Dec. 1 (UPI) — Russian authorities said they arrested a 38-year-old man on Tuesday who’s suspected in the deaths of more than two dozen elderly women several years ago.
Moscow’s interior ministry said suspect Radik Tagirov, a locksmith, has confessed to the deaths.
Svetlana Petrenko, a spokeswoman for the ministry’s investigative committee, said genetic material tied Tagirov to the killings, according to the state-run Tass news agency.
Officials say he killed at least 26 elderly women in 2011 and 2012.
Nine of the women were killed in the city of Kazan and other bodies were found in Samara, Saratov, Chelyabinsk, Ekaterinburg, Perm, Izhevsk and Ufa, officials said.
Nicknamed the “Volga Maniac,” authorities say the killer in those cases talked his way into the women’s homes — often portraying himself as a utility worker, electrician or plumber.
The killer strangled the women with his hands or various objects, like an apron or clothesline. Investigators say he often wore gloves and would sterilize crime scenes, which caused trouble initially in developing potential suspects.
