The pair's first recorded murder dates back to one night in July 2003, when Lokhtachyov and Safonov were out drinking and searching for the company of a woman around Magnitogorsk.
They finally came across a young woman at the intersection of Karl Marx Avenue and Leningradskaya Street and convinced her to join them - they then drove to a field near the village of Verkhnezikilsky, where both took turns raping her.
[1] The pair repeated their usual routine with another young woman in November, but this with more violent methods - both used a noose to strangle her and then hit her on the head with a meat cleaver.
After burgling into Kosterkin's house and locating him, he shot the pensioner twice in the chest, before going into an adjacent room and shooting dead the man's 43-year-old son, who was still sleeping.
[1] The sixth victim was picked up from Karl Marx Avenue on Christmas and driven to the cement plant, where the two men raped and strangled her before throwing the body into a nearby pit and setting it ablaze.
[1] The seventh victim was picked up a week later, but the car stalled on the way to the cement plant near Tsementsik, leading Lokhtachyov and Safonov to rape and kill on the roadside and then drag the body to the pit.
On January 24, 2004, the police found the charred body of the seventh victim, but were unable to establish her identity until a week and a half later.
[4] In June 2021, while serving his life term at the Polar Owl colony, Lokhtachyov suddenly contacted investigators, claiming that he wanted to confess to the Kosterkin murders.