Dmitry Kazakov

Dmitry Gennadyevich Kazakov (; 7 May 1972 – 9 August 2022) was a Russian serial killer and robber who committed six robbery-murders in Novosibirsk and Tomsk Oblasts between 2009 and 2021.

After his arrest, Kazakov admitted responsibility for the crimes and actively cooperated with investigators, but committed suicide shortly before his trial was due to begin.

Early life Dmitry Kazakov was born on 7 May 1972 in Iskitim, Novosibirsk Oblast, the second of three children. His parents, Gennady and Tatiana, worked at a secret machine-building plant in the city, belonging to one of the space industry of the USSR. While neither parents exhibited any negative influence on their children, the family was not well-off financially.

As a teenager, Kazakov began to show signs of kleptomania, and by the late 1980s, he began committing stealing from homes and stores, for which he was imprisoned several times. In one case, he was arrested for breaking and entering a store, and in another, he was detained by police officers for burgling into a house through a window vent. After breaking the door using tools, a masked Kazakov started to move the money from the safe, while his accomplice tied up the female security guard, threatening her with a toy gun. The two men stole a total of 1,366,600 rubles and successfully fled, later dividing the spoils between them. After threatening the woman, Kazakov was shown the room with the cash register. After breaking down the door, he entered inside and found a bag of money that the collectors had failed to place in the safe – the contents consisted of 5,625,000 rubles in pensions.

After serving out the sentence in full, Kazakov was released in March 2020. However, as he had no job, he resumed his life of crime in June of that year by breaking into an apartment in Iskitim, from which he stole money and jewelry that he later successfully sold. After Lyudmila began to scream loudly, Kazakov struck her several times on the head with a crowbar, causing a head injury that led to the woman's death. The investigation was undertaken by the chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin, and on his instructions, the case was transferred to the central office of the agency. After several examinations, the perpetrator's DNA was linked to Dmitry Kazakov through some blood samples. He was then put on a federal and then an international wanted list.

In the meantime, Kazakov left the Novosibirsk Oblast and moved to Tomsk, Tomsk Oblast. On the night of 1–2 June 2021, he broke the front door of the Tomsk House-Building Company using locksmithing tools. While searching his apartment, officers found some of the missing money in a closet and a bag of locksmithing tools.

During the interrogation, Kazakov pleaded guilty to the charges against him and provided the investigators with information about the other murders, in which he had never been a suspect. He also stated that he planned another robbery in Tomsk, with his intended target being a high-ranking official that he had been observing for several days.

Shortly before the trial was set to begin on 9 August 2022, Kazakov committed suicide at the FSU SIZO-1 in Novosibirsk. Employees at the detention center stated that Kazakov had repeatedly showed signs that he intended to end his life due to the fact that he faced a likely sentence of life imprisonment.