'Butcher of Rostov' cannibal killed 52 people, cut out their sex organs then ate them

dailystar.co.uk:

serial killer known as the Red Ripper who raped and butchered 52 people and also ate body parts from some of his victims.Romanovich Chikatilo was known as the Butcher of Rostov and was one of the most prolific serial killers in world history.His sickening crimes included rape, murder, mutilation and cannibalism.Chikatilo's heinous crimes spanned the period from 1978 until 1990, with a police investigation hampered by the Soviet ideology that serial killings cannot occur in a Communist society.As a result of this mentality he was initially arrested and released, which led to him committing more murders.After his second arrest, the Rostov Ripper admitted to killing 57 women and children.He was tried and convicted for 52 of those murders in 1992.Chikatilo had worked as a teacher in the mining city of Novoshakhtinsk in Rostov.In his various teaching roles, he violently sexually assaulted children of both genders.Chikatilo's first documented victim was nine-year-old Lena Zakotnova in 1978.

After luring her into an abandoned shed, the sick teacher tried to rape her.During the struggle, he reportedly slashed Lena with a knife and ejaculated at the same time – cementing his association of violence with sexual gratification.Although the sick married monster had been spotted with Lena before her disappearance, Chikatilo's wife provided him with a watertight alibi – meaning someone else was arrested for the heinous crime.Still a free man, Chikatilo continued to work as a teacher until the allegations of indecent assault built up and gave him a reputation.