Pavel Alekseyevich Shuvalov (; 1 March 1968 – 2020), known as the Nevsky Forest Park Maniac (), was a

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

who killed 3 children between 1991 and 1995.

Biography

Shuvalov was born in 1968 in Leningrad in a well-to-do Soviet family. He was the youngest child, and as such, his parents indulged in any of his whims. Shuvalov spent most of his free time at home, almost never communicating with his peers. As he later said, at the age of 12, his classmates for him the so-called "dark", severely beating him and, at the same time, cutting his pantyhose into the crotch and pulling it on his head. Subsequently, Shuvalov would treat his victims almost the same way. After school Shuvalov served in the army, then began work for the

Ministry of Internal Affairs An interior ministry or ministry of the interior (also called ministry of home affairs or ministry of internal affairs) is a government department that is responsible for domestic policy, public security and law enforcement. In some states, the i ...

, serving in the Leningrad Metro Directorate at the stations Yelizarovskaya, Lomonosovskaya, Proletarskaya and Obukhovo, as well as in the Nevsky and Severnoye depots. By the early 1990s, he had risen to the rank of senior sergeant.

Murders

Shuvalov detained underage girls who tried to get into the

metro station A metro station or subway station is a train station for a rapid transit system, which as a whole is usually called a "metro" or "subway". A station provides a means for passengers to purchase tickets, board trains, and evacuate the syste ...

without a ticket, bypassing the

turnstile A turnstile (also called a gateline, baffle gate, automated gate, turn gate in some regions) is a form of gate which allows one person to pass at a time. A turnstile can be configured to enforce One-way traffic#One-way traffic of people, one-way ...

. Taking them to the interrogation room, he threatened to report the offence to the school and parents, intimidating and then extorting consent to a meeting outside of working hours. The murders took place during such meetings, in the Nevsky Forest Park, only killing girls in pantyhoses. In the forest park, he forced the victims to wear the pantyhose they had brought with them, then raped them. According to experts, Shuvalov was a typical heterosexual maniac-

fetishist A fetish is an object believed to have supernatural powers, or in particular, a human-made object that has power over others. Essentially, fetishism is the attribution of inherent non-material value, or powers, to an object. Talismans and amulets ...

. His first murder was committed in the fall of 1991, the body being discovered by park employees only two months later. He raped and then drowned 12-year-old Irina Barsukova, managing to evade capture as her death was considered an accident. Over the next four years, Shuvalov committed two more murders.

Arrest and trial

Despite the fact that Shuvalov always destroyed evidence at the crime scene, he was always considered a suspect. The acquaintances of some victims said that an unknown policeman for various reasons (most often for attempting to get a free ride) assigned the missing girls meetings to pay a fine or simply read the morals. Further investigation read to Shuvalov. Trying to collect evidence, the detectives decided to take a risk - they used a girl as bait, but the killer let her go at the last moment and the operation failed. After some time the investigators decided to interrogate Shuvalov as a witness, but before they could ask any questions, he suddenly admitted to everything, despite the fact that all the evidence was indirect. On 11 June 1997, the Leningrad Regional Court sentenced Pavel Shuvalov to

death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

. His last words in court were the following:Shuvalov, even after the sentencing, continued to rely on a

pardon A pardon is a government decision to allow a person to be relieved of some or all of the legal consequences resulting from a criminal conviction. A pardon may be granted before or after conviction for the crime, depending on the laws of the j ...

and wrote

cassation A court of cassation is a high-instance court that exists in some judicial systems. Courts of cassation do not re-examine the facts of a case; they only interpret the relevant law. In this, they are appellate courts of the highest instance. In ...

complaints, but the verdict remained unchanged for a while before eventually being replaced with

life imprisonment Life imprisonment is any sentence (law), sentence of imprisonment under which the convicted individual is to remain incarcerated for the rest of their natural life (or until pardoned or commuted to a fixed term). Crimes that result in life impr ...

. He died in prison in 2020. Pavel Shuvalov was serving his sentence in the "Mordovian Zone" prison in the village of Sosnovka in

Mordovia Mordovia ( ),; Moksha language, Moksha and officially the Republic of Mordovia,; ; is a republics of Russia, republic of Russia, situated in Eastern Europe. Its capital city, capital is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of S ...

In the media

* Newsreel "''Outside the Law''", 1998. * Documentary film "''The Secret of the Nevsky Forest Park''" from series "Criminal Russia" (

NTV NTV may refer to: Television * NTV (Bangladesh), a Bengali-language satellite television channel in Bangladesh * NTV (India), Telugu regional channel * NTV (Kenya) * NTV (Mongolia), a television channel based in Mongolia * NTV (Newport Televisio ...

, 1998 год). * Documentary film "''Hunting for the Werewolf''" from the series "Miltia Stories" (since 16 July 2016 this documentary cycle is called "Law is the Law"). * Episode "''Sheep's Skin''", from the TV series "Secrets of Investigation-3". * Episode "''Forester''", from the TV series "The Murderer's Profile". * Episode "''Maniac, which could not be.''" from the TV series "The composition of the crime". Actor Aleksandr Zherebko plays the role of Shuvalov. * The film "Steel Butterfly" is based on Shuvalov's story. * A song about Shuvalov was written by Russian rap artist "Glory of the CPSU".

References

External links