Kathrine Frich
He appeared to be a quiet academic.
Few suspected that behind the façade was a case that would horrify Russia and haunt grieving families.
What investigators later uncovered exposed one of the country’s most disturbing crimes of the past decade.
A respected scholar
Anatoly Moskvin was widely regarded as an accomplished historian in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia’s fifth-largest city. Fluent in 13 languages, he lectured at university level and travelled extensively.
He also described himself as a “necropolist,” an expert on cemeteries and burial traditions, and was considered eccentric but harmless.
That image collapsed in 2011, when authorities made a discovery inside his flat that shocked the country.
Graves desecrated
Investigators found the mummified remains of 29 girls and young women stored inside Moskvin’s apartment. Police said the bodies had been exhumed from nearby cemeteries.
The remains had been preserved using improvised chemical methods, dressed in clothes and arranged to resemble life-sized dolls.
According to reports cited by the Mirror, Moskvin had dug up as many as 150 graves over several years.
A macabre ritual
Footage later recovered by investigators showed rooms filled with wedding dresses, colourful garments and carefully posed figures.
In one recording, Moskvin is heard saying: “These dolls are made of mummified human remains.”
Police said he kept detailed records on the girls he exhumed, including printed instructions on how to turn bodies into dolls.
A disturbing explanation
Born in 1966, Moskvin later linked his obsession with death to a childhood experience he described in writing for the Russian weekly Necrologies, which focuses on cemeteries and obituaries.
He claimed that in 1979, at the age of 13, he was forced to kiss the body of an 11-year-old girl at her funeral. “I kissed her once, then again, then again,” he wrote.
Moskvin also alleged that the girl’s mother placed wedding rings on their fingers, describing it as a “strange marriage.”
Mental health ruling
After his arrest, Moskvin was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and declared unfit to stand trial.
A prosecution spokesperson said: “After three years of monitoring him in a psychiatric clinic it is absolutely clear that Moskvin is not mentally fit for trial.”
He has remained in psychiatric care and has not apologised to the families. Russian media outlet Shot reported last year that doctors were considering his release into the care of relatives.
Sources: Mirror, Russian court statements, Express.
