Vadim the Bloodsucker — The Russian Jack the Ripper

This is the story of one of Russia’s first known serial killers: Nikolay Radkevich

There’s a surprising lack of English-language information on this guy. This is great for my SEO in the United States but I spent so much time using my VPN on a Ukrainian server researching this case that I’m probably flagged by the FBI.

I don’t think “I was researching a serial killer” makes my case very well either.

I couldn’t get to a Russian server, so I chose Ukraine. This research method worked well for my Elizabeth Bathory article, and again, it didn’t disappoint and I found two Russian language documentaries.

It’s been a long week for me. I just got a job at a hotel and this is the first time I’ve ever worked third shift (so from 11 PM-7AM), so while I have a lot of down time to research, I’ve been quite sleepy. So bear with the infrequent posting schedule. I did promise a part 3 to the Winnie Ruth Judd case to supporters this week, but I’m nudging it to next week.

This case is an interesting one because of the time it took place in. This is during the time of civil unrest in Imperial Russia. When people were starting to discuss a revolution against the Tsar.

The First Victim

It was July 1, 1909 in St. Petersburg when a passerby noticed something in the Neva River. Curious, they looked, and were horrified to find the body of a brutally murdered woman.

Identification was easy. Her name was Anna Blumentrost and she had a yellow registration card indicating she was a sex worker. Normally, the death of a sex worker would go unnoticed, but Anna had been stabbed twelve times. Unfortunately, I was unable to uncover much about her life.

Police asked around, and witnesses claimed to have seen her with a man in a wide-brimmed hat and long coat with exceptionally long arms.

Slenderman had an alibi that day, so the police had to keep looking.

Second Victim

It wasn’t long before a second victim was killed.

This time, she was killed in a hotel. Her name was Catherine Gerus and she was also a sex worker. This time, someone had seen the murderer exiting the premises.