Nikolai Litvin

Nikolai Nesterovich Litvin (; born 1960), known as The Prokopyevsk Strangler , is a Kazakhstani-born Russian serial killer and rapist who murdered at least ten girls and young women in Prokopyevsk, Kemerovo Oblast, one of them being pregnant. Recognized as insane at the time of the murders, he was sent to an undisclosed psychiatric facility to be treated for his mental illness.

Early life Relatively little is known about Litvin's early life. Born in 1960 in Alma-Ata in the Kazakh SSR, he grew up in impoverished circumstances. Due to his slender build and short stature, he was bullied by peers and ignored by women.

After graduating from high school, Litvin became engaging in criminal activities, and in the early 1980s, he was convicted of rape.

In August 1999, the authorities detained a man matching that exact description: Nikolai Litvin, a local resident and father of three who had convictions for rape. This, in addition to the contrast of being able to detail his actions to the most minuscule of details, but being unable to recreate the murder despite his hardest efforts, led to Litvin being examined by researchers at the Serbsky Center in Moscow. The psychiatrists concluded that, at the time of the murders, Litvin had no concrete grasp on reality and thus couldn't understand the gravity of his actions, posing a very serious threat to others around him. As a result, he was sent to a closed psychiatric institution, where he is being nursed to this very day. The case caused a stir in the region, with many locals, even those who lived outside Prokopyevsk, demanding the death penalty for Litvin. Although there are only ten victims officially recorded, some authorities have expressed concern that he could've killed many others prior to his arrest who still haven't been accounted for.