Sergey Tkach Maniac Country: Ukraine

Biography of Sergey Tkach

Sergey Tkach is a Soviet and Ukrainian serial killer, rapist, and pedophile. He is always clean-shaven, well-groomed, and dressed decently, especially for someone in prison. He is always prepared for media interviews, with his speech impeccably delivered, and his phrases ready for scandalous reports. Tkach often says, "You don't understand, I am not a human, I am a beast," using both simple and complex constructions to intrigue those who want to understand the psychology of a serial killer with 25 years of experience.

Soon, a trial will begin in Ukraine for the most elusive maniac of the Soviet Union, who is responsible for nearly 100 victims. Tkach tells journalists, "They should make a movie about me!" The Dnipropetrovsk prosecutor's office played one of the interrogation tapes of Sergey Tkach. The ordinary procedure required an act room to be cleared out for several armed guards, a few people, including undercover officers, three investigators, a stenographer, photographers, and videographers. Everyone's attention is focused on the screen as the video camera captures the image of a short, gray-haired man with big eyes, speaking softly and with a rhythmic tone, captivating the attention and consciousness of all listeners. Tkach weaves a web of words, and even through the screen, one can feel how he gradually captivates the attention of his audience.

Tkach continues his narrative, describing how he used his usual technique to grab his victims from behind, strangling and raping them. When asked why he committed such heinous crimes, even the experienced Ukrainian Prosecutor Anatoliy Shaida cannot comprehend his answer. Tkach replies, "I don't know. It was a sudden impulse. I can't explain it." He then goes on to discuss why he wasn't interested in his victims' jeans, although he sometimes collected "souvenirs" from his crime scenes for his cannibalistic collection.

Tkach's biography appears to be quite ordinary at first glance. He made a living through odd jobs, drank alcohol excessively, and lost his driving privileges on a tractor. He was fired from a factory for theft. Tkach was married three times and has four children. He even abandoned his first child to spite his first wife. He grew up with a harsh and abusive father, who was a coal miner. What triggered him to become a murderer? Criminal psychology in the former Soviet Union was not a well-studied genre. They lacked the abundance of professors and scientists that America had to analyze every maniac. Investigators from the prosecutor's office only note that Tkach possessed unique skills that assisted him in evading capture for 25 years. Despite being pursued by hundreds of special agents from all over the Soviet Union, setting up ambushes, traps, and searching every meter of Dnipropetrovsk and its surrounding areas, Tkach always managed to slip away.

"I have been waiting for you for too long, over 20 years," Tkach calmly greeted the police officers when they finally came to arrest him. His external biography seems quite ordinary. He lived on odd jobs, drank excessively, and lost his rights to drive a tractor. He then stole something from a factory and was fired as a result. He has been married three times and has four children. He refuses to acknowledge his first child to spite his first wife. His youngest son, who suffered cruel punishment from his coal miner father, may have been the trigger for his future crimes. Tkach then became involved in weightlifting, training with a fanatical dedication. He became the champion of Kuzbass, the Russian region where he spent his childhood and youth. After his sports career, Tkach joined the police force as a forensic expert. However, he was eventually expelled from the force for attempting to falsify forensic reports for money. Nevertheless, his professional knowledge of evidence and forensic procedures greatly aided him when he switched to the other side of the law. Tkach would collect any items from the crime scene that might contain his fingerprints. He knew how to stage a crime scene in a way that left no evidence for investigators to use.

In 1980, on the advice of doctors, Tkach moved his war veteran father from cold Kuzbass to the warm Crimea. After that, he changed cities, wives, and jobs several times. The police were searching for the Dnipropetrovsk, Pavlodar, and Poltava maniacs, not realizing they were all the same person. In the 1980s, after one of his murders, Tkach himself called the police. However, the officer on duty dismissed him as a madman and rudely hung up. Tkach played a terrifying game of cat and mouse with the Soviet law enforcement system for a quarter of a century. Eventually, he either grew tired or lost control of his impulse for impunity. Tkach strangled and raped a neighbor's daughter and even attended her funeral, where the local children recognized "the man who took Anya away."

Tkach nonchalantly shrugs when he learns about the surviving victims. He says, "Maybe. My main concern was to prevent them from resisting. They might have scratched my face. But for over 20 years, not a single scratch!"

Tkach constantly requested a bulletproof vest when taken out for investigative experiments, fearing retaliation.

There is another group of Tkach's victims that the investigative authorities are reluctant to talk about. Several innocent people were wrongly convicted for his crimes. At least six people, possibly more, were wrongly imprisoned. Igor Ryzhkov served 10 years and still carries the stigma of being an outcast in his small town, even now that the true killer has been revealed. Together with Lyudmila Svetlichnaya, Ryzhkov periodically travels to Moscow in search of justice. Moscow, the capital of a non-existent country that wrongly sentenced him and distorted his life. Lyudmila Svetlichnaya is the mother of one of the murdered girls. Her husband couldn't bear the suspicion of rape and murder and hanged himself in prison. They are among the lucky ones in some sense, as the other surviving "judicial errors" are still behind bars for Tkach's crimes. The prosecutor's office says their cases will be reviewed, but only after Tkach receives his sentence, which will take several more years due to the extensive 105-volume case. However, Tkach is not concerned. He asks, "They made a movie about Chikatilo, maybe they will make one about me too?"