Buranovo Jane Doe was a teenage girl or young woman found in Buranovo, Russia in July 1998. She was first chronological victim of an unidentified serial killer referred to as "the Barnaul Maniac."
Case[]
The victim's skeleton was discovered in the forest belt near the village of Buranovo, along with that of another young woman named Galina Derina. Galina Derina, an Altai State Pedagogical University applicant, was reported missing on 17 June 1998. Derina was found buried and covered in injuries, likely from a sharp object. At the time, authorities believed the unknown girl had been killed a year prior.
Between 1998 and 2000, nine student applicants and two mothers of applicants were murdered by an unknown serial killer around Barnaul and Buranovo. No descriptive details of the unknown girl have been revealed, but based on the modus operandi and the Russian media's description of her as "a girl," like they did with the eight identified applicants, she may have been an applicant or student of similar age herself.
Additionally, several applicants reported a man offering help with admissions during the exam period. This man, who apparently had familiarity with the school grounds, was described as 40–45 years old, had an average build, and was 175–180 centimeters tall. He had overall nice facial features but messy, dark brown hair. Further investigations revealed dozens of allegations of bribery and sexual harassment by teachers toward students and applicants, but this did not lead to any arrests in connection with the murders.
Suspect[]
On 27 October 2000, a man named Alexander Anisimov was arrested for suspicion after being identified by an applicant who stated he offered to help her with her application and claimed to be the dean of a non-existent department. Anisimov was a 45-year-old shoe seller and family man with extinguished convictions for hooliganism and attempted theft. He was similar to the identity of the man talking to applicants; at least 11 identified him as the man who offered assistance despite his denying ever stepping foot in the university. A search in his apartment found two axes, knives, a shotgun, a hunting rifle, bullets, and handcuffs, but it is unclear if any of these weapons were ever tested as murder weapons.
A few days after his arrest, Anisimov wrote a confession stating responsibility for killing five of the applicants between July and August 2000. The confession stated that robbery of their jewelry was the motive. He was not charged for any of the murders yet, though, only for possession of illegal weaponry. On 1 November, he apparently committed suicide through a window as he was leading authorities to a supposed tenant in the building to whom he sold the jewelry. The jewelry was never recovered. Although the murders ended after Anisimov's death, there remains much controversy over his actual guilt.
Sources[]
- Bankfax (Russian)
- Kommersant (Russian)
- Ng (Russian)
- Barnaul Maniac on Wikipedia