Bakhtiyor Atazhanovich Matyakubov (Russian: Бахтиёр Атажанович Матякубов; Ukrainian: Бахтіор Атажанович Матякубов; Uzbek: Baxtiyor Atajanovich Matyakubov; born April 9, 1973), known as The Uzbek Chikatilo (Russian: Узбекский Чикатило;Ukrainian: Узбецький Чикатило), is an Uzbekistani serial killer and rapist who killed at least ten women across Russia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine during a four-month killing spree.
For the next few decades, he would be repeatedly imprisoned for similar offences until his eventual release in 2006, whereupon he moved to Moscow, Russia, to find a job.
Matyakubov later claimed that he felt as if "the earth is leaving under [his] feet" and stalked his roommate to the Kursky railway station, where he planned to kill both her and her companion.
[1] When he reached the Lyublino Metro Station, he noticed 36-year-old Yulia Anpilova, the manager of a real estate company who seemingly wanted to hitchhike home.
[4] After following Onipchenko to an isolated area, he asked her if her dog could bite, and when she replied in the negative, Matyakubov pulled out his knife and stabbed her twice in the chest.
[4] The wounded victim cried out for help and begged for mercy, which seemingly scared him off, as instead of finishing her off, Matyakubov stole some gold jewellery from her purse and left.
By that time, authorities had been alerted that a murderer was stalking the city and started distributing facial composites of the alleged suspect.
In order to celebrate his birthday, Matyakubov decided that he would go to the "Jaga-jaga" sex shop in Moscow, where 26-year-old Yulia Lebezhina worked.
On April 11, sensing that the Russian police were on his trail, Matyakubov fled back to Kyiv, where he found work at a construction site and resided in a hostel.
When brought in for interrogation, Matyakubov made an offer to Dmitry Tkachuk, an employee working for the Public Prosecutor's Office – as long as he did not ask for a life sentence at trial, he was willing to confess to anything he wanted.
Upon hearing this, an enraged Matyakubov attempted to break out of his detention cell using a hidden shiv, all the while shouting obscenities and threatening to kill Tkachuk.
[2] At the subsequent psychiatric evaluation, Matyakubov attempted to present himself as mentally ill by claiming that God had told him to kill women.
This tactic did not deceive the psychiatrists, who found that he was fully sane while committing the crimes but diagnosed him as a sexual sadist with necrophiliac tendencies.
[6] While awaiting trial, Matyakubov's court-appointed lawyer, Marina Efimenko, stated that her client acted surprisingly nicely and even sent her postcards, but she would later claim that this was intentional to make him appear less dangerous.
While serving his term at a special regime colony, he converted to Christianity and renounced his murders, but this was widely believed to just be a ploy made to bring pity on him.