Russian: 1st Killing Was "Like First Love"

Man Accused Of Tallying Murder Victims On Chessboard Says Killing Was "Unforgettable"

(AP)  A man accused of killing dozens of people and keeping count of them on a chessboard reveled in the memory of his first murder at his trial Tuesday, saying "it's like first love. It's unforgettable," news reports said.

Alexander Pichushkin also insisted that prosecutors charge him with all the murders he has taken credit for, saying to do otherwise would be unfair, RIA-Novosti and Interfax reported.

Pichushkin, who went on trial last month in one of Russia's most gruesome serial killing sprees, has confessed to murdering 63 people, with the goal of marking all 64 squares on the chessboard. Prosecutors charged him with 49 murders, most of them committed earlier this decade over the course of five years in Bittsa Park, a sprawling wild green area on the southern edge of Moscow.

The killings terrorized the capital and Russian media dubbed him the "Bittsa Maniac."

Experts at Russia's main psychiatric clinic have found that Pichushkin is sane.

In testimony at Moscow City Court, he recounted the details of his killings and reveled in the memory of his first killing, committed in 1992, long before the start of the murders that he is now charged with.

"This first murder, it's like first love. It's unforgettable," he was quoted by RIA-Novosti as saying.

He said in an earlier televised confession that he had killed his first victim, a classmate, in 1992 when he was 18. Police had questioned him then, but no charges were filed.

Prosecutors have focused on the series of killings in Bittsa Park in 2001, although he claims to have killed several people years earlier. Most of the victims were men, whom Pichushkin had lured to the park with the promise of a drink of vodka to mourn the death of his "beloved" dog.

Pichushkin killed 11 people in 2001, including six in one month, prosecutors said. He killed about 40 of his first victims by throwing them into a sewage pit, and in a few cases strangled or hit them in the head.

From 2005, he began to kill with "particular cruelty," hitting his intoxicated victims multiple times in the head with a hammer, then sticking an unfinished bottle of vodka into their broken skulls, prosecutors have said. He also no longer tried to conceal the bodies, leaving them at the crime scene.

Despite his claims to have killed many more, prosecutors have only charged Pichushkin with 49 murders and three kidnappings -- the incidents apparently investigators have been able to definitively link him to.

He claimed that he was aware that a woman whom he intended to kill left a note at home saying she was going for a stroll with him -- but killed her anyway. Police arrested him quickly afterward in June 2006.

"I burnt myself, so there's no need for the cops to take credit for catching me," he was quoted as saying. "I'm a professional."

On Tuesday, Russian news agencies reported, the court judge tried to limit Pichushkin from testifying about murders other those he was charged with.

"And the 63 doesn't interest you? Even though they found the bodies?" he was quoted as saying. "I thought it would be unfair to forget about the other 11 people."

In a confession that was televised earlier, he made similarly lurid claims about his need to commit murder saying: "For me, a life without murder is like a life without food for you."

Russian media have speculated that Pichushkin may have been motivated by a macabre competition with Russia's most notorious serial killer, Andrei Chikatilo, who was convicted in 1992 of killing 52 children and young women in 12 years.

[johnny_chaos]

i dont know, bush isnt really the same in anyway, sorry. this is news. the guy was is a sick basta-rd, he managed to get into the nes and will spend the rest of his life with larger serial killers in a russian prison, or get shot, hung or whatever they do with his type in russia. honestly, russians make americans look like rank amatures when it comes to punishment. as far as censoring this ***, go back to russia, or china, its news. sorry, but the MSM would rather tell us that brittany wasnt wearing underwear, or some idiot killed people with a hammer then bush signed a law allowing any future president the legal justification to suspend the constitution.

[mediapreachr]

This is not news and should not figure here.

[wfbdem]

If you are responsible for 63 deaths, you go to jail and get a needle stuck in you.


If you are responsible for 500,000 deaths, we elect you to a second term.

[sgtrds]

This guy is a rank amateur. Bush has murdered tens of thousands of people and he''s still on the loose to slaughter even more.......

[spinster2]

It looks like prosecutor''s think he really was in competition with Andrei Chikatilo as they charged him with 49 murders and 3 kidnapping''s which add up to 52. It looks like they charged him with as many as they could without letting him reach his perverted goal.

[jetlizhan]

this man is the closest thing to the devil himself - what scum garbage - d@mn this b@stard

[simonsez40]

Just goes to show you that life is stranger than any fiction...........sick pups in the world!

[mitywhity]

The devil came a calling and this guy opened the door.

[jshmks]

In other news. I just had a bangin'' *** vanilla bean coolata from Dunkin'' Donuts.

[oeangus]

Don''t see how this qualifies as news. What garbage.