Vladimir Kolpakov

Vladimir Yevgenyevich Kolpakov (; 3 October 1961 – 2022) was a Soviet-Russian serial killer who was linked via DNA to the murder and subsequent dismemberment of an underage girl in Ulyanovsk dating back to 1987. At the time of his identification, he had served a prison sentence for murdering two male acquaintances during a dispute, and was the prime suspect of two similar murders dating back to the late 1980s.

Before he could be arrested for the crime, Kolpakov committed suicide. The identification of Sazonova's murderer is one of the oldest cold cases to be solved in modern Russian history.

Early life Vladimir Kolpakov was born on 3 October 1961 in Stepanakert, Azerbaijani SSR, as one of two sons born to Yevgeny Kolpakov, an officer in the Soviet Army who was often stationed in military bases in several countries. As a result, the family often moved around, temporarily settling in Potsdam, East Germany, where Kolpakov graduated from School No. 3 in the fall of 1979.

After his graduation, Kolpakov was drafted into the Soviet Army. During this time, his family returned to the USSR and settled in Ulyanovsk – once he was demobilized, Kolpakov himself moved there as well, remaining in the city for the rest of his life working in low-skilled labor.

In 1986, Kolpakov married, but his wife divorced him only two years later. According to her, Kolpakov was deceitful and often stole valuables from their apartment to sell them, only to pretend the extra money was proceeds from his salary. A few weeks later, on the early morning of 11 April, a janitor discovered the dismembered remains of a young girl in a garbage container near house No. 27 on Ryabikova Street, including her severed head and fragments of her legs in socks, which had been severed below the knee joint. A fur hat and jacket belonging to the victim were also found inside the container. Traces of semen and paint were found on her remains, socks, and jacket.

At the time, Kolpakov lived on neighboring Ablukova Street and was considered a suspect due to the fact that he was unmarried, lived by himself, and was known to befriend local children. On 12 January 1988, Sosnin was arrested after officers found a hacksaw and an axe stained with blood at his boss' dacha, leading them to believe that he had killed the little girl there. Talynev claimed that the bloodstains belonged to him and dated back to the summer of 1986, when he injured himself while repairing a fence.

This explanation was not enough to warrant the release of Sosnin, who was initially held in a detention center before being moved to a psychiatric clinic due to his deteriorating mental health. A few months after his arrest, a blood test confirmed that the blood type was indeed a match for Talynev, confirming his explanation about the bloodstains. As a result, Sosnin was released, but by that time, his mental health was irreparably damaged. As a result, in January 1995, Sosnin committed suicide by jumping out of a window from his apartment in Saint Petersburg.

Double murder and release In 1994, during a domestic dispute, Kolpakov murdered two male acquaintances with whom he was drinking alcohol in his garage. At the end of that year, he was convicted of this crime and sentenced to 15 years imprisonment, the maximum available penalty at the time due to the recent changes to the Russian Criminal Code.

After serving out his sentence in full, Kolpakov was released in 2009 and returned to Ulyanovsk. For some time he lived off his mother and brother, but later managed to earn money by doing low-skilled labor and mostly kept to himself. Due to his introverted nature, he had no close friends and did not date women, but otherwise caused no problems to others and was not subjected to criminal liability for a long time.

Exposure and suicide In 2018, during a forensic examination at the Ulyanovsk Regional Center, genetic isolated the perpetrator's DNA from the semen stains found on Sazonova's thighs. After two years of testing, the DNA was found to be a match to the genotypic profile of Vladimir Kolpakov, who was forced to submit a sample of his DNA in the early 2000s during his incarceration.

In order to rule out any potential errors, in 2022, the Ulyanovsk Investigative Committee decided to re-investigate Kolpakov's alibi for the day of the murder. As a result, investigator Vijay Novruzov interviewed the two acquaintances whom Kolpakov supposedly spent his day with, with the man claiming that he was not that close with him and never asked for help moving out, while the woman claimed that she did not even know him. A check of Kolpakov's employment records revealed that in mid-March 1987, Kolpakov had not shown up for work for five working days, for which he was subjected to disciplinary action. This led investigators to believe that during these five days, he likely held Sazonova captive in his apartment, where he raped and ultimately killed her.

In the summer of 2022, Kolpakov was visited by law enforcement officers, who took a sample of his saliva and particles of dried paint from the floor, walls, and window frames in the rooms of his apartment for testing. The day after the visit, Kolpakov committed suicide by poisoning himself with carbon monoxide in his garage, without waiting for the results. In the end, his DNA was found to be a conclusive match to the semen traces found on Sazonova's body, confirming that he was the killer. At the request of his relatives, the Ulyanovsk Investigative Committee issue a ruling that his identification be added into the case file, effectively meaning that he was found guilty under the law. In addition to this, while searching his computer after his death, officers found files containing child sexual abuse material.

Suspected victims Besides the murder of Olga Sazonova, Kolpakov is the prime suspect in at least two more murders of young girls committed in the Ulyanovsk Oblast. The first was the 28 May 1988 disappearance of Elena Spiridonova, a young girl who was abducted from the Krupskaya sovkhoz by a man driving a red Zhiguli.

The other case involved 11-year-old Olga Ivanova, a fifth-grade student at the Secondary School No. 28. On 15 January 1989, she left her home near the Iskra factory district to go sledding near Pobedy Park, but did not return home. In May of that year, her dismembered remains were found in the Unosti Park area, with her legs sawn off in a similar way to Sazonova.