[1] In the fall of that same year, Bolkhovsky was drafted into the Soviet Army, but was discharged for unknown reasons and ordered to return home after undergoing a medical examination.
[1] In late 1977, Bolkhovsky was prosecuted for the first time after breaking a window of his neighbour's house, who had come to his wife's aid after hearing that Viktor was beating her.
According to his own confession, while strangling Svetlana, he experienced an orgasm at the sight of his wife dying in his arms, after which he realized that he suffered from perverted sadistic tendencies.
After serving 7 years of his sentence, Bolkhovsky was paroled and moved to Oktyabrsky, Irkutsk Oblast, where he found housing and a job at a repair and mechanical plant.
[1] In early 1988, Bolkhovsky got very drunk after the end of a working day, after which he broke a window frame and entered the apartment of a woman he did not know, who at the time was with her 6-year-old child.
Once inside, he fully undressed and attempted to assault the woman, but her screams attracted the attention of a male neighbour, who arrived to help and pushed the naked assailant onto the street.
[1] In the end, it was ruled that the attempted rapes could not be proven with absolute certainty, due to which he was only convicted of hooliganism and sentenced to 6 years and 2 months imprisonment in a strict regime colony with compulsory treatment for his alcoholism.
[2] While in prison, Bolkhovsky somehow managed to find the address of the investigator in his criminal case - upon doing so, he started sending threatening letters to her, saying that he would harm both her and her children.
During his incarceration, he got interested in the lonely hearts ads and corresponded with two women - one was a divorcee with children who suffered from a disability, and the other was a childless, but physically healthy woman.
[1] At this trial, Bolkhovsky convinced the court that he intended to go into business and would eventually return the money, but he was nonetheless found guilty of theft and sentenced to 3 years imprisonment.
In his ads, he portrayed himself in a variety of ways - a generous businessman; an unhappy husband whose wife is dying of cancer; a merchant who graduated from a geological institute; an FSB employee, etc.
[3] During this period, his aunt started to notice that Bolkhovsky was becoming more secretive and nervous, while others described him as a dodgy character who received letters from various women in several post offices.
Two of his male cousins would later recall an incident in which Bolkhovsky lost his temper and broke a table with a hammer, but as he had foam coming out of his mouth, they believed he was experiencing some sort of seizure.
[3] Not long after Olga's murder, her mother started searching for the killer by herself, discovering that her daughter had wanted to meet a man through newspaper ads.
[2] In her later testimony, Ekaterina claimed that after being grabbed by the throat, she started calling out to her mom - Bolkhovsky then said to her that he was a "professional maniac", and threatened to kill her if she continued screaming.
[3] Frightened, she stopped screaming, whereupon Bolkhovsky dragged her to the bedroom, put Ekaterina on top of her mother's corpse and started hugging and kissing her.
[2] For the next couple of hours, after being ordered to collect all the gold jewellery and other valuables from the apartment, Bolkhovsky forced Ekaterina to put on pantyhose and do striptease for him.
He eventually fell asleep, allowing Ekaterina - naked and her hands still bound with duct tape - to escape the apartment and frantically knock on her neighbour's doorstep.
In early 2001, Bolkhovsky was found guilty on all counts in relation to three murders, and on 7 February, the Chita Regional Court sentenced him to life imprisonment.
Since then, Bolkhovsky took an interest in studying the Criminal Code of Russia, using it to file several frivolous lawsuits against the prison administration and the Zabaykalsky Krai Prosecutor's Office.