MOSCOW - After suspected of murdering 26 elderly women between 2011 and 2012, the long-wanted serial killer, also known as the 'Volga maniac', was detained by the Russian authorities Tuesday.
The 38-year-old suspect was identified as Radik Tagirov and was arrested by Kazan city's law enforcement operatives, which is located in the southwestern portion of Russia, early on Tuesday after their continuous criminal investigation into the murders that authorities have associated to a single person.
Tagirov, the serial killer, was dubbed in the press as the 'Volga maniac' because most of his alleged crimes were committed in many regions lying along the Volga River, which is the longest river in Europe, as the killings even stretched in at least 12 different cities.
The detained serial killer had previously been convicted in 2009 for theft, and investigators mentioned in their statement that the suspect was identified because of the shoe prints and DNA evidence that were obtained from the numerous crime scenes, DailyMail reported.
Based on the local media reports, the press indicated that most of the 'Volga maniac' victims were elderly women, with ages ranging from 75 and 90 years old, who are living alone.
Read Also: Car Plows Through Pedestrian Area in Trier Germany at Least 5 Dead
The investigators also added that the suspect disguised as a utility worker or a social services worker as his way of entering his victim's apartments.
Once the suspect successfully enters the victim's apartment, the serial killer will then strangle the elderly either using his hands or nearby objects, and he often took some valuable cash and valuable from his victim's homes.
According to Reuters, Federal investigators even tripled the original reward of 1 million rubles in 2017 to 3 million rubles, which estimate to $40,000 for any information that would help identify the killer.
According to the reports, the Volga maniac victims even reached up to 32, which made him one of the most prolific serial killers in modern Russia.
The Police released a video online, showing a handcuffed Tagirov could be seen admitting he committed the series of murders, but he did not specify the total number of them.
When asked by the investigators regarding why all of his victims were elderly women and why he decided to kill them instead of just robbing them, Tagirov stated that he could not explain that, New York Post reported.
When asked about what motivated him to commit the first murder, he shared that he could not recall when exactly it took place, and he even mentioned that all of it happened spontaneously, as he just wanted to eat while living partly on the street.
The Volga maniac also mentioned that he chose to strangle the women as he thought it was quiet, fast, and painless.
Tagirov, who is tagged as the Volga maniac, reportedly committed his first murder in 2011 in Kazan.
After the first incident, many more older women were found dead in the same city within months of the same year. One managed to survive; however, she is blind, which made her unable to describe the attacker.
Related Article: Pfizer BioNTech Submit Application for EU Approval of the Use COVID-19 Vaccine This December
