[1] In early 1989, he was arrested for sexually abusing several friends of his 5-year-old daughter, and while Vasilyev claimed he was innocent, he was nonetheless convicted of committing lewd acts on a minor.
In carrying out the murders, Vasilyev brutally and sadistically tortured his victims, but in an attempt to throw off investigators, he would usually steal small amounts of money and items from the apartments.
The murders caused panic among locals and resulted in them avoiding visiting their dachas, due to which Vasilyev soon returned to posting ads in the newspapers.
[4] What would usually transpire is that Vasilyev would stop a cab and get in, give the address of a house in the suburbs of Krasnoyarsk, and then murder the driver once they reached an isolated area of the highway.
Initially, he claimed that his main motive was robbery to "open his own business", but as his victims were usually poor and most of the stolen items were of low value, he was later forced to admit that he enjoyed the thrill of killing people.
He described himself as such a superhuman, demanded that he be called "The Black Angel" and insisted that he killed to put the victims out of their misery, as, according to his theory, the "normal" people should be eliminated.
[4] Ultimately, Vasilyev was accused of 17 murders and 13 assaults involving robbery, but since his crimes seemed random and without good motivation, he was ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation.