Motive During questioning immediately after his arrest, Dzhugmaliev explained his motive by saying "I sided with the animals. I did to people what they do to animals". In his
diary, authored between 1979 and 1980, Dzhugmaliev stated that he was mainly motivated by
sexual desire, particularly his "irresistible attraction to the female body", writing that by eating the corpses of women, he believed that he would "know it completely and entirely". He also professed a hatred for women, whom he viewed as inferior to men and called their murder a form of vengeance for "violating the laws of nature". Dzhugmaliev also claimed to have been inspired by a book called "Black Fog" ("Черный туман"), which contained accounts of "ancient Germanic women drinking blood to foretell
prophecies", in reference to the
Cimbrian seeresses, writing that by doing the same with the blood of his murder victims, he had been able to see his own future from 1980 to 1988. According to Dzhugmaliev, he planned two of the murders to take place on the death anniversary of his grandmother and the 100th birthday of his grandfather for similar reasons.
1979–1980 murders Through 1979, Dzhugmaliev killed six women. The earliest murder took place on the night on 6 January 1979, when Dzhugmaliev spotted Natalya Andronnik near the Uzynagach–Maybulak highway, walking home alone from a
Seventh-day Adventist service. Dzhugmaliev ambushed Andronnik, stabbing her several times in the chest before dragging her to a
landfill of the Kargalinsky clothing factory near
Fabrichny. He killed her by slitting her throat and after drinking Andronnik's blood from the wound Dzhugmaliev dismembered her, also cutting off her breasts, calves, and some fatty tissue, which he carried back home in a backpack. Her torso and arms were partially buried under debris while her head and legs were left in the open. Andronnik's remains were discovered on 20 January by local residents. A forensic examination determining that some of her flesh had been removed, leading police to believe that Natalya Andronnik was
cannibalized. A criminal case was opened on 22 January, but a manhunt, which included several
sting operations to lure out the perpetrator, was unsuccessful. Residents remained shaken by the murder, with most men arming themselves with axes and other tools and accompanying female relatives when they went outside. On 21 April 1979, Dzhugmaliev killed L. F. Krieger. She was reported missing, but her body never found. On 21 June 1979, Dzhugmaliev broke into a home outside of Almaty, killing L. I. Lavrishcheva and mortally wounding her adult daughter V. P. Aksenova by slitting their throats as they slept. Shortly after Dzhumagaliev's 1980 crimes had gained wide attention, another serial killer,
Alexander Skrynnik, was operating in
Chișinău. He killed women and dismembered their bodies, after which he brought the body parts to his friend. The head of one of Skrynnik's victims was shown on television. In Chișinău, rumours spread that Dzhumagaliev had escaped and reached the Moldovan capital. The rumours were put to rest when Skrynnik was convicted of the crimes, sentenced to death, and executed.
First confinement, escape, and fugitive years Dzhumagaliev spent eight years in psychiatric holding. As his condition appeared to improve during treatment, a transfer to an ordinary mental hospital was approved. During the transport on 29 August 1989, Dzhumagaliev escaped custody by breaking down a wall during a bathroom break. His whereabouts during this time are unknown, but it's suspected that Dzhumagaliev continued his murders in the two years he was a fugitive. One murder was confirmed to have taken place in 1990 while in
Aktobe, when he was caught leaving the house of a woman with blood on his face. A neighbour spotted and shouted at Dzhumagaliev, who distracted the man by threatening to shoot him before running away. For several years, he was reported to be seen around Moscow, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. Dzhumagaliev claimed to have spent most of his time in hiding in
mountains of Central Asia, saying he traded plants as
herbal medicine to locals in exchange for food. He also claimed that the same herbs "allowed him to overcome his psychiatric diagnosis and become a normal person". With each passing day, it became harder for him to hide, as hang-gliders pestered him constantly and motor vehicles were also engaged in the search. According to Yury Dubyagin, a Colonel in the
Ministry of Internal Affairs, he suspected Dzhumagaliev killed some victims attributed to Ukrainian serial killer
Anatoliy Tymofeev in
Moscow. He claimed that a victim who survived an attack at
Dinamo metro station and a witness to the scene had been dismissed from the case after stating that the attacker wasn't Tymofeev, with Dubyagin himself being penalized on orders of the Ministry of Internal Affairs for spreading disinformation. In April 1991, during the
dissolution of the Soviet Union, Dzhumagaliev was arrested for sheep theft in
Fergana Region, Uzbekistan. He had planned for his arrest in hopes of hiding within the prison system. Upon being brought to
Tashkent Pretrial Detention Center No. 1, Dzhumagaliev claimed to be Chinese, hoping that this would enable him to receive new identity documents upon his release. Accordingly, was placed in the general cell of the SIZO. During interrogations, he willingly confessed to the theft, but could not explain how he had made his way to the Soviet Union. Because of this discrepancy, a request was sent to Moscow for assistance. Colonel Yury Dubyagin, who had participated in the effort to capture Dzhumagaliev, arrived in Fergana from the capital. Dzhumagaliev was positively identified and returned to Kazakhstan, where he was committed to a psychiatric facility in
Nikolaevka. == Current confinement ==