Alexei Ivanov (serial killer)

When questioned about the reasons for the murders, Ivanov cited his wife's betrayal as his breaking point, for which he developed a hatred towards women and a desire to "keep the city's moral purity." Due to the similarities of his killings and the then-unsolved murders of 17 prostitutes in the city, dating back to 1998, Ivanov was briefly considered a prime suspect, but later ruled out. In subsequent psychiatric evaluations, Ivanov was diagnosed as suffering from sexual sadism disorder, but was found competent to stand trial. During the proceedings, Ivanov claimed that he had wanted to decapitate one of the victims' heads and send it anonymously to his wife, with a threatening letter saying "You're next.", and claimed that if he weren't stopped, he would continue on killing. For his crimes, he was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in a penal colony.

Alexei Yevgenyevich Ivanov (Russian: Алексей Евгеньевич Иванов; born 1979), known as The Taxi Driver Maniac (Russian: Маньяк-таксист), is a Russian serial killer who killed four prostitutes in Novosibirsk between May and October 2015, dismembering and burning the victims' bodies post-mortem. A one-time suspect in the "Novosibirsk Maniac" case (for which former policeman Yevgeny Chuplinsky would later be convicted), he was convicted of his killings and sentenced to life imprisonment.

Little is known about Ivanov's life and upbringing. A native of Novosibirsk born in 1979, he had a small criminal record with arrests for burglary, but was considered a normal, married man who worked as a taxi driver in the local area. Around May 2015, he temporarily moved to Moscow for work purposes, and upon his return, a friend informed him that his wife had been cheating on him with another man. Enraged by his wife's infidelity, Ivanov sought to punish those whom he deemed as "harlots", beginning a killing spree that would last several months and frighten the local population.