| Roman Burtsev | |
| Birth Name: | Roman Vladimirovich Burtsev |
| Alias: | "The Chikatilo of Kamensk" |
| Birth Date: | 13 April 1971 |
| Birth Place: | Kamensk-Shakhtinsky, Rostov Oblast, Russian SFSR, USSR |
| Death Place: | White Swan, Solikamsk, Perm Krai, Russia |
| Conviction: | Murder |
| Sentence: | Death
|
| Victims: | 6 |
| Beginyear: | 1993 |
| Endyear: | 1996 |
| Country: | Russia |
| States: | Rostov |
| Apprehended: | 17 July 1996 |
| Imprisoned: | White Swan Prison |
| Native Name Lang: | ru |
| Native Name: | Роман Бурцев |
Roman Vladimirovich Burtsev (ru|Рома́н Влади́мирович Бу́рцев; 13 April 1971 – 26 October 2024), known as The Chikatilo of Kamensk (ru|Каменский Чикатило), was a Russian serial killer and child sex offender. Between 1993 and 1996, he raped and strangled six young children: five girls and one of the victims' brother. He committed all of the crimes in his hometown.[1]
Burtsev differed from similar murderers, in that he carefully hid the victims' bodies. All bodies, except one, were found only after his arrest. Following psychiatric assessment, he was declared competent to stand trial, with psychiatrist Alexander Bukhanovsky calling him one of the most well-organized murderers he ever had to deal with.[2]
Roman Burtsev committed his first double murder on 15 September 1993, his victims being siblings 12-year-old Yevgeny Churilov and 7-year-old Olesya Churilova.[3] The perpetrator met the children near a dump in the Zavodsky settlement. He wanted to rape the girl and, to get rid of the superfluous observer, killed Churilov, inflicting three blows to the boy's head with his fists and three more with a metal plate. Then he raped and strangled the girl, leaving the children's corpses in a garbage pit.
Burtsev was born on 13 April 1971, in a family with a history of alcohol and domestic abuse. He was an introvert and did not stand out from other children. He later explained the rape of children by the desire to "try virginity", and the murders as the unwillingness to be discovered.
It was the desire to hide his crimes that drove Burtsev. After one of the crimes, he asked an elderly woman who lived nearby for a spade, with which he buried the corpse and then threw it away. Subsequently, the woman described in detail the appearance of the suspicious person. It was mentioned that a girl, whom Burtsev did not manage to drag away, helped catch the criminal.[4]
Burtsev confessed to everything immediately after his arrest. The court sentenced him to death, which was later replaced by life imprisonment. He carried out his sentence in the White Swan prison (in Solikamsk, Perm Krai). Burtsev wrote letters to the "Russian Birch" Foundation, where he asked for help with medicines, because the local MCH did not always have the necessary drugs, and when they did the number of them was limited. He wrote that he had several medical conditions, including hemorrhoids, prostatitis, avitaminosis, varicose veins and nail fungus.[5]
Burtsev died from cancer at the White Swan prison hospital on 26 October 2024, at the age of 53.[6]