Vladyslav Volkovich
Nighttime Killers
Basic Information
Born in 1967
Died in 1997 (suicide)
Ukraine
Crime partner Volodymyr Kondratenko
Arrested
- Arrested and charged with 16 murders. Most victims were shot with a 22 sporting rifle and stabbed or bludgeond with a wide variety of weapons ranging from stitching awls to bricks and iron bars.
- claimed that they began the murder spree in order to prepare themselves for an eventual career as contract killers, practicing on the homeless, and continued killing for profit and for fun. Kondratenko committed suicide in prison during the trial. Volkovich was found guilty and sentenced to life in prison.
motivation
- The two men discussed becoming contract killers, thinking that this would be a perfect job for them.
- They also discussed killing some of their friends for more immediate financial gain. However they did not know how to look for contract work, and were unsure they'd be able to kill a friend on the first try, so they decided to practice on the homeless.
- They reportedly killed at least five before risking to attack a more dangerous target. They eventually settled on attacking car owners; owning a personal vehicle was a considerable luxury and a sign of wealth in the former Soviet Union of the early 1990s.
- However the killers admitted that they did not have much luck killing random car owners, as most of them had little if any money on them, and taking and later selling their cars was difficult.
- By this time however both men admitted that they enjoyed the act of killing by itself, and continued to kill even if it didn't bring financial gain.