area and forcefully drag her out of the car. Upon doing so, he viciously stabbed Anpilova several times with a Sherkhan-brand knife, killing her. He then covered the body with a sheepskin coat and hid it in a nearby ditch, with the body remaining undiscovered until his arrest. After following Onipchenko to an isolated area, he asked her if her dog could bite, and when she replied in the negative, Matyakubov pulled out his knife and stabbed her twice in the chest. After killing Onipchenko, he dragged the body to the nearby bushes and sexually assaulted it. He then tore off her earrings and stole her mobile phone before fleeing. For reasons unknown, Matyakubov did not sell the phone and instead started using it for himself. Just two days later, he was walking around in a park when he came across 77-year-old Klavdia Lepetyukha, whom he confronted and stabbed approximately 20 times. Like the previous victim, Matyakubov sexually assaulted her body, and later stole her earrings and mobile phone. He did not resist his arrest, and told the arresting officers that if they had not stopped him, he likely would have continued killing and could even have surpassed Anatoly Onoprienko. When brought in for interrogation, Matyakubov made an offer to Dmitry Tkachuk, an employee working for the Public Prosecutor's Office – as long as he did not ask for a life sentence at trial, he was willing to confess to anything he wanted. After agreeing to his request, Matyakubov calmly retold every single detail of his crimes in Kyiv to Tkachuk, who noted everything down.

While awaiting trial, Matyakubov's court-appointed lawyer, Marina Efimenko, stated that her client acted surprisingly nicely and even sent her postcards, but she would later claim that this was intentional to make him appear less dangerous. In the aftermath of his conviction, Matyakubov said that he had no intent of appealing the verdict, but also said that he felt no remorse for what he had done and would likely kill again if released. While serving his term at a special regime colony, he converted to Christianity and renounced his murders, but this was widely believed to just be a ploy made to bring pity on him.

As of May 2022, Matyakubov remains in a Russian prison and faces extradition to his native Uzbekistan, where he faces a third life sentence if convicted of the killings there. Some news sources have claimed that he is possibly responsible for others, perhaps dozens of killings committed across the three countries, but no new charges have been brought against him thus far.