| Vasile Tcaciuc | |
| Alias: | The Butcher of Iași |
| Birth Date: | 1900 |
| Birth Place: | Bessarabia Governorate, Russian Empire |
| Death Place: | Iași, Kingdom of Romania |
| Death Cause: | Shot by police |
| Criminal Charge: | Murder |
| Victims: | 21–26+ |
| Beginyear: | 1917 |
| Endyear: | 1935 |
| Country: | Romania |
| Motive: | Robbery |
Vasile Tcaciuc (1900 – 17 October 1935)[1] was a Romanian serial killer who lured victims and then murdered them with an axe that he specially constructed. He killed between 21 and 26 people from 1930 to 1935; the primary motive was robbery.[2]
Originally from Bessarabia,[3] Tcaciuc was known to the Iași police since around 1930,[2] and had been arrested and sent to prison on robbery and burglary charges. On 7 September 1935, a dog found six bodies under his house in Iași. He confessed to having committed at least 21 murders at the behest of a 17-year-old girl, who then helped him bury the victims under the floors of several isolated houses and in a forest.[4] He was shot dead by a policeman while trying to escape during a reconstruction of one of his crimes.[5]