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This is Chikatilo's confession to the murder of 9 year-old Lena Zakotnova. Chikatilo's first victim, she was killed on December 22nd, 1978.
I had bought a little house on Border Lane in Shakhty. I was planning to fix the place up and put in a garden. . . . I don't remember the exact date but it was an evening at the end of December 1978. I got off at the Grushevka Bridge streetcar stop, the one nearest the house on Border Lane. It was late in the day and getting dark. I started heading toward my house. To my surprise I noticed a girl of about eleven or twelve with a school case who was walking in the same direction I was. For a little while we walked side by side down the dark, unlit street by the river. I struck up a conversation with the girl. I remember she said she was going to see a friend.
When we came near the tall reeds that grow by the river and were a distance from the nearest houses, an irresistible urge to have sexual relations with that girl came over me. I don't know what happened to me, but I literally began shaking. I stopped the girl and threw her down into the reeds. She tried to struggle free but I was literally in a state of animal frenzy, I couldn't stop myself, I pulled off her pants and began thrusting my hands into her sexual organs. At the same time, to keep her quiet, I began squeezing her throat. I began ripping at her sexual organs. I had an orgasm while lying on top of her and tearing her sexual organs. I did not have intercourse as such with her. The sperm either went between her legs or on her stomach.
When I realized the girl was dead, I dressed her and threw her body in the river. Then I threw her school case in too. I washed my hands and put my clothes in order. Then I returned to the streetcar stop, and went home . . .
This was my first crime and I sincerely regretted it . . . What happened that night made a very strong impression on me. I can even say that I don't remember the moment when I ejaculated. All I remember clearly is that tearing at her sexual organs caused me a tremendous sensation. I can't describe it any more precisely, but it was real. I was in some kind of frenzy, ruled by some sort of bestial passion. It was only when I had regained some calm that I realized that she was dead. A few days later I was called in for questioning. The police asked me where I was on the night of the murder. I said I had been at home and my wife verified this. I was aware that someone else was arrested for this crime.
After that first murder I think my psyche underwent certain definite changes. I was haunted by the image of my hands tearing the girl's organs apart, I couldn't get it out of my mind.
Chikatilo was sentenced to death on October 14, 1992 after his conviction for 53 murders. He has since been executed.