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Daria Nikolaevna “Saltychikha” <I>Ivanova</I> Saltykova

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Daria Nikolaevna “Saltychikha” Ivanova Saltykova

Birth
Death
9 Dec 1801 (aged 71)
Moscow Federal City, Russia
Burial
Moscow, Moscow Federal City, Russia Add to Map
Memorial ID
View Source
Russian noblewoman, sadist, and serial killer from Moscow, who became notorious for torturing and killing most of her serfs, mostly females. Saltykova has been compared to the earlier Hungarian "Blood Countess", Elizabeth Báthory, who committed similar crimes in her home, ?achtice Castle, against servant girls and local serfs.Commonly known as Saltichikha

Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Torture - Mutilation - Sadist who enjoyed physically abusing her servants
Number of victims: 38 - 139
Date of murders: 1757 - 1764
Date of arrest: May 17, 1764
Date of birth: November 3, 1730
Victims profile: Her serfs, mostly women and girls (only three of her victims were men)
Method of murder: Beating and torturing to death
Location: Moscow, Russia
Status: Sentenced to life imprisonment on October 2, 1768. Died on December 27, 1801


Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova (Russian: Дарья Николаевна Салтыкова; née Ivanova, commonly known as Saltychikha) (1730 – 1801) was a Russian serial killer and noble from Moscow who became notorious for torturing and killing over 100 of her serfs, mostly women and girls.

Daria Ivanova married young into the famous Saltykov family. She was widowed by the age of 26. With her husband's death, she inherited a substantial estate, where she lived with her two young sons and a substantial number of serfs. Many early complaints to authorities about the deaths at the Saltykova estate were ignored, or resulted in punishment to the complainants, because Saltykova was well connected with holders of power at the royal court.

Eventually, however, relatives of the murdered women were able to bring a petition before Empress Catherine II. Catherine decided to try Saltykova publicly, in order to further her "lawfulness" initiative. Saltykova was arrested in 1762.

Saltykova was held for six years (until 1768), while the authorities conducted a painstaking investigation. Catherine's Collegium of Justice questioned many witnesses and examined the records of the Saltykova estate. The investigating official counted as many as 138 suspicious deaths, of which the vast majority were attributed to Saltykova.

She was found guilty of having killed 38 female serfs by beating and torturing them to death, but the Empress was unsure about how to punish her; the death penalty had been abolished in Russia in 1754, and the new Empress needed the support of the nobility.

In 1768, Saltykova was chained on a platform in Moscow for one hour, with a sign around her neck with the text: "This woman has tortured and murdered." Many people came to look at her during the hour she was displayed. Afterward, she was sent to imprisonment for life in the basement of Ivanovsky Convent in Moscow. She was buried next to her relatives in the Donskoy Monastery necropolis.
Russian noblewoman, sadist, and serial killer from Moscow, who became notorious for torturing and killing most of her serfs, mostly females. Saltykova has been compared to the earlier Hungarian "Blood Countess", Elizabeth Báthory, who committed similar crimes in her home, ?achtice Castle, against servant girls and local serfs.Commonly known as Saltichikha

Classification: Murderer
Characteristics: Torture - Mutilation - Sadist who enjoyed physically abusing her servants
Number of victims: 38 - 139
Date of murders: 1757 - 1764
Date of arrest: May 17, 1764
Date of birth: November 3, 1730
Victims profile: Her serfs, mostly women and girls (only three of her victims were men)
Method of murder: Beating and torturing to death
Location: Moscow, Russia
Status: Sentenced to life imprisonment on October 2, 1768. Died on December 27, 1801


Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova (Russian: Дарья Николаевна Салтыкова; née Ivanova, commonly known as Saltychikha) (1730 – 1801) was a Russian serial killer and noble from Moscow who became notorious for torturing and killing over 100 of her serfs, mostly women and girls.

Daria Ivanova married young into the famous Saltykov family. She was widowed by the age of 26. With her husband's death, she inherited a substantial estate, where she lived with her two young sons and a substantial number of serfs. Many early complaints to authorities about the deaths at the Saltykova estate were ignored, or resulted in punishment to the complainants, because Saltykova was well connected with holders of power at the royal court.

Eventually, however, relatives of the murdered women were able to bring a petition before Empress Catherine II. Catherine decided to try Saltykova publicly, in order to further her "lawfulness" initiative. Saltykova was arrested in 1762.

Saltykova was held for six years (until 1768), while the authorities