Sofia Zhukova, the killer granny of Khabarovsk

Russia is no stranger to stories of innocent-looking old ladies who turn out to be ferocious killers (remember the granny ripper?), and it is from Russia that the macabre story of Sofia Zhukova comes. Although the Italian media say the woman made meatballs from her victims’ remains and gave them to the neighbourhood children, I found no confirmation of this in the Russian press.

The discovery of her last murder

In July 2018 a severed hand was found in an isolated spot in the village of Beryozovka, in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia. Investigators managed to identify the victim, school caretaker Vasily Shlyakhtich. When they got to his home, a room he was renting, police found pools of blood and the tools used to cut up, and probably kill, Vasily.

The room belonged to an elderly woman, Sofia Zhukova, an 80-year-old pensioner who had worked in a slaughterhouse. After questioning and an initial version in which she claimed to be innocent, she admitted the murder and confessed to others committed years earlier.

The murder of Masha Dmitrieva

Her first victim was an 8-year-old girl, Masha Dmitrieva (not her real name). On the afternoon of 14 December 2005, Masha was walking home from school with her friend Vika. The two said goodbye outside the home of Masha’s grandparents, where she went after school. But the little girl never arrived. It was her grandparents who raised the alarm when she had not come home by 1:30 pm. After calling Vika’s home and learning that the girls had parted a good while earlier, they alerted the police.

Her parents were adamant from the start: Masha could not have run away, she got on very well with both her parents and her grandparents. Vika was then questioned and said that, just as they were saying goodbye, a neighbour of Masha’s had come out onto her porch, complaining about the girls’ noise and threatening Masha: “I’ll cut off your head and hands!”

The neighbour was Sofia Zhukova, who was called in by police for questioning. She said she had seen Masha that day and that the girl often visited her to play and draw together. According to Sofia, the girl visited her secretly, begging her not to tell her grandparents for fear of being told off. On the day she disappeared, she said she had seen her go up the stairs, then go back out into the street when her friend called her. From then on she had gone back inside and never saw the girl again. Masha’s family did not believe this version, being absolutely sure the girl had never been to the woman’s home.

The late discovery of little Masha’s remains

On the night of the disappearance, a neighbour was taking her dogs out. At the corner of the building where Masha’s grandparents lived, the dogs went up to what looked like pieces of meat, still bloody. Thinking they might be poisoned baits, the woman called the police, who on arrival found only bloodstains and a few bones, which were not taken into account.

On 27 December a man who lived in Khabarovsk stopped at the Beryozovka rubbish dump on his way home. He noticed a plastic bag containing meat and decided to take it home for his dogs. Once home, he made the gruesome discovery: the bag contained human remains. Police were alerted at once and linked the find to little Masha’s disappearance. Her parents later identified the remains. But after the discovery, the murder, which had shocked the whole town, remained unsolved.

The murder of Anastasia Mikheeva

In 2013 Anastasia Mikheeva, a 77-year-old pensioner, decided to visit a relative, Sofia Zhukova, after selling a flat in her town. The plan was to stay with her for a couple of weeks and then go to live with her daughter in Moscow. Sadly, she too disappeared. She was last seen on 9 March 2013 at Sofia’s home by the postman, who had come to deliver the post and saw the two women without noticing anything strange. From then on Anastasia stopped contacting her family. It was as if she had vanished into thin air.

The police went to Sofia’s home, and she said Anastasia had suddenly decided to leave to stay with relatives in Primorye. Although she had tried to stop her, the woman had left in a great hurry, getting into a mysterious black car. Police noticed bloodstains on the walls of Sofia’s home, but she calmly replied that before Anastasia left they had argued and her nose had started bleeding. The blood had supposedly ended up on the walls when Anastasia blew her nose and waved her handkerchief vigorously.

A month later the same postman came back to Sofia’s home to bring her pension, and they talked about Anastasia’s disappearance. When the woman told him she had seen her from the window getting into a car, the postman was puzzled, because her window did not look onto the street but onto the courtyard. The neighbours also noticed strange goings-on. They saw Sofia wearing Anastasia’s clothes and taking some furniture out to the rubbish, with bloodstains on it. Once again she was questioned by the police, but nothing could be proven.

The last murder, Vasily Shlyakhtich

In 2018 the woman killed the 62-year-old school caretaker Vasily Shlyakhtich. He had been thrown out of his home and desperately needed somewhere to live. An acquaintance offered to put him up. Unfortunately for him, that acquaintance was Sofia Zhukova. On the night he disappeared, Sofia’s neighbours heard strange noises and groans from the old woman’s flat, and the next day saw her carrying a sack to the rubbish. Then they heard strange noises again and alerted the police, who had meanwhile been informed of the discovery of Vasily’s remains. This time Sofia had no way out and was arrested after traces of Vasily’s blood were found in her home.

The interrogation and arrest of Sofia Zhukova

At first Sofia tried to deny it. The neighbours had heard her chopping bones for broth. And the blood on the walls belonged to an elderly relative, left years earlier. According to her first version, Vasily had come to her home with a friend on the pretext of having tea. But the two had instead raped her. After the assault, Vasily’s friend had left, while Vasily had refused to go. Only then had the woman struck him with an axe.

The police were not at all convinced and began re-examining the town’s old murder cases. After several days in prison, the woman began confessing all her murders to her cellmates, including that of little Masha. She said she had dismembered her and thrown her remains off the balcony for dogs to eat. She later tried to retract, saying the confession had been extracted from her, but the evidence against her was overwhelming. She is now in prison, where she will spend the rest of her life.

The causes of the murders

According to investigators, Sofia Zhukova killed because of her irascible nature. It seems, though, that the death of her husband, in the very year of her first murder, also contributed to a decline in her mental health.

Sources

• Lenta.ru (Russian, 9 October 2019)