Known as, ‘Bluebeard of Kharkiv’; Ivan Stepanovich Maleshoff was an electrical engineer and prolific albeit little known Soviet serial killer. He is purported to have killed 20 women in Kharkiv over a period of several months in 1935 with a knife, leaving behind little clues as to his identity other than taunting letters to police. Reportedly, apprehended by authorities as he attempted to kill his next victim, completely unaware he had been tailed after seen fleeing arrest by an undercover female officer earlier in the day. Prior to his execution, he confessed to an additional 30 murders in nearby Kyiv in 1934. He was convicted and executed in 1935 by firing squad at the age of 40.
