Artyom Anoufriev and Nikita Lytkin were social outcasts who hated society and humankind. The teenage misanthropes shocked Russian society by attacking seemingly random victims with a mallet and knife. Since the attacks always occurred from behind, the survivors were unable to give any significant details to the investigators.
The serial killers claimed a total of 15 victims. Six of them died. At least one of the attacks was videotaped and circulated in Russian social networks, showing the dead body of a woman being mutilated with a knife. The camera used to record the attack belonged to Nikita’s uncle, who found an SD card with a gruesome video of the murder of their last victim, Alevtina Kuydin.
Since the attacks occurred in and around the area of Akademgorodok (Academy Town in English) in Irkutsk, the two were dubbed the Academy Maniacs.