Yevhenii Balan

Yevhenii Balan (; born 1967), known as The Fastiv Maniac , is a Ukrainian serial killer and rapist who murdered nine people, including male acquaintances and his stepdaughter, from 2006 to 2011 in Fastiv and the surrounding area. Arrested by a passer-by for an attempted murder and rape, he soon confessed to his other crimes, after which he was tried, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Early life and first crime Little is known of Yevhenii Balan's early life. Born in 1967 in Boiarka, at some point in his life he went to the Komi ASSR in the Russian SSR, where he was convicted of rape and sentenced to 8 years imprisonment. His time in prison affected him mentally, with Balan deciding that if he were to continue raping, he would not leave his victims alive.

Release and move to Fastiv After serving out his sentence in full, Balan returned to Ukraine, initially settling in Volytsya and then Fastiv, where he entered into a common-law marriage with Nataliya Kornienko, a housekeeper whom his mother had hired to help around the house. He eventually moved in with Kornienko, who lived with her 16-year-old daughter Svitlana Strizh.

Kornienko would later claim in the first three months of their relationship, Balan managed to get a job at a sawmill and helped with housework, but would unexpectedly quit for no apparent reason. He accosted, raped and strangled Rachkova, before leaving her body to rot in the nearby shrubbery. When she approached the Krasny Oktyabr power plant, Strizh tried to call her mother to tell her that she was coming home - at that time, Balan grabbed her and dragged her to the bushes, where he raped and strangled Strizh.

In total, Balan confessed to three rapes and to nine total murders, but little information has been released about his ninth victim. During the duration of the trial, he expressed no remorse for his crimes and appeared to be indifferent towards the proceedings. In the end, Balan was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to life imprisonment.