Artem and Nikita Anufriev and Lytkin Irkutsk serial killers Country: Russia

Biography of Artem and Nikita Anufriev and Lytkin

Artem Anufriev was born in 1992 and Nikita Lytkin was born in 1993. Artem was raised by his mother, who worked as an accountant for an insurance company. She was known for constantly filing complaints against the school where Artem studied whenever he received a poor grade. She even managed to make the physics teacher quit teaching Artem. Despite excelling academically and participating in school activities, Artem struggled to make friends and was often an outcast among his peers.

Lytkin's mother left him and his father, who remarried and had another son. After the death of his second wife and his second son's suicide, Lytkin's father returned to his first family. This pattern of leaving and returning repeated several times.

When Lytkin befriended Artem, his mother disapproved of their friendship fearing that Artem would become lazy like her son and abandon his extracurricular activities. Lytkin dropped out of school after the 9th grade, briefly attended college, and then dropped out again. However, Artem did not disappoint his mother and went on to attend medical school while working as a laborer.

Both friends had a strong fascination with studying the biographies of serial killers, including the notorious Irkutsk gang called "Magic of Blood," who killed five homeless people and injured three others. Inspired by these murderers, Anufriev and Lytkin even created a noise music album called "Dissected Pugacheva."

In November 2010, Anufriev and Lytkin attacked a woman on the street, hitting her in the neck. In December, they assaulted another woman and stole her purse containing 500 rubles. Realizing that their current methods were not leading to the desired outcome, the criminals bought baseball bats and brutally beat a 12-year-old boy to death while he was riding a sled. Encouraged by their success, they planned a specific route where they killed three more men and two women, seriously injuring nine others, including a pregnant woman. Only one of their victims was homeless, which contradicts the initial claims that their motive was to target the homeless population. Anufriev and Lytkin created multiple social media groups, posted videos of their atrocities, and encouraged others to commit at least one murder in their lifetime.

The investigators initially struggled to link the murders to a single serial killer due to the diversity of their victims. However, eventually, composite sketches of the suspects were created. In April 2011, Lytkin's grandmother recognized the sketches as resembling her grandson's acquaintances. Soon after, a video was discovered on Lytkin's camera showing him cutting off the ear of a deceased woman. Lytkin's relatives decided to report this evidence to the authorities, leading to the arrest of both Lytkin and Anufriev. During the announcement of the verdict, Lytkin appeared visibly nervous, while Anufriev remained calm, looking down at the floor. They were both sentenced to life imprisonment and 24 years in prison, respectively, and were ordered to pay 2.75 million rubles in compensation to the victims.