Kylozhsk Highway Killer

The Kylozhsk Highway Killer, also known as simply the Kylozhsk Killer (: Кыложск Убийца Шоссе), is an unidentified serial killer in Yarova responsible for the deaths of at least thirteen women and five men and the disappearances of four additional women in Kylozhsk, Golitsyna, between April 2011 and August 2012. The killer is also suspected to have assaulted numerous other women and young men. All of the killer’s victims were known or substance abusers. While the victims were taken from Kylozhsk, they were all found in different surrounding towns, including Kalinimovsk, Chistossosh, and Irkuchny, Golitsyna Oblast, along G156 and adjoining roadways. The main detectives that pursued the case were Lev Aspidov and Nikita Vissarion.

The murders and disappearances in and around the quiet town of Kylozhsk (population 19,200) dominated national media and resulted in further legislative protections for sex workers in Golitsyna Oblast and elsewhere in the country. In Pyotr Dobrokov’s book, Cold Case: The Kylozhsk Killer (Холодное дело: Кыложск убийца шоссе), it is alleged that a number of Golitsyna district officials ordered the cover-up of crucial evidence and know the identity of the serial killer. This has been vehemently denied.

Victims

 * 1) Klara Soldatova, 26, last seen in Kylozhsk, April/May 2011. Body found 15 March 2012, along G156.
 * 2) Nadka Trukhkina, 29, last seen in Kylozhsk, late April 2011. Body found 11 November 2012, along G60, five kilometres from Interdistrict 14.
 * 3) Sofia Rodchenka, 27, last seen in Kylozhsk, 7 June 2011. Body found 28 June 2012, on G156.
 * 4) Lena Shchegoleva, 19, last seen in Kylozhsk, 13 June 2011. Body found 25 September 2012, just off G156.
 * 5) Ekaterina Vsevolodovna, 27, last seen in Kylozhsk, 14 June 2011. Body found 23 March 2012, along Interdistrict 14.
 * 6) Luci García, 24, last seen in Kylozhsk, 20 June 2011.
 * 7) Yukhym Eduardovych, 20, last seen in Kylozhsk, late June 2011. Body found 3 July 2012, along Interdistrict 14.
 * 8) Mariya Kurepina, 23, last seen in Kylozhsk, late June 2011. Body found 7 May 2012, along G156.
 * 9) Emma Urbanovskaya, 24, last seen in Kylozhsk, 11 July 2011.
 * 10) Hanna Salnikova, 26, last seen in Kylozhsk, 1 September 2011. Body found 29 September 2012, along Interdistrict 14.
 * 11) Vadim Novstock, 26, last seen in Kylozhsk, 9 September 2011. Body found 1 May 2012, along G132.
 * 12) Ulyana Pronicheva, 21, last seen in Kylozhsk, 16 September 2011.
 * 13) Nikolay Shchavelsky, 26, last seen in Kylozhsk, late September 2011. Body found 15 May 2012, along Interdistrict 14.
 * 14) Orya Blum, 20, last seen in Kylozhsk, September/October 2011. Body found 9 April 2012, along Interdistrict 14.
 * 15) Batjargal Altantsetseg, 22, last seen in Kylozhsk, 15 October 2011.
 * 16) Raina Sharanova-Tsigler, 24, last seen in Kylozhsk, 18 October 2011. Body found 17 March 2012, along Interdistrict 14.
 * 17) Damir Afanasievich, 23, last seen in Kylozhsk, 25 October 2011. Body found 8 May 2012, along G139.
 * 18) Mariya Alexopolous, 28, last seen in Kylozhsk, October/November 2011. Body found 9 April 2012, along Interdistrict 14.
 * 19) Vasilisa Chernakova, 27, last seen in Kylozhsk, November 2011.
 * 20) Victor ‘Vitya’ Prazdnikov, 22, last seen in Kylozhsk, 21 December 2011. Body found 7 May 2012, along G132.
 * 21) Vira Morhun-Kocheryozhkina, 24, last seen in Kylozhsk, January 2012.
 * 22) Ekaterina Sayana, 23, last seen in Kylozhsk, 17 January 2012. Body found 29 September 2012, just off Interdistrict 14.

Oleg Teryoshin
In May 2012, lorry driver Oleg Teryoshin, 46, was brought in for questioning by the Kylozhsk County Police following his identification by a sex worker by means of a picture provided by a detective named Svitlana Ivanenko. The sex worker described her alleged assailant, who attempted to drag her into his transit van, as having a “large nose and deep-set, black eyes.” She managed to escape by kneeing the attacker in his groin. However, she never named Teryoshin as a positive suspect but stated he looked like the assailant. Teryoshin was later charged and arrested after a string of rape accusations by several female and male prostitutes. Sofia Rodchenka and Yukhym Eduardovych were both confirmed to have been raped before being murdered by strangulation, however, the same discarded DNA acquired by the police from their remains did not match Teryoshin’s. His profession on the road, history of violence, along with his admission of bicuriosity, raised heightened suspicions by the police but it is not widely accepted that Teryoshin was the Kylozhsk Highway Killer. Teryoshin hanged himself in prison in 2014.

Leonid ‘Leonya’ Pevrovoyev
Convicted and resident of Kylozhsk, Leonid ‘Leonya’ Pevrovoyev, 52, was indicted for the murder of ex-girlfriend Nadka Trukhkina in June 2013. Pevrovoyev informed Trukhkina’s brother Slava Trukhkin in April 2011 that she had informed him via text message that she was on vacation in Chaykoboksarsk for a few weeks and would not be contactable during that time. The fact no such text message was found on Pevrovoyev’s phone from Trukhkina gave the police reason to believe he lied and it was merely an attempt to prevent family members from looking for her. However, deleted text messages on the mobile device from 13 and 14 April showed Trukhkina expressed the desire to break up with Pevrovoyev, to which he responded with threats of jumping off a bridge. Trukhkin also accused Pevrovoyev of being physically abusive and psychologically manipulative towards his sister, however, owing to drug charges of his own, his claims were dismissed. Pevrovoyev relocated to Uchkent, Bochinovka Oblast in August 2013 and posted a bond of $45,000 USD to the police. Following this, all charges were dropped by Kylozhsk County Police, citing lack of evidence, and the case effectively went cold. The way Trukhkina was killed and the fashion in which her body was discarded near the locations of the other victims, has led to the police suspecting she was murdered by the Kylozhsk Highway Killer. It is speculated that she may have been a part-time sex worker based in one of the town’s bordellos and her history of substance abuse is known.