A court has recognized the evidence gathered by the Moscow Directorate of the Investigative Committee sufficient to convict Valery Makarenkov. He was found guilty on 31 counts of crimes under Part 1 of Article 131 (rape), Part 1 of Article 132 (sexual abuse) and Part 1 of Article 162 of the RF Penal Code (robbery).
The court and investigators have revealed that, in the period between 1987 and 2014, Makarenkov attacked women in the city of Moscow and robbed them. Most often he pretended to be a cyclist at night and in the early hours of morning and followed his victims in courtyards and on parking lots. He choked women until they passed and after that raped them and robbed of money and valuables. He usually committed his crimes between May and October, that is while it was warm enough to go cycling.
Makarenkov managed to hide from investigators for a long time because he acted in different districts of Moscow. He usually took his bicycle, got on a train and went to a district he chose. There he went to a park for cycling and looking for a victim. He was not seen twice in one place. The fact that Makarenkov attacked women from behind using a chokehold did not make it easier to catch him, because that way, the women were unable to describe the assailant.
He committed his last crime, an attempted assault on a 29-year-old resident of Moscow, on 26 May 2014, in Kuzminki park, where he was then detained. Policemen checked all cyclists who were out in evenings. When they asked Makarenkov to stop his bicycle he did not do that and tried to escape, but was caught.
Thanks to high-tech equipment of the Forensic Directorate of the Investigative Committee and an express DNA test it was possible to confirm that Makarenkov was involved in 31 crimes committed in Moscow.
The investigators and criminalists have done a lot of meticulous work on the case: they questioned over 100 victims and witnesses, assigned and ran DNA, biological, traceological, medical forensic inquiries. According to the results of a psychiatric evaluation, the accused is sane. In all, about 20,000 residents of Moscow have been checked on having been involved in those crimes.
The court has sentenced Makarenkov to 18 years in a maximum-security correctional facility.
At present, other assaults on women are being investigated, and Makarenkov is going to be checked on involvement in rape-related murders.
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