Biography

Anatoly “The Terminator” Onoprienko, a native of the Ukrainian city of Zhitomir, tallied up to fifty-two victims in a six-year killing spree. In March 1996, a manhunt was initiated across western Ukraine after eight families were found brutally murdered in their homes, most in remote villages of the Lvov region near the border of Poland. Onoprienko’s bloodlust culminated with a three-month rampage in which he killed more than fifty people in the Ukranian villages of Bratkovichi and Busk. Panic was so widespread in the two villages that an army division was employed and armed personnel carriers patrolled the streets.
In an attempt to stop the killings, the police imposed a security cordon around Bratkovichi. Onoprienko was undiscouraged by the army’s tactics and moved to nearby villages where he continued his carnage.
The killings followed a set pattern where Onoprienko chose isolated houses in the outskirts of villages. He would enter the homes before dawn, round up the family and shoot all of them – including children – at close range with a 12-gauge shotgun. Then he would torch the place and kill whoever crossed his path during his murderous rampage. He often stole valuables from his victims and sometimes scattered family photographs about the floor.
Police arrested Onoprienko in his girlfriend’s apartment in April 1996, after a nationwide manhunt. Onoprienko insisted that he should be executed, stating from his cell that “If I am ever let out, I will start killing again, but this time it will be worse, ten times worse. The urge is there. Seize this chance because I am being groomed to serve Satan. After what I have learnt out there, I have no competitors in my field. And if I am not killed I will escape from this jail and the first thing I’ll do is find Kuchma and hang him from a tree by his testicles.”
Work History
( April 16, 1996) Police arrested Anatoly Onoprienko, a 37-year-old former forestry student, sailor, and mental hospital outpatient, putting an end to the Ukraine’s worst killing spree. Anatoly, a native of Zhitomir, was arrested at his girlfriend’s house where he had a 12-gauge shotgun matching the one used in the 40 murders. He also had jewelry and video equipment belonging to some of his victims.
(March 1996) A manhunt was launched across western Ukraine after eight families was brutally murdered in their homes. Most of the victims lived in remote villages in the Lvov region near the border of Poland.
(April 1996) after a nationwide manhunt, police arrested Onoprienko in his girlfriend’s apartment.
(November 23, 1998) The trial of Onoprienko began in the city of Zhytomyr, 90 miles west of Kiev. Onoprienko claimed he felt like a robot driven for years by a dark force, arguing that he should not be tried until authorities determined the source of this force. In previous interviews Onoprienko rambled about the CIA, Interpol, unknown powers, and future revelations. Psychiatrists, however, ruled him fit to stand trial.
Onoprienko told a regional newspaper, “I have never regretted anything and I don’t regret anything now.” He added that cosmic forces planned to destroy humanity and replace it with “bio-robots.” Onoprienko looked his interviewers in the eye and spoke of his early discovery of special telepathic powers.
Claiming to have hypnotic powers Onoprienko stated that he had information “nobody, not even the president” had access to, he said he had received “permission” to kill, but did not explain what drove him to murder his victims. “I love all people and I loved those I killed. I looked those children I murdered in the eyes and knew that it had to be
done, for you its 52 murders, but for me that’s the norm.” He said he would have been prepared to kill his own son.
(February 12, 1999) A Ukrainian court ruled that Anatoli Onoprienko was mentally competent and could be held responsible for his crimes. The regional court in Zhytomyr said that Onoprienko “does not suffer any psychiatric diseases, is conscious of and is in control of the actions he commits, and does not require any extra psychiatric examination.” With the latest psychiatric examination showing Onoprienko mentally healthy, he will most likely be convicted and sentenced to death. But he will not be executed because Ukraine has pledged as a member of the Council of Europe to suspend capital punishment and eventually ban it.
(March 3, 1999) Onoprienko’s lawyer Ruslan Moshkovsky told the court “my defendant was from the age of four deprived of motherly love, and the absence of care which is necessary for the formation of a real man.” The prosecutor Yuri Ignatenko said an examination of Onoprienko’s mental health during the investigation had overturned an independent diagnosis of schizophrenia made before his arrest, and a further test ordered by the court confirmed his current mental health. There has been no news of his sentencing as of this date.