Dmitry Kuleshov

Dmitry Yevgenyevich Kuleshov (; born 27 January 1978), known as the Spruce Robber , is Kazakhstani-born Russian serial killer, rapist and paedophile who murdered two children in Rostov-on-Don in 2006, after being released for a similar murder committed as a teenager in 1994. Convicted and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for the latter crime, his case sparked outrage over the release of dangerous offenders.

Life and crimes Dmitry Kuleshov was born on 27 January 1978, in Shemonaikha, a city in the East Kazakhstan Region of the Kazakh SSR. At some point during his childhood, he and his single mother moved to Rostov-on-Don, Rostov Oblast, where they lived together at a one-room apartment on Orbitalnaya Street 80. Little is known about his activities during his youth, but Kuleshov was known to the police for an incident in which he illegally cut down a spruce near the police station for the winter holidays, for which his mother had to pay a fine. Subsequently, investigator Amurkhan Yandiyev, who would work on the first murder case involving the teenager, gave him the nickname "The Spruce Robber". According to Kuleshov, despite experiencing a very traumatizing event, Larina told him that she still intended to tell her parents about it. After asking her several times not to do so, Kuleshov strangled her with a rope and hid the girl's body on the balcony, which he covered with an inflatable float. When his mother returned home, she failed to notice that anything had occurred. Upon encountering the children, Kuleshov proceeded to rape and ultimately strangled both with a clothesline cord before fleeing the residence. The children's bodies were later found by Irina after she returned home from work. Kuleshov later provided moral support for the victims' mother and even attended the funeral.

Kuleshov was arrested on 23 December after investigators traced a stolen cellphone to him - he had replaced the SIM card in it, believing that it could not be replaced. His guilt was definitively established after a DNA analysis linked semen and sweat traces him to the crime scene, as well as footprints and fibres from the victims' clothes.

Not long after, Kuleshov was charged with two counts of murder, sexual abuse of a minor and robbery. Despite the overwhelming evidence against him, he claimed that he was innocent and that he had only confessed due to pressure from investigators.

Despite his claims, Kuleshov was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to 25 years imprisonment in a strict regime penal colony. In addition, he was also ordered to pay his victims' mother 21,162 rubles in material damages and 3 million rubles for moral harm.

Sometime after 2010, Kuleshov changed his surname to Sidorenko while serving his prison term.