Ivan Mandzhikov

The first girl to fall victim to Mandzhikov was Aizhan Zhumabaeva,[n 2] a student in her early 20s from the university's Faculty of History, who disappeared in October 1988.[2] She had been raped and strangled, with her killer slashing her mouth from ear to ear after death.[3] The body, hastily covered with snow,[1] was later found by a 6-year-old making snowballs on the outskirts of KazGU, an experience which caused him to be unable to speak for several days. Her clothes had been torn apart, and although her purse was missing, investigators ruled out the possibility of a robbery gone wrong. Her boyfriend and future fiancé at the time, a man named Talgat, was initially suspected of killing her, but was later cleared when his blood group didn't match that of the killer - Rh positive.[1] In a futile effort, police looked into convicted criminals with this matching blood group, but to no avail.[3]

A month later, on November 23, another student disappeared in the same area as Aizhan. This time, it was Razia Beisembaeva,[n 3] a student from the Faculty of Mechanics who had gone to visit some friends.[2] While passing through the deserted wasteland at night, she was abducted by Mandzhikov, whom threatened her with a knife. Ivan led the crying girl into his basement, mercilessly raped and strangled her, then proceeded to cut off both her legs and throw them into the river, as well as extensively mutilate the rest of the body.[3] After catching wind of Beisembaeva's sudden vanishing, policemen searched all of the surrounding area, but yet again, failing to locate the body. As a result, the Almaty Department of Internal Affairs requested assistance from the Ministry of Internal Affairs.[1][4]

Sensing that they had a serial offender on their hands, investigators started interviewing numerous students in an effort to determine if there had been any previous cases. Surprisingly, one female student admitted to being raped even before Zhumabaeva's murder, and in similar circumstances. While returning to her dorm room, she came across a young man who raped under the threat of "gutting her like a pig". Although she survived their encounter, she was unable to remember much about the attacker, only recalling that he appeared to be of European extraction, tall and in his 20s or 30s. Using these clues, the investigators focused on everybody matching said description, including current and former students of KazGU, the homeless and people living in the area. At some point, they even had five operatives dress up as women in an attempt to lure out the killer, without success. Blood tests were administered to every resident of the area, including medical stuff and the police officers themselves.[3]

Soon after, Beisembaeva's corpse was discovered in a quarry. While examining the crime scene, police took interest to one morbidly curious onlooker who had watched them work for more than an hour:[2] he was Ivan Mandzhikov, a former druzhinnik who lived with his younger sister and mother, had a girlfriend, but had no job and had a conviction for rape.[4] His blood was taken for examination, but forensic experts soon learned that there was no match, as Ivan's blood group was from the second group, not the third. He was released soon after, but much to the surprise of the authorities, he kept returning to them and attempted to "help" them solve the case. In one instance, he complained about a foul smell in his building's basement, but after a thorough examination, no such smell was noted, and police simply brushed it off as their "assistant" being mentally deranged.[3]

On January 21, 1989, the killings resumed, with the new victim being 18-year-old Gulmira Satpayeva, a student from the Faculty of Geography. Like Beisembaeva before her, she raped, strangled, had her throat slashed and legs dismembered, but this time, Mandzhikov disposed of her body in the wasteland near the university dormitories.[3]

Exactly one month after, a 20-year-old student from the Faculty of Mechanics, Gulbaram Malikova, was met with a similar fate. After raping and strangling her, Mandzhikov hid her corpse in the basement of her home on 15 Universitetskaya Street.[3]