A final statement? It sounds grim. I donate my final statement to all the deaf and mute.
–Alexander Pichushkin on the end of his trial, as quoted in “Trial wraps up for chessboard serial killings; Russian confessed to murdering 63; said his goal was to mark all 64 squares,” AP, MSNBC.com
Since self-aggrandizement and casual disregard for the truth are characteristics boasted both by the killer and the Russian government and law enforcement agencies who captured him, there’s undoubtedly a tall-tale element to this case. But the macabre particulars of Pichushkin’s story–he lived with his mother; he kept track of his victims by numbering the squares on a chessboard; he may have been trying to out-kill Andrei Chikatilo; he used Russia’s national vice, vodka, as both bait and weapon–make it too good to fact-check.