The Russian Satan in a skirt

A horrific series of murders of defenseless pensioners took place in Russia between 2002 and 2010. During this period, no fewer than 17 elderly women aged between 61 and 89 were killed with a hammer or axe in the Russian city of Krasnoufimsk in the Sverdlovsk Oblast in order to rob them. Due to the brutality of the crimes, the Russian police assumed that the perpetrator was a man, which later turned out to be a big mistake, which is why the series of murders continued for eight years. In reality, it was a woman behind the murders. She was Irina Gaidamachuk, a mother of two and wife, who was born on May 22, 1972, in the city of Nyagan. Irina turned to the bottle at an early age, not only drinking liters of vodka but also taking drugs. Irina’s parents were unable to cope with this, which is why they lost custody of her. At the age of 18, Irina moved to Krasnoufimsk, where she wanted to make a fresh start without alcohol and drugs. There she met her future husband Yuri, with whom she had two children. Everything seemed perfect, but Irina simply couldn’t give up alcohol. Since Yuri didn’t give Irina any money for vodka, she came up with a diabolical plan. Chance came to her aid. When Irina helped an elderly lady across the street, the woman invited Irina to her home as a thank you. The elderly pensioner would have been better off not doing so, as Irina killed her with a vase and stole the meager sum of 23 euros from her handbag. But that was enough for Irina, because it bought her vodka. From then on, Irina pretended to be a social worker in order to gain access to the old ladies’ homes. Once inside, she would take her hammer or axe out of her handbag and kill the unsuspecting elderly women. She would then steal the money from their handbags to buy vodka. To cover her tracks, Irina would sometimes set fire to their houses. For a long time, the Russian police were in the dark about who the grandmother killer was. This was mainly because the police assumed that the perpetrator was a man, until an elderly lady managed to escape Irina in 2010, who had tried to murder her with her hammer. The elderly lady immediately alerted the police. Shortly afterwards, the body of 81-year-old Alexandra Povaritsnya was found. Alexandra’s neighbor was able to describe in detail the woman who had visited Alexandra on the day of the murder. This led the police to Irina, who confessed to all the murders during police questioning in order to finance her alcohol addiction. Irina Gaidamachuk, dubbed “Satan in a skirt” and “the monster of Krasnoufimsk” by the press, was sentenced to 20 years in prison in June 2012 for 17 murders and one attempted murder. For the victims’ relatives, the verdict was a mockery. However, according to Article 57 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, women and men under the age of 18 or over the age of 65 cannot be sentenced to life imprisonment. The 20 years were therefore the maximum sentence Irina could receive.