Nikolay Radkevich

Nikolay Vladimirovich Radkevich (c. 1888 – autumn 1916), known as Vadim the Bloodsucker, was a serial killer in the Russian Empire.

Biography

Radkevich's exact birthplace and date of birth are unknown. By his own admission, he was a cadet of the Arakcheev Cadet Corps in Nizhny Novgorod. At the age of 14, he was tempted by a "depraved woman" who was about 30 years old. After a while she abandoned the young man, but not before she infected him with syphilis. Upon learning this, Radkevich was enraged and tried to kill his former beloved, but did not succeed, as the woman's new lover captured the failed assassin and took him to the station. After a disturbing scandal, Radkevich was expelled from the Cadet Corps.

Radkevich decided that the vocation of his whole life was the purification of the world from depraved women. He committed his first murder in June 1909, killing 20-year-old prostitute Anna Blumentrost. In total, Radkevich inflicted 12 stab wounds to her face, neck and shoulders, and then dropped the body in the Neva River. On 1 July, the body was found and identified. In St. Petersburg, prostitutes began to panic, and the police began to search for the gory murderer in force.

On 14 July 1909, Radkevich met with a prostitute in Vosstaniya Square, Ekaterina Gerus. He brought her to the "Danube" hotel, which was at that time on Ligovsky Avenue, and ordered the number 9 room on the 3rd floor. At night, Radkevich stabbed Gerus at least 20 times with a knife but did not kill her this way, and strangled her instead. The next day at 8 AM Radkevich left the room, telling the bellhop to wake her up in an hour. The bellhop soon discovered Gerus' body. Investigators came to the conclusion that both murders were committed by one criminal. .

Radkevich is the main prototype of Sokolovich in Loopy Ears, a 1917 story written by Ivan Bunin.