Behind the facade of a sweet elderly woman lay one of Russia's most brutal and prolific serial killers. The case of Tamara Samsonova, known as the 'Granny Ripper', reveals a chilling narrative of murder and dismemberment that shocked a nation and left investigators grappling with a potential body count of up to 14 victims.
The Unassuming Pensioner with a Deadly Secret
Born in Siberia in 1947, Tamara Samsonova lived what appeared to be an unremarkable life. She moved to Moscow and later settled in St. Petersburg, marrying a man named Alexei and working in the tourist industry. Her life took a dark turn when her husband, Alexei, mysteriously vanished in 2020. While Samsonova reported him missing, the case stalled, and many now suspect her involvement, though it remains unproven.
Following his disappearance, Samsonova began taking in lodgers at her apartment. In 2003, a violent argument with a 44-year-old tenant, Sergey Potanin, allegedly ended in murder. Samsonova is accused of killing Potanin, dismembering his body, and scattering the pieces around her neighbourhood. This gruesome act went undetected for over a decade, setting a macabre pattern for her future crimes.
A Boiled Head and a Bloody Diary
The horrifying truth began to unravel in 2015. While her own flat was being renovated, Samsonova moved in with her neighbour, Valentina Ulanova. The arrangement soured, leading to disputes. When Ulanova asked her to leave, Samsonova refused and plotted her neighbour's murder instead.
Her method was calculated and cruel. She obtained phenazepam, a powerful sedative, crushed the tablets, and laced Ulanova's favourite Olivier salad with the drug. After her neighbour collapsed, Samsonova embarked on a gruesome process of dismemberment. Reports detail how she beheaded Ulanova and boiled the head in a cooking pot. She then made multiple trips in the dead of night to dispose of body parts in bin bags around St. Petersburg.
Her downfall came when one of these bags was discovered near a residential pond. Police visited Samsonova, who calmly led them to a bathroom stained with blood and missing a curtain—a curtain identical to one wrapped around the discovered remains. The investigation took an even darker turn when detectives found her handwritten diary.
A Legacy of Horror and Unanswered Questions
The diary contained alleged boasts of previous killings, with entries describing in detail how she dismembered victims and scattered their remains. One extract reportedly read: 'I killed my tenant Volodya, cut him to pieces in the bathroom with a knife, put the pieces of his body in plastic bags and threw them away in the different parts of Frunzensky district.'
Samsonova was quickly deemed mentally unfit to stand trial and was committed to a secure psychiatric hospital, where she remains in her late 70s. Russian authorities have stated she is under investigation in connection with as many as 14 murders. However, the full extent of her crimes, and how many victims the so-called Granny Ripper—also nicknamed 'Baba Yaga' after the Slavic folk witch—truly claimed may never be conclusively known.
The case stands as a terrifying reminder that evil can lurk behind the most unassuming faces, leaving a trail of horror that continues to haunt the city of St. Petersburg.
