Kazys Jonaitis

Kazys Jonaitis (born 1943), known as The Roadside Maniac (Lithuanian: Pakelių maniakas), is a Lithuanian serial killer and rapist who was convicted of killing at least three women in 2001, a few years after being released from a prior murder conviction. For his latter crimes, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Early life and first murder Kazys Jonaitis was born in 1943 in the small village of Algupys, the eldest of seven children. According to accounts provided by family members later on, he and his brothers were brutally beaten by his father with halters and saddles, out of an inexplicable hatred towards his male offspring.

Jonaitis did not complete his education and dropped out to work as a driver. As an adult, he married and divorced twice, and had two children with his wives. Sometime during the 1970s, Jonaitis was jailed twice for theft, for which he served short prison sentences. In 1984, an acquaintance of his paid him 8,000 rubles to kill his wife's lover, Algimantas P., which Jonaitis accepted. After killing the man, he burned the body in a forest, which was locked in the trunk of his car. Jonaitis was eventually arrested, convicted and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, but was released after serving 12 years of the sentence following a recommendation by the Presidential Pardon Commission.

After his release, Jonaitis began working as a driver for a company in Vilnius and married for the third time, this time to a Ukrainian seamstress named Galina.

The remains of a third girl, 20-year-old Gerda Šatraitytė, were found in the vicinity not long after. Due to the increasing rate of similar murders in the area, locals began panicking and newspapers started printing descriptions of how serial offenders typically acted like in an attempt to identify a potential suspect. By that time, authorities devised a profile of the perpetrator, wherein they supposed that he was an older male who appeared trustworthy at first glance, had a criminal record and likely lived between Vilnius and Vievis. To counter his claims, investigators located a surviving victim who rebuked all of his claims. Upon examining DNA samples provided by her, it was conclusively confirmed that she had been raped by Jonaitis.

Trial and imprisonment Jonaitis was charged for the three murders and the rape of his fourth victim. Before the start of his first trial, he attempted suicide and was placed in intensive care. Due to this, all future court hearings related to the case were held behind closed doors. So far, all of his applications have been denied by the Court of Appeal, whose board members have expressed skepticism about his claims, coupled with concerns that he might still pose a danger to those around him. This was exemplified by an incident dating back to 2008, when Jonaitis attempted to gouge out a prison guard's eyes out after they got into an argument about using the prison's phone.