The last serial killer of the USSR, who escaped death penalty, denied parole

Dmitry Gridin, "the last serial killer of the USSR," who was sentenced to life in prison for raping and murdering schoolgirls in Magnitogorsk, was denied parole, a message posted on the website of a Vologda Region court said.

Gridin was convicted in October 1990 and sentenced to death penalty. However, Russia abolished death penalty in 1993, and his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment in a colony of the Belozersky district of the Vologda region.

Gridin repeatedly applied for parole claiming that he had served 31 years of his sentence without any serious violations. The convict also noted that he did not accept the court verdict, because  during the investigation he was supposedly forced to incriminate himself.

However, the court established that Gridin does not always comply with the requirements of the detention regime. During the entire period of his sentence service, Gridin has committed 24 violations both in the pre-trial detention center and the colony. In addition, the convict did not always respond appropriately to preventive measures. Having taken those circumstances into account, the court decided to reject his petition.

Dmitry Gridin, the "last serial killer of the USSR," committed his first crime in 1989, when he killed a 16-year-old girl in Magnitogorsk. The same year, the police started receiving reports from other female residents of the city, who said that they were attacked at entrances and in elevators of their apartment buildings. Gridin was nicknamed as the "lift man" for his crime pattern.

He left a fingerprint at the scene of one of his murders. On November 25, 1989, Gridin tried to commit another attack, but his victim showed serious resistance to the attacker, and he was forced to run away in fear. As he was escaping, he lost his hat and glasses. It was -20C that day, and the running bareheaded man attracted people's attention, which eventually led to his capture.

Before his arrest, he had killed two more girls, but the killer's surviving victims were able to identify him. When captured, Gridin pleaded guilty to his crimes and explained them with his unsuccessful family life. At first, Gridin confessed and described each of his crimes in detail, but later he withdrew his testimony.

The Gridin case sparked massive public outcry. The people were enraged and demanded the murderer should be executed in public. The trial began in the fall of 1990 and was accompanied by popular unrest: people demanded that the criminal be handed the harshest sentence.