Ioan Sârca

Ioan Sârca (9 March 1911 – 1991), known as The Monster from Valcău, was a Romanian serial killer and rapist who killed at least 20 young boys and adolescents between 1943 and 1945. Considered one of the worst killers in the country's modern history, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and died behind bars in 1991, having never expressed remorse for his crimes.

Early life Sârca was born on 9 March 1911, in Valcău de Sus, the only child in an illiterate peasant family. While in prison, he underwent several psychiatric evaluations, the most notable of which occurred in 1948, conducted at the Hospital for Nervous Diseases by Dr. Vasile Ilea. In his report, Ilea concluded that his patient suffered from no mental abnormalities or diseases.

Death Despite repeated petitions for his release, Sârca remained imprisoned until his death in 1991, aged 80. He reportedly never showed guilt for any of his crimes. According to several inmates at the penitentiary he was last housed in, Sârca may have been forcefully euthanized by a pair of doctors who had arrived on the date of his death, claiming that they wanted to treat him for several diseases. According to this theory, the reason for this was to have Sârca's brain sent for analysis in Bucharest, but these claims have never been confirmed.