Hristo Georgiev (serial killer)

Hristo Georgiev was born in Sofia as one of three children in 1956. His father Bogdan was a tailor, while his mother Tsvetanka, who had heart problems, was a knitter. He had two brothers—Bogomil, a former boxer who was known to the MBP as an aggressive fellow, and Evgeni, who had mental anomalies. At the beginning of the 70s, he was hired to work for the National militia (police), but his alcoholism and careless behavior prevented him from doing the job adequately. On November 9, 1978, he began work for the 2nd Road Patrol Sector, but since the beginning of 1979 he began to miss work frequently and was eventually fired on July 10 of that same year.[2]

The murders start with the discovery of a body in 1974, between the "G. Kostov" and "P. Mihailov" Streets in Sofia. Early riser citizens had discovered the appalling crime scene, which depicted the murder victim having his ribs broken, his guts disemboweled and his face mutilated, resulting from harsh violence inflicted on him. The victim was later identified as 35-year-old Zahari Hristov, nicknamed "The Oven Man", an alcoholic with a dysfunctional family life who lived in the same district. Authorities speculated that the murder was committed between August 23 and 24, between 10 pm and 1 am.[1]

The discovery of the body prompted lead investigator Sen. Lt. G. Dilkov to work on four hypotheses: the first being an act of hooliganism on the grounds of alcohol intoxication (with the aim of either robbery or sexual assault); the second the work of a psychopath; the third an unpaid debt between friends; and the fourth a family feud, as Hristov had a bad relationship with them, as well as there being a dispute over property.[1]

Investigator H. Mishev examined the crime scene at around 9:10 in the morning, noting that the man was found lying on his back with his pants lowered and his shirt ripped. There was a packet of "Stewardess" brand cigarettes, eight tickets worth four stotinki each, two 1-leva notes, a lottery ticket and a ticket from Toto 2. His alcohol level was measured at 2.83.[1]

Without delay, the investigators started questioning acquaintances, beginning with a man named Pavel, who had last given Zahari a ride. An agent, codenamed "Ana", was sent to investigate his wife, while acquaintances of the man named Saro, Gorcho, Sineto and others were being questioned. The authorities examined the local pubs, questioned couples who were seen in the area, made lists of all the homosexuals in the area and checked all the aggressive mentally ill people who frequented the district.[1]

Zahari Hristov Voinov had come to Sofia in 1948, initially working as a baker. He then began frequently changing jobs, amassing debts in the range of 1800 leva (a huge sum at the time) which his wife had to pay off. In a span of two years, he had visited the local alcoholism treatment facility a total of 22 times. His family were no strangers to violence, as in 1972, his elder daughter had hit him on the head with a hammer.[1]

An interesting witness testimony was that of an N. Stankov, who had seen his neighbour drunk in the company of several young men, one of whom was clearly faking his drunkenness. He described the man as around 1.80 m. tall, skinny, with blond hair and looking like a "butt boy" who walked like a brute. However, due to unclear reasons, this lead was abandoned.[1]

Eventually, investigators reach a dead end, but not without questioning a few suspects first. The prime target was a man named Tsvetomir Enev, who had come to Sofia on August 22, 1974 to submit an application to join the "Kremikovtsi" MK, but he failed to meet the police chief, and then began strolling around the capital. During the night, he had come across a drunk lying on the ground and tried to help him, but the drunkard thought he was being robbed, so he began screaming loudly, attracting a nearby militia patrol. They brought in Enev for questioning, suspecting that he was responsible for several attacks on drunkards around the city. After his release, he had decided to take a nap at "Freedom Park", where he would later wake up to realise his shoes had been stolen. The next day, after sightseeing around Sofia, he decided to rest in the park again, only to become a witness to talk between two teenagers, who bragged about beating up a man. It later turned out that one of the teens had ripped his shoes during the scuffle, so he had stolen Enev's. The man then proceeded to ask them to return his shoes, after which he was quickly threatened with a knife and robbed. The bad luck hadn't ended with Enev, as he had then come across the gang of "The Crazy from Pernik", who were surprisingly benevolent enough to leave six of his nine leva, so he could buy a bus ticket and ride home. After no sufficient evidence was found against him, Enev was discredited as a suspect.[1]

The next suspects were two brothers from Orlandovtsi, known as the "Gravemen". They were local bullies, who had even beaten up a witness testifying against them. An agent, codenamed "Plamen", was sent to investigate them, but they had a credible alibi.[1]

