Suspected serial killer from Kurgan died in the war with Ukraine. Oleg Fominykh was accused of three murders commited in 1980s and 1990s

According to investigators, Fominykh committed his first murder in 1983, when he was 16 years old; the case materials were reported by local media Ura.ru. A drunk man passing by asked the teenager to play some music on his boombox. In response, Fominykh lunged at the man with a brick and hit him twice in the head, then struck him a dozen times with a broken bottle, punched and kicked him, and finally strangled him with an electrical cord.

Investigators believe Fominykh’s second victim was a teenager. The crime occurred in the summer of 1987. Fominykh lured the teenager into the bushes between the railroad tracks and an overpass, where he stabbed him 23 times with a screwdriver, then finished him off with an iron bar and a rock. After that, Fominykh removed the victim’s Poljot watch.

The third murder occurred in 1998. According to the investigators, Fominykh’s victim was an acquaintance with whom he had an argument. She died after being struck nine times with a hammer to the head and body. Investigators believe Fominykh carried the body to a vacant lot that night and dumped it in a manhole. The body was found the next day, but no charges were filed against the man at the time.

In 2010, Oleg Fominykh received a suspended sentence for assault. In 2012, he stabbed an acquaintance, for which he received five years in prison. In 2016, he attempted to kill another acquaintance of his with a shovel; the woman survived. For attempted murder, he was sentenced to nine years and ten months in a special regime penal colony. He was also charged with obstruction of justice for tearing up and eating his case file, which added another month to his prison term.

Only in 2022 Fominykh was charged with murders committed in the 1980s and 1990s. The first trial ended in dismissal due to the expiration of the statute of limitations—more than 15 years had passed since the crime. The victims’ lawyers then appealed this decision, and the charges were reclassified as more serious.

The Kurgan City Court began hearing the new case in October 2025. It’s unknown exactly when Oleg Fominykh signed his contract with the Ministry of Defence, but on December 26, the case was suspended, and on February 2, Ura.ru sources “close to security forces” claimed that “defendant Fominykh chose to atone for his guilt in another way: he signed a contract for military service.”

By the time this publication appeared, Oleg Fominykh was already dead. According to state registries reviewed by Mediazona, Fominykh died on February 1, 2026.