Yegor Khabarov

Yegor Nikolayevich Khabarov (Russian: Егор Николаевич Хабаров; born May 18, 1979), known as The Electrician (Russian: Электрик), is a Russian murderer and suspected serial killer who was convicted of electrocuting at least two men in Yekaterinburg from 2008 to 2009, with the help of accomplice Sergey Kochnev. He was suspected in a total of seven deaths, but was never charged due to a lack of evidence.

In 2010, Khabarov was found not guilty by reason of insanity and interned at a psychiatric clinic, from where he was released after 12 years. This controversial move sparked much controversy and claims that he was discharged due to corrupt hospital officials being bribed by his rich parents.

Biography

Childhood and youth Yegor Nikolayevich Khabarov was born on May 18, 1979, in Sverdlovsk (present-day Yekaterinburg). He grew up in a relatively prosperous and safe environment, which was only bolstered after his father Nikolai achieved success with his business ventures in the early 1990s. At school, Khabarov expressed great interest in physics, but was considered unpopular due to his introverted nature, causing him to become withdrawn and aloof. Because of this, he had to be interned at a psychiatric hospital for some time.

After graduating from high school in 1997, Khabarov enrolled at the Ural State Technical University, where he studied electrical engineering. After successfully graduating from there, he got a job as a foreman of a power plant at the Novoberezyovskaya CHPP. During this period, his father bought him an apartment with an underground garage in another district of Yekaterinburg, where Khabarov soon moved into.

According to friends and acquaintances, Khabarov was considered a very likeable, compassionate and helpful man, but had difficulty communicating with girls due to his short stature, slim build and premature baldness. In late 2002, Khabarov began to show signs of a mental illness and started acting erratically, leading to his first crimes. Khabarov then placed a wire loop on the casing of the bombs as a pin, which exploded after about four minutes. He detonated several of the devices at the Mikhailovsky Cemetery in Yekaterinburg, making video recordings of the explosions which he planned to use as proof to his potential clients that they worked. After his arrest, officers recovered two such videos and several explosive devices which would be used as evidence at his later trial.

In response to this, Khabarov's father hired a team of lawyers who petitioned for a forensic psychiatric evaluation at the Sverdlovsk Regional Clinical Psychiatric Hospital, which found him to be insane. Thinking that his previous accomplices were too cowardly and lacking willpower, Khabarov convinced several colleagues from his job as a security guard to join in instead - in this group, he established strict discipline and enjoyed unquestionable authority, despite his stocky physique and frail appearance.

In order to supply his gang with weapons, Khabarov purchased gas pistols, which he later converted to fire live ammunition and tested them in the woods, where he had set up several arms caches.

Murders Vlad Porfiriev Khabarov committed his first known murder in the summer of 2008, the victim being 27-year-old computer repairman Vladislav Porfiriev. On the afternoon of June 8, Khabarov met with Porfiriev at the intersection of Lenin and Gagarin Streets under the pretext of offering him an odd job. He had gotten into contact with him after seeing an ad about selling computer accessories, and after meeting up, he convinced Anton to go his garage, with the victim unaware that Kochnev was waiting for him. Instead, they tied Anton up and put him in the car, after which they wrapped wires around his body, one end of which was connected to four large high-voltage capacitors. As a result, Anton received a fatal electric shock and died on the spot.

That same night, Khabarov and Kochnev transported the body to the outskirts of Yekaterinburg, where they dumped the body in a ditch and then set some car tires ablaze to burn the remains. He also constructed a battery with high-powered electrical capacitators, which he used to kill Anton. To keep them in working order, Khabarov assembled a portable power station, a source of high voltage that was used to power said battery.

He also planned to ambush and attack motorists on a road leading up to Yekaterinburg, and to this end, he had purchased a hidden video camera and installed it in the soles of his boots, which he would place by the roadside and observe the passing cars from his computer at home. In order to stop the vehicles of potential victims, Khabarov assembled a microwave generator from transistors, lamps, a Tesla coil, and a magnetron from a microwave oven whose microwave rays would disable electronics and silence the engine through leaks and rubber seals in the car hood's cover, but he ultimately failed in making a workable version of this device. To conduct various experiments, he assembled a small, high-frequency generator in his apartment that he planned to improve the performance of explosions of vessels and containers containing liquid, by bringing them to bare wires under voltage and selecting a certain frequency. He also conducted experiments on creating a neuro-optical system, which would create flashes that affected parts of the brain responsible for storing memories. In particular, officers found a newspaper with several advertisements for sales of computer parts that had been highlighted - several people who had supposedly wanted to buy such parts had been reported missing.

Current status Since his discharge, Khabarov has seemingly been able to adapt and has avoided legal trouble. In early 2023, Khabarov took a job as a security guard at a shopping mall in Yekaterinburg, but was quickly recognized by a colleague who was a former employee at the Ministry of Internal Affairs. Following the mass publicity, the Sverdlovsk Department of Regional Affairs placed him under surveillance, according to State Duma deputy Andrey Alshevskikh. The officers promised that they would soon put him on a watchlist and that they would require him to submit required applications on a regular basis, as well as applying additional restrictions if necessary.

Former head duputy of the Verkhnepyshma Investigative Committee Yuri Elantsev questioned the conclusions of the psychiatric examinations, as well as the decision to release Khabarov from the intensive care facility. Elantsev stated his belief that Khabarov was sane at the time of the crimes, pointing out that he had a high IQ, meticulously prepared for the crimes, skillfully directed not only his own actions but those of his accomplice, was fully aware of his actions and took measures to conceal them, indicating that he still posed a danger to society at large. Several law enforcement officials also indicated their belief that his relatives - who are very influential in the Sverdlovsk Oblast - were likely involved in having him released.