The Irkutsk Region Office of the Investigative Committee has finished an investigation against Mikhail Popkov charged with 60 counts of crimes under items “f” and “h” of Article 102 of the RSFSR Criminal Code; Part 2, items “a” and “j” of Article 105, Part 3 of Article 30, Part 2, item “j” of Article 105 of the RF Criminal Code.
According to investigators, Popkov committed in Irkutsk Region (the town of Irkutsk and Irkutsk District, the town of Angarsk and its district, the town of Usolye-Sibirskoye and its district) at least 84 murders between 1992 and 2010. He killed women of different social positions aged between 16 and 40, and a police officer. Popkov’s involvement in the murder of the police officer was found in 1999.
In January 2015, the Irkutsk Region Court sentenced Popkov to life in prison for 22 murders and 2 attempted murders. At the same time, the investigators of the Irkutsk Region Office of the Investigative Committee and agents of a specialized team of the Interior Ministry’s regional directorate kept on looking into his crimes and managed to solve 60 more of them.
As part of the inquiry the investigators carefully analyzed similar crimes committed earlier studying more than 350 cases and check materials. Out of those crimes they picked the ones that were committed in Popkov’s manner and then worked out tactics of working with the accused during which he eventually confessed. The investigators found out the true motive behind the crimes committed by Popkov and the contributing factors of forming his personality as a serial killer who had acted in the region for more than 20 years.
Committed work of the investigators trying to solve series of crimes committed by the Angarsk maniac helped them to gather compelling evidence against Popkov. They found witnesses of his crimes. More than 1,000 witnesses were questioned, including those living in different regions of Russia (from Sakhalin to Kaliningrad Regions) and abroad. More than 150 on-site checks of statements were run, 20 bodies of the victims were exhumed and more than 200 forensic inquiries were run, including 60 complex ones carried out by commissions of experts.
The investigators conducted some additional examinations of crime scenes, including those in remote areas – woods, waterways and swamps using heavy equipment like excavators and tractors, and involving divers, as well as other specialists and latest forensic equipment of the Investigative Committee.
During those examinations, the investigators found graves of victims buried 15-20 years ago, remains of victims, their personal belongings, murder weapons (axes, screwdrivers, knives), as well as items indicated by Popkov in his statements.
Circumstances surrounding Popkov’s crimes, ways and motives of the murders, the kind of the murder weapons, the number of nature of physical harm inflicted, Popkov’s behavior before, during and after the crimes raised doubts of his mental health, so he was evaluated on several occasions, including by the Serbsky State Scientific Center for Social and Forensic Psychiatry of the Healthcare Ministry. According to conclusions made by experts Popkov did not suffer and is does not suffer from any chronic or temporary mental disorder, dementia or any other mental state. Neither was he suffering from any state during his crimes which could have prevented him from appreciating his actions. At the moment of the evaluation he was able to appreciate his actions as well.
The investigators have enough evidence, so the case of 322 files with a signed indictment is going to be referred to court soon.
Spokesperson for the Investigative Committee Svetlana Petrenko
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