Pavel Bondarenko

Pavel Vladimirovich Bondarenko , known as The Sevastopol Maniac , is a Ukrainian serial killer and rapist who raped and murdered at least five teenage girls and young women in the city of Sevastopol from 2007 to 2015. He was convicted of these crimes and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2017.

Bondarenko's case is unique due to several factors related to the Russo-Ukrainian War, such as the Russian authorities taking over the case following the occupation of Crimea. His life term was also the first, and currently only known, such sentence to be handed down in Sevastopol ever since the city came under Russian jurisdiction.

In the 2000s, he learned a number of specialties in the construction industry, from which he managed to make a living by doing European-style renovations. Relatives, friends and acquaintances all characterized him in a positive manner, he did not exhibit any concerning behavior or have a criminal record. During a conversation with the woman, Bondarenko persuaded her to let him walk her home. After making sure that there were no pedestrians around, he beat, raped and strangled her. At the time, Bondarenko was never considered a suspect, and the murder remained a cold case until he was linked to it years later. A silver chain and a cellphone were stolen from the victim. Bondareko later claimed that he stripped off the victim's clothing and dragged her to a nearby pit, before fleeing in the direction of Matrosa Koshki Street. In the subsequent interrogations, he claimed to have no set criteria when choosing his victims, but that he was always drunk when committing the crimes and that it was always in a deserted area in the late hours of the day. His trial began in February 2017, and lasted almost nine months, with more than 50 witnesses being questioned and hundreds pieces of evidence being presented. In total, the case eventually amounted to 40 volumes. In response, the mother of one of his victims later stated in an interview with the media that if the law allowed it, he should have been sentenced to death.

Link to first murder In 2022, the Sevastopol Investigative Department used DNA from Bondarenko to link him to his first known murder in 2007. As a consequence, he was transferred from the penal colony and returned to Sevastopol to participate in an investigative experiment. On 7 November 2022, he was found guilty of committing this murder and given an additional 13 years imprisonment, which are to be served concurrently with his life sentence.