Around the same time, he had his first sexual encounter when he had sex with a dead cow - the pleasure provided by this act prompted him to start abusing other animals on the family farm.
He then enrolled and served in the Strategic Rocket Forces for several years, before returning to work as a stoker at a state dairy farm, where he was later promoted to being a driver.
[2] During his time there, he fell in love with another employee, Valentina, and soon the young couple moved to the Kashirsky District in Moscow in search for better job opportunities.
[2] After watching her for around ten minutes, Yezhov went through the unlocked front door and strangled her in her sleep before proceeding to rape the woman's corpse.
When the crime was discovered, investigators were able to obtain DNA from the killer, but due to the lack of witnesses or any solid leads to a suspect, Yezhov was not caught.
[2] After taking another four-year-long break, Yezhov committed two murders in November and December 2019: both took place in the Kashirsky District against two elderly women (aged 70 and 75, respectively), who lived on the same street.
Despite the authorities correctly summarizing that the crimes were committed by the same perpetrator and checking the local railway employees for involvement, they were unable to obtain any useful genetic samples.
Soon after the discovery of the latest victim's body, the Moscow City Police decided to check the surveillance cameras for any possible clues.
[3] On June 10, 2020, Yezhov was finally arrested by police officers, much to the shock of his family members and neighbors, who believed that the authorities had made a mistake.
[4] The case was extensively covered in the Muscovite press at the time, which heavily emphasized on the fact of how a seemingly "normal"-looking man was able to commit such heinous acts, or compared him to other infamous murderers like Andrei Chikatilo, Vladimir Ionesyan and Anushervon Rakhmanov.
A preliminary autopsy report concluded that he had killed himself by hanging, with prison authorities announcing that an audit would take place to determine whether negligence on behalf of their staff allowed the detainee to end his own life.
[5] Even before his suicide, both law enforcement and psychiatrist Alexandr Bukhanovsky, who created the psychological profile of Andrei Chikatilo, stated their belief that Yezhov likely had more victims between his "gaps", possibly dating back to the 1990s.