Alexander Spesivtsev, born in Novokuznetsk on March 1, 1970, was raised under his mother Lyudmila’s intense overprotection. The article says that as a teenager he repeatedly came to the attention of the police for hooliganism and theft, and in 1988, after another series of thefts, he was sent for treatment when an examination diagnosed schizophrenia.
In 1991, Spesivtsev was arrested after the death of 17-year-old Zhenya Guselnikova, whom investigators said he had kept in his apartment for nearly a month. However, instead of being sent to a prison colony, he was again placed in a special psychiatric hospital in Oryol and was released at the end of 1995 as recovered.
In the summer of 1996, fragments of children’s and teenagers’ bodies were found on the banks of the Aba River. Investigators concluded that at least 15 victims were involved. Despite a major search operation, Spesivtsev’s apartment was not checked because of a bureaucratic error: after his release, the clinic failed to notify the Interior Ministry and the local psychiatric registry.
According to investigators, Spesivtsev continued killing during that period, while his mother helped lure people in and dispose of remains. After police forced entry into the apartment in October, they found evidence of the crimes inside and a surviving girl who managed to testify. Spesivtsev initially escaped, but was detained a few days later.
Later, a court found Lyudmila Spesivtseva guilty of complicity in three murders and sentenced her to 13 years in prison. In May 2024, the Kemerovo Regional Court established Spesivtsev’s involvement in 15 additional murders. He is now under indefinite treatment at a high-security psychiatric clinic in the Volgograd region.