Serial Killer Rapist Who Killed 83 Women Gets 10 More Years in Prison for New Confessions

A Russian serial killer, already serving a life sentence for the murder of over 80 women, has confessed to further crimes, resulting in an additional 10-year prison sentence.

ⓒMikhail Popkov during an interview with Russian state media

According to reports from RIA Novosti and other outlets on the 22nd (local time), the Leninsky District Court in Irkutsk Oblast, Siberia, sentenced Mikhail Popkov (59) to an additional 10 years in prison for the murder of three more women.

During the trial, evidence further proved that Popkov used a knife and other weapons to kill three women, aged between 25 and 31, in the Irkutsk region between 1997 and 2003.

Earlier in January, Popkov confessed to these crimes.

The Russian Federal Investigative Committee has interrogated 40 witnesses and conducted on-site inspections and psychological evaluations of Popkov to confirm this.

Popkov, who served as a police officer in Angarsk, Irkutsk Oblast, has already faced four convictions for committing serial murders between 1992 and 2010.

ⓒYonhap News

In 2015, the Angarsk District Court, Irkutsk Region, sentenced him to life imprisonment for charges including the murder of 22 women. Popkov later confessed to killing an additional 59 women, leading to further charges. In 2018, the local court recognized 56 of these as his crimes and again sentenced him to life imprisonment.

While serving his sentence, Popkov also confessed to the belated murder of two more women, and in 2021, the court added another sentence of 9 years and 8 months.

Total Confirmed Killings

To date, he has confessed to a total of 86 killings, of which the court has recognized 83 as his crimes.

After retiring from the police in 1998, he continued his crimes until police in Vladivostok, Far East, accidentally arrested him in 2012. He approached young women, including female drinkers and drunken hostesses, offering to take them home in a “police car” before sexually assaulting and killing them in secluded places.

Due to his horrific methods of kidnapping, sexually assaulting, and then killing his victims, locals referred to Popkov as “The Madman of Angarsk” or “The Werewolf.”

In January, Popkov expressed his desire to leave prison and join the Wagner Group mercenaries to fight in Ukraine. In an interview with Russian state TV, he said, “I want to fight for Russia,” and requested, “Let me fight alongside Putin’s warriors.”

However, at the time, public opinion was that “his goal seems to be to assault women in Ukraine rather than war sexually. He should never be sent.”