In the end, "Operation Rodopi" was initiated concerning Hristov's family, in which an agent codenamed "Albert" became close with his wife, Veska. In 1976, the agent gave information to the intelligence, which then planted spying devices. Zahari's son-in-law was pressured, with probes from his hair and skin and fingerprints taken, and his house had to be examined. The authorities even used a trick concerning a fake "anonymous witness" who sent a letter to the family, claiming that he knew everything and would tell the militia. This scared the daughter Emilia and her mother, but only because they were afraid the police would blame them for the murder. In the end, they were cleared of any suspicion, and the killer remained free.

The operation wasn't completely fruitless however, as it led to the investigation of 17 persons with criminal backgrounds, 25 mentally ill, eight relatives of Hristov and nine suspects. Eventually, 13 instances of domestic violence and two acts of hooliganism were discovered.[1]

On October 10, 1979, on General Liprandi Street in Sofia's "Hadzhi Dimitar" District, the body of 19-year-old Tsvetanka Stancheva was found. She had been stabbed with a sharp object. A man, who was collecting bricks from a nearby abandoned building, had discovered the grisly scene. The victim was infected with syphilis, which led the investigators to interrogate all the registered people suffering from the same disease, who had not revealed the source of how they got it. Taking into account Tsvetanka's life, the theory of one of her suitors having killed her was considered, as well as that of a psychopath. The case was then nicknamed "The Provincialist".[2]

Following this murder, mass examinations centered on and around the treatment centers, with employees of hotels known for housing prostitutes also being questioned. The next step in the investigation was to interrogate all the adults and foreigners Stancheva had offered her services to. She was described as being 1.60 m. tall, with a slight figure, chestnut brown hair which reached to her shoulders and bright brown eyes. She had worn a red wool blouse and Levi brand jeans. Her body had been hidden under a bunch of rags, but a fingerprint and a male ring were found on the scene. Most of the wounds had been inflicted on the victim's back, indicating that she had put up a struggle and had managed to run for some distance before being caught.[2]

Stancheva was born ca 1960 in Mirkovo to farmer parents. She had an older brother. She hadn't finished high school, as she had fled with an older man to the village of Glavinitsa, Pazardzhik Municipality, where she was systematically beaten. Stancheva continued her education in Koprivshtitsa, but was expelled for bad behavior, before beginning work at a tavern in Mirkovo. There she met Vasil Deyanov, who brought her to Sofia, but they soon separated and she was left without a legal job.[2]

She then began to develop intimate relationships with friends she stayed with, also frequently visiting modern for the time clubs such as "Yalta", "Spring", "White Lamb", "Preslav", "Prague" and "Park Hotel Moscow". Subsequently, investigators took the fingerprints from the witnesses who discovered the body, while also trying to connect the murder to the killing of an artist named Lyubo from bar "Orient". Agent "Anton" was sent to investigate a group of prostitutes, while agent "Orlin" investigated homosexual circles with the aim of learning who her regular clients were and her contacts with her fellow "colleagues". Thanks to these actions, four infamous suitors were arrested—"Boretsa", "Kuriletsa", "Bati" and A. Uzunov. However, the witnesses weren't questioned thoroughly and no other hypotheses were considered. To activate the work, lists were created detailing every suspect, which eventually led to a prostitute named "Ceca the Arabian", who was known for serving clients from the Middle East and Northern Africa. She claimed that she had last seen Stancheva with a member of the orchestra from bar "Orient".[2]

Eventually, her case was connected to another murder that occurred 17 days later—that of Mariolka Gospodinova. This led to the creation of the "Sadist" case, combining the previous murders and leading to the interrogation of around 600 mentally ill people. As it was later revealed, Tsvetanka often engaged in group sex with shady characters from the underground world. The militiamen also learned that she had been caught in an unpleasant situation with three men sentenced for rape in Dianabad, as well as being involved with other criminals, such as "Uncle Slavi the Barber" (an infamous suitor), "Bubi", "Katia the Limpy", "Naso the Weasel" and others.[2]

