The Alligator

Alexei Vasilyevich Sukletin was known as the Alligator or the Cannibal of Kazan. Together with his girlfriend Madina Nurgasisovna Shakirova, he killed and ate seven women and girls in the Republic of Tatarstan between 1979 and 1985. Alexei was born on March 13, 1943, in Kazan, the son of a nurse whose father had died in World War II before Alexei was born. Alexei was left to fend for himself at an early age, and by the age of six he was already acting out his sadistic tendencies on animals, strangling them with his bare hands. Alexei was a poor student who had been drinking alcohol regularly since his teenage years. In February 1960, Alexei attacked a 16-year-old girl for the first time, attempting to rape her. He was sentenced to two years in prison for this crime. After his release, Alexei spent his days drinking alcohol with his drinking buddies. However, as money was tight, he planned with two of his friends to rob an elderly lady in his neighborhood. The trio pretended to be housing association employees, which persuaded the elderly lady to let them into her apartment. Once inside, they struck the woman on the head with a blunt object, causing her to sink unconscious to the floor. They stole 80 rubles before fleeing. The woman quickly regained consciousness and called the police. Thanks to her accurate description of the trio, they were arrested just two hours later. For this crime, Alexei was sentenced to 12 years behind bars, where he worked as an informant for the prison administration. This made him particularly unpopular with his fellow inmates. As a result, he was bullied, beaten, and raped. After serving his 12-year prison sentence, Alexei even got married in Kazan. However, the marriage was short-lived, as Alexei repeatedly cheated on and beat his wife. He finally left her when she was expecting his child. Alexei moved to the village of Vasilyevo. He found a job as a security guard in the dacha settlement of Kayenlyk, where he met Madina Nurgasisovna Shakirova, whom everyone called Dina. She was a single mother who came from a poor background. Dina became not only Alexei’s lover, but also his accomplice in the brutal murders of women. She moved in with Alexei. She left her child in the care of her parents. Together with Alexei’s friend Rinat Volkov, she founded a gang that specialized in blackmailing others. They always proceeded according to the following modus operandi. Dina ordered a taxi in Kazan, 40 kilometers away. She then had herself driven to Vasilyevo. With the prospect of a romantic tryst, she lured the taxi driver to Alexei’s house. When they were in the bedroom, Alexei appeared with Rinat. While Alexei pretended to be the jealous husband, Rinat pretended to be her brother. They extorted 200 rubles from the taxi driver. This trick almost always worked. Alexei committed his first murder in November 1979. He lured 22-year-old Yekaterina Ossetrowa to his house, where he first partied with her and Dina. Then he had sex with Yekaterina in the bedroom. Afterwards, he struck her on the head with a hammer. He laid her in the bathtub, tied her hands, and slit her throat. He then drank her blood before cutting out her flesh and organs, which he and Dina ate together with the dogs. Dina used some of the flesh to make pelmeni. Dina repeatedly tried to break up with Alexei. But he threatened to kill her and eat her too. The couple’s next victim was 22-year-old Tatiana Illarionova in January 1980. She was out with her friend Elena when Alexei and Dina approached them at the train station and asked if they wanted to celebrate New Year’s Eve together. Both agreed and went to Alexei’s house, where they drank a lot of alcohol. When Elena fell asleep, Alexei raped Tatiana, whom he cannibalized together with Dina. He spared Elena because she was simply too thin. When she asked about her friend the next morning, he told her that Tatiana had already returned to Kazan. The third victim of the cannibal duo was teenager Rezeda Galinova, whom Alexei lured to his house, where he raped her and killed her with two hammer blows to the head. Dina, who had been begged by Rezeda to help her, kept her sweater as a souvenir. Dina knew she was powerless against Alexei. If she didn’t go along with him, he would brutally beat her. But when Alexei wanted to kidnap a baby, Dina refused, and Alexei backed down. The next victim was 22-year-old Nadezhda Sityavina. But first, her 19-year-old colleague Natalia Shkolnikova had to bite the dust. Both were raped, killed, and eaten. The couple hid the remains in a water tower. They sold the meat to neighbors, who used it to make shashlik. Alexei’s next victim was an 11-year-old girl he had met at a train station. He pretended to be a distant uncle and took the girl to his house. When Dina saw this, she desperately tried to save the girl. But Alexei beat Dina so badly that she had no choice but to flee. He then raped the girl and ate her flesh. Alexei soon became acquainted with 23-year-old Lidija Fjodorowa. He befriended her and her relative Anatoli Nikitin. From then on, they often celebrated parties at his house. When Alexei told Lidija about his murders, she tried to blackmail him. If Alexei didn’t give her money, she would tell the police everything. This was Lidija’s death sentence. On March 12, 1985, Lidija was raped and killed by Alexei and Anatoli, who then ate her and burned her clothes. Lidija was Alexei’s last victim. He was becoming increasingly careless and bragged about the murders to his drinking buddy Gennadi Uglow. Uglow informed the police, who initially did not believe the drunkard. When Alexei attacked him the next day, suspecting that he had betrayed him to the police, he managed to escape and get to the hospital, where the doctors informed the police. The police then searched Alexei’s house. They dug up his garden for three days. They found numerous human bones that fit into four bags, as well as passports and other belongings of the victims. Alexei and Dina were arrested. Alexei showed no remorse; his role models were Jack the Ripper and the dictator Jean-Bedel Bokassa. On April 14, 1968, Alexei was sentenced to death. Dina and Anatoli were sentenced to 15 years in prison, while Rinat was sentenced to 7 years in prison for extortion. Before his execution, Alexei modeled a woman’s shoe out of bread, which he gave to the investigating judge Farid Sagidullin along with a signed photo that read: “Hopefully from the last cannibal of Tatarstan.” Alexei was shot on July 29. Dina died in 2008 of alcoholic cardiomyopathy, having once again made a terrible choice in a partner after her release and married an alcoholic. This brought the chapter of the cannibalistic duo to a close forever.