Yuriy Sushko

I’m tired of turning the other cheek all my life and living according to the laws of God. I fought with men, they could defend themselves. These were not the children whom Sheraliev killed.

At trial, Sushko did many things to attract attention, changed his testimony and claimed that he was forced into confessing, saying that "the more corpses, the better." He denied any previous accusations, particularly the ones about cannibalizing his victims, and explained away his odd behaviors while out in the streets (baptizing trees, showing off karate techniques, dancing in the streets and stripping himself) as a combination of alcoholism and his schizophrenia. This was shot down by Justice Marianna Boldova, who said that many people suffering from this ailment were upstanding citizens. Despite the severity of his crimes, he was recognized as sane, and in 2017, Yuriy Sushko was convicted of the five murders and sentenced to life imprisonment. While in jail, Sushko claimed that he was writing a book on how to solve the conflict in Ukraine, and that he was also applying for Russian citizenship. He also said that he'd be willing to atone for his sins by joining the volunteer forces to restore peace in his home country.

After noticing that around one a half thousand rubles of his had gone missing, Sushko, suspicious of his girlfriend, and on January 22, 2015, he beat her severely. Olga spent some time lying in the hospital with broken hands, and even though a criminal investigation was started against Yuriy, she returned to him after she was discharged. Around May, while they were sitting and drinking together, Sushko told Olga that if she needs money, she first has to own up to she had stolen. Belova instead replied that she was leaving him, and that she would also expose him for Antipov's killing. Now angered, Yuriy attacked Olga, but she temporarily slipped away. He managed to catch up with her, proceeding to hit Belova a total of 40 times before returning to the house. After some time, he returned to the crime scene, where he found that Olga had died from her wounds.

Sometime in 2014, while the two were out "shopping" for moonshine, Belova came across an old acquaintance: 50-year-old Vladimir Antipov, who was unfamiliar to Yuriy. Olga asked to take Vladimir with them, to which Yuriy agreed. Once at home, the couple laid the table with alcohol and food, and set a bonfire on the street. While they were at their gathering, Antipov made a comment about how men had dragged Belova out into the bushes, to which Yuriy replied that he better leave to not catch her eye. Suddenly, Vladimir rushed at him, and two started fighting. Quickly assessing his situation, Sushko grabbed a nearby shovel and hit Antipov several times, causing him to fall and borrowing Yuriy enough time to rush back into the abandoned house. After some time, he came out, and found that Antipov had died.

Having served out his sentence at the Novomoskovsk colony and unable to return to his homeland, Sushko wandered into Uzlovaya on October 12, 2013, where he quickly found a source of alcohol and housing: an abandoned non-profit partnership named "March 8". After buying himself some booze, he wandered off again to another house, where he saw 24-year-old Vasily Smirnov sleeping on a mattress. Despite Smirnov's rather greasy and unkempt appearance, Sushko offered him a drink and some snacks, and the two began conversing about life. At one point, the conversation steered into the peculiar tattoes that Yuriy had on his arms, with him admitting to being recently released from jail. Suddenly, Vasily started swearing at him and hit Sushko twice in the face. Angered, Sushko grabbed a metal pipe and hit Smirnov three times on the head, cracking open his skull.

Yuriy Vladimirovich Sushko (born 1979), known as The Homeless Killer, is a Ukrainian serial killer. Between 2013 and 2015, he killed four men and his female roommate in alcohol-related quarrels in the Russian town of Uzlovaya, Tula Oblast, burning their corpses afterwards. In 2017, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for his crimes.