Additional trouble also caused fake leads. One such person, a man nicknamed "Pesho", told a former female classmate and her colleague working in a library, that his friend, called Pencho, often took girls who hitchhiked and forced them to have sex with him. A short time before the murder, the two men had taken a shared acquaintance and had sex with her, after which they had to take antibiotics. Affected from this situation and hearing about the murder, Pesho told the two women how Pencho had beaten up "some slut with syphilis", who infected him. The women then informed the police, who later realized that the hooligans had stable alibis. In the end, 154 people were established as having connections to her, 23 of whom were her intimate partners (four of them with syphilis), as well as 800 mentally ill being questioned and 45 witness testimonies being investigated by agents. Yet, it was to no avail.[2]

Gospodinova (née Naidenova) was murdered 17 days after Stancheva. She was found next to a metal shack on October 23, 1979 on "Kozloduy" Street No. 4, with a total of 36 stab wounds to her body. Next to the body, traces of a knife, coins, medicine, a woman's coat, a small mirror, purse, two packs of cigarettes, condoms, a PFC Levski Sofia badge and a passport were found. A small knife was found in one of her pockets. The body was found seated on top of some old cables. She was undressed down to her waist, with her bra and blouse behind her.[2]

Mariolka had divorced twice, having two children from her first husband. She had made an "agreement" with her second husband to go out twice a month with other men, as her husband was terminally ill. She had basic education, and first married in 1962, but her constant cheating led to her divorce several years later. Due to this, she had managed to give her husband gonorrhea and make him question if he was the father of their second daughter. In 1972, Gospodinova married again, only to divorce two years later. She married for the final time in 1979, lasting only a few months, due to constantly breaking of her "agreement" with the husband. Despite this, she continued to live with him.

Authorities investigated the three husbands, but all had credible alibis: the first was visiting relatives with many witnesses, the second had visited friends and remained there for the night and the third was too ill, dying a little while before the murder. Another person of interest was a young man with psychological defects, who yearned for rivers of blood and was susceptible to self-harm. It later turned out that Mariolka and Tsvetanka actually knew each other, which made the authorities consider the cases to be connected. In the meantime, a woman tried to implicate her husband Tsonyo in the murder after he brought a bloodied suit to the dry cleaner's, but it was later revealed to have resulted from intervening in a fight between hooligans.[2]

Approximately 10 lovers of Gospodinova were established for the last three years, but all eventually were cleared of suspicion. Temporarily, an already proven killer named Stefan Hristov (no relation to Zahari Hristov) was considered. On December 30, 1979, suspecting that his girlfriend was cheating with his best friend Georgi Georgiev, Hristov tortured the woman into falsely confessing to the affair, after which the enraged man stalked and then butchered his friend. However, no link could be established.[2]

Between March 3 and 4, 1980, Pantova was killed on Kurilo Station, close to a nearby pavilion, after which her body was put into an empty train car. Before that, she had been to "Park Hotel Moscow", after which at 23:10 she boarded Tram 14 to Sofia Central Station and got on the train "Sofia-Lakatnik", leaving the stop accompanied by two young men. Unlike the other victims, she had only received one stab to the back with a knife, after which she ran about 30 meters, before being strangled and most likely raped. After this murder, authorities realised that the victims were killed in places either near or connected to Tram 14. Due to the struggle from the victim, examined DNA traces revealed the perpetrator's blood type - AB.[2]

The young woman disappeared on March 24, 1980, after which she was reported missing by her parents. Authorities began checking hospital wards, questioning friends, relatives and her current boyfriend K. Zahariev. It was determined that until 10 pm she had been at her home in "Emil Markov" District, after which she had left to see her boyfriend. To her relatives' horror, on April 15, 1980, 21-year-old Lilia's body was found at the "Hristo Smirnenski" Park. Her clothes were removed, but not ripped through, with no signs of alcohol, and her purse was missing. Logically, the first to be interrogated was Zahariev, who claimed that they'd known each other for several years, and that after a sleepover at mutual friends they began dating. One night, after visiting Hristova's home, he criticised her brother on how dirty the residence was, and the two men began fighting. After this, the pair separated temporarily before reuniting shortly before the murder. The night before the disappearance, the pair spent in Zahariev's house, watching the theatrical show "Geshefti", before he sent her off to the Bus No. 74 bus stop.[2]

During the investigation, it was discovered that Lilia had relationships with several men, was a victim of domestic abuse and was diagnosed with neurosis. The suspect circle all had credible alibis, including Zahariev, whose parents testified that they were at his house with him shortly after he sent off the girl. Despite several attempts at renewal, the case was eventually closed.[2]