Vladimir Marchev

Vladimir Mikhailovich Marchev (; born August 7, 1977), known as The Degtyarsk Maniac , is a Russian serial killer who murdered three women around Sverdlovsk Oblast from 2010 to 2011. While his motive was robbery, he additionally decapitated, cut off the hands and then dismembered their remains, all of which he then scattered in nearby areas.

After being identified as the killer, he was tried, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Early life

Relatively little is known about Marchev's early life. Born on August 7, 1977, in the village of Verkhnyaya Sinyachikha, he was the only son of Mikhail and Nadezhda Marchev, who were described as fairly ordinary people. Throughout his childhood and adolescence, Vladimir did not exhibit any signs of aggression towards others, and was characterized rather positively. After graduation, he found work as the driver of an excavator and moved to Degtyarsk. There, he lived a secluded life by himself, as he had apparent problems communicating with women.

Crimes Assault and imprisonment In 2006, Marchev offered a female passer-by a ride in his car, and after she accepted, he proceeded to rob and attempt to strangle her. However, the victim managed to escape and reported the attack to the police, who promptly arrested him. For this, Marchev was convicted on robbery charges and sentenced to spend three years at a prison colony.

Release and murders After serving out his sentence in full, Marchev was released from prison. Not long after this, he would resume his criminal activities, but this time would start killing his victims in-between his work shifts at a village in the nearby Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

His modus operandi consisted of selecting women aged between 20 and 47 at various highways, to whom he would offer a ride in his Lada Riva to their desired destination in exchange for a small fee. If the victims agreed, Marchev would instead drive them to a nearby forest, where he would strangle and stab them before stealing all of their valuables. Once this was done, he would then decapitate the bodies, cut off the hands and then scatter the dismembered remains around the area.

The first murder occurred on February 7, 2010. On that day, Marchev was clearing snow off the streets of Pervouralsk with his snowplow when he noticed 23-year-old Yana Nurgalieva walking down the street. After running up to her and knocking her over, Marchev dragged Nurgalieva into his vehicle, drove to a vacant lot in the Yelnichny neighborhood and strangled her with a stocking. He then left the body nearby and covered it up with snow, but returned a few days later to cut off her arms up to the elbow and also remove her head. The remains were then discarded at different sections of the nearby highway. On September 30, 2013, the Sverdlovsk Regional Court found him guilty on all counts and subsequently sentenced him to life imprisonment.