Vasili Komaroff

Vasili Komaroff
Василий Комаров
Vasili Komaroff ; Василий Комаров
	Executed
Conviction(s)	Murder
Criminal penalty	Death
Details
Victims	33 known
Span of crimes	1921–1923
Country	Soviet Union

Vasili Ivanovich Komaroff (

horse trader who murdered at least 33 customers in the stable

next to his home, and was executed on June 18, 1923.

Background

Komaroff was born Vasili Terentevich Petrov (Russian: Василий Терентьевич Петров) in 1871, to a large poor family in

Russian-Japanese War, Komaroff traveled to the Far East where he managed to earn a small fortune, but he soon wasted the money. Komaroff received a one-year prison sentence for robbing a military warehouse, and while serving his sentence his wife died from cholera. After his release he settled in Riga (now in Latvia) where he married a Polish widow named Sophia, with whom he had two children. Komaroff, still an alcoholic, often beat

his wife and children.

In 1915, during

horse trader, as well as continuing his thievery

.

Murders

In February 1921, when

Moscow River

. The following year Komarov's wife Sophia found out about the murders, but reacted to it calmly, and began participating in the killings herself. In 1921 he committed at least 17 murders, in the next two years - still at least 12 murders, although he later confessed to 33 murders.

Police began to notice a series of murders had started occurring around Moscow when the bodies of 21 men were discovered after being disposed in sacks of garbage every Thursday or Saturday, leading the police to a two-year investigation. Komaroff was known as a happily married man, but those close to the family knew that he was extremely abusive, and had once tried to kill his eight-year-old son. Spectators in the market where he went to sell his horses began to notice that he came every Wednesday and Friday, many times without bringing a horse, and almost always left with a customer.