Dmitry Lebed

Dmitry Valerievich Lebed (; born 1986), known as The Abakan Strangler , is a Russian serial killer and rapist who operated in the Khakassian city of Abakan and its surrounding areas. Using rented cars and pretending to be a taxi driver, he raped at least 12 women, at least 5 of whom he successfully murdered. Shortly following his arrest for the murder of 24-year-old Oksana Litvinova, he confessed to other crimes for which he received life imprisonment at a special regime colony.

Early life Dmitry Lebed grew up in the small mining town of Abaza, one of three brothers. He was described as a quiet, calm child and a good student, whom, however, was bullied regularly, even by smaller children. When he got older, Lebed and his family moved to Abakan, where he got a job and married his first wife. It didn't last long, as their relationship quickly deteriorated, starting with a major scandal in the summer of 2012, which resulted in Lebed being thrown out of the house. Lebed later tried to get back to them, but his wife was so frightened of him that she took the children and fled to Krasnoyarsk, ceasing any and all contact with him. When questioned later on, she revealed that at one point, Lebed had choked her during an argument they had.

The woman's body was found on October 30, but police were unable to identify the killer at the time. Lebed was not connected to this murder until 2022, when he was already incarcerated for other murders. The young woman had spent the night at the Arsenalnoye café with her friends, whom parted with her after they were kicked out from another taxi for not having enough money. A witness later said that she had seen her standing at the bus stop, and after she returned to the window minutes later - she was already gone, without seeing the car the girl had gotten into. Failing to return to their shared apartment, her younger sister Anya began calling her family and relatives, as her sister was a responsible and homely woman who never stayed out that late. A huge search party, named "The Volunteers of Khakassia", scoured every inch of the city for any possible trace of the missing Litvinova, without success. Three weeks later, on September 21, just as they were about to head out to nearby Minusinsk, Litvinova's body was found in the forest of the Minusinsky District. She had been raped and strangled to death, with all her jewellery stolen.

Rapes Aside from his murder victims, Lebed raped at least 8 other women and failing to do so with at least one: April 2013: rapes and attempts to kill a 19-year-old, but fails and she escapes. March 2014: kidnaps 28-year-old Anna Kazakova (name changed); after picking her up from a café, Lebed calmly began lifting her skirt. Kazakova played along and asked to take off her shoes, which she then grabbed and started struggling, successfully fighting off her would-be rapist. The next day, she returned to the café and watched the camera recordings, marking down the brand of the car she got into. Despite her efforts, no criminal proceedings were initiated, as her attacker had backed off during the assault. July 26–27, 2015: kidnaps and rapes 28-year-old pregnant woman Maria Savelyeva (name changed); following a quarrel with her husband, Savelyeva went to a café, and in the evening entered Lebed's car. Unwilling to return to her husband, she remained in the vehicle, where she chatted about her life with Lebed and the passengers he picked up and dropped off. They later stopped to buy some beer, and when she went out to relieve herself, Maria suddenly felt dizzy and fainted. When she came to her senses the next morning, she found Lebed on top of her and attempted to coerce her into having sex. Panicked, she broke off from his grip and fled to the highway, where she was picked up and driven home. On the following day, Savelyeva and her husband reported the incident to the Ust-Abakan police (since it was in their jurisdiction), but since there were not apparent bruises on her, no charges could be filed. As a result of the attack, Savelyeva later gave birth prematurely. March 2016: rapes another woman, no other information available.

Arrest, confession and imprisonment Using the GLONASS navigation system, authorities found a peculiarity about the Litvinova crime scene: the route matched that of a local taxi driver, 32-year-old Dmitry Lebed. They finally located him at a pawnshop in Minusinsk, where he, together with his brother Alexander, were trying to sell a gold ring, chains and earrings - all items stolen from the corpse of Oksana Litvinova. Realising that the gig was up, Lebed attempted to flee but was quickly arrested and brought in for questioning. Although he initially denied any guilt and was sent for a psychiatric examination at a facility in Krasnoyarsk, where he was found to be sane. Shortly after his return, Lebed began to confess his guilt to the murders and rapes, showing investigators burial sites. Apparently, he suffers from a sexual deviation where he only experiences pleasure if his partner actively resists his advances. According to one newspaper report, he wrote a three-sheet long paper with 80 names, supposedly his victims, stating that he had started killing at age 15, but this is considered a common tactic to stall investigations and avoid his transfer to a prison colony. Nevertheless, the Abakan authorities are convinced that more cases concerning Lebed are likely to be revealed in the future. As for Lebed himself, he was tried, charged and successfully convicted for 15 crimes (murder, rape, attempted murder and attempted rape), receiving a life sentence, which he is currently serving at an unnamed prison colony.

In October 2022, Lebed received his fifth murder conviction when he was successfully prosecuted and convicted for the murder of 20-year-old Katya Perekreshchenko, who was found strangled in Abakan in October 2012. He was given an additional nine years imprisonment for this murder, to be served on top of his existing life sentence.

Abuse of official authority During the course of the investigations, two officials from the Investigative Committee of the Republic of Khakassia, Alexei Popov and Anton Kaudaurov, were charged with criminal negligence and abuse of official authority. The reasons for doing so were their refusals to initiate criminal proceedings against Lebed in 2013 and 2014, for attempted murder and attempted rape - if tried for these offences, the lives of some of his victims could've been saved. Both Popov and Kaudaurov have been removed from their posts until the end of their respective trials.