Oleg Kosarev

Oleg Leonidovich Kosarev (born 11 March 1966), known as The Elevator Man, is a Soviet-Russian serial rapist, sex offender, child molester, pedophile and robber. He has been sentenced to long terms of imprisonment, the last one being in 2012. According to his own claims, during his criminal career he committed at least 140 rapes, of which more than 40 were proven in court.

First crimes and imprisonment A native Muscovite, in his own words, from the age of 7 to 12, Kosarev was subjected to depraved actions by another man who dressed him in women's clothing and used him for sexual games. The first rape he committed was at age 18, for which he was sent for involuntary commitment to the psychiatric hospital No. 5, known as "White Pillars", where he raped a nurse with an accomplice. In 1984, the Chekhov City Court declared Kosarev mentally competent to stand trial and sentenced him to eight years' imprisonment. Kosarev stated later that, in the penal colony, he was subjected to sexual violence. There, he was forcibly tattooed with a blossoming rose—the symbol for the opushchenny (Russian for "the lowered one"), the name of the lowest level in the social hierarchy of the prisoners.

Release and crime spree Kosarev was released in June 1992,

At first, Kosarev denied his guilt, but soon, after some confrontations with the victims, he confessed. Although he admitted to around 137 rapes, the court could only prove around 40 instances, as many of his victims refused to cooperate with the investigators.

Imprisonment, release and new crimes In October 2010, Oleg Kosarev was granted parole, having served 12½ out of 15 years. During his stay at the Vladimir colony, he got married, meeting his future wife on a prison date. In 2002, a daughter was born from this relationship, but soon the spouse, after having discovered Oleg's crimes, left him.

The next attack occurred on the afternoon of 7 April, again in Serpukhov. In the area of house number 160, on Tsentralnaya Street, he noticed two girls (17 and 18, respectively), both 11th-grade students of the local high school. On Osenniy Street, he attacked them, overtaking them in the elevator. Kosarev inflicted at least three blows with the handle and blade of the knife on the head and hand of one girl, and the other—nine on the head, hand and body. After that, the offender took gold jewellery from his victims—a chain, rings with precious stones, a pendant and earrings, as well as two mobile phones, raping one of the girls again before finally fleeing the scene. While housed in the detention center "Matrosskaya Tishina", he tried to feign mental illness and attempted to cut open his veins twice. Despite this, Deyev was recognized as sane. He named about 50 addresses where he claimed to have committed rapes and robberies, only 23 of them were proven in court. Deyev was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment.

In 2011, Deyev was released, married and, like Kosarev, immediately returned to his criminal activities. He invited teenage boys to his house, plied them with alcohol, and when they fell unconscious, committed sexual acts on them. In February 2016, Deyev, during a quarrel with a neighbour, grabbed a pistol and fired some blank cartridges at him. He was detained, after which details of the sexual assaults came to light. In 2017, Valery Deyev was sentenced by the court to 20 years' imprisonment in corrective labour colony.

In 1996, in Moscow, the third "elevator" rapist was arrested—Bunin, who had no resemblance to Kosarev and Deyev. He committed at least six attacks, was found not guilty by reason of insanity, and sent off to involuntary commitment.

In popular culture In 1998, an episode from the true crime TV-series "Criminal Russia" was filmed about both Kosarev's and Deyev's crimes, titled A Hunt for the Double.