[3] Sotnikov grew up in an unstable household, and during his childhood he began to torture animals, even hanging the family dog.
Later the mother of the victim denied this version of events, stating that she believed Sotnikov dragged her daughter into the house by force.
Sotnikov is not known to have committed another murder until 2002, when together with a partner, Alexander Lenshin, they spotted a 25-year-old woman walking alongside the road they were driving along.
On the way to the city, he instead drove to Matyrskomu reservoir, where he abandoned the drunken woman in the snow and left, where she died from hypothermia.
His last known murder was committed in November 2011, when Sotnikov asked to help a homeless man gather firewood, and then invited him to go with him to the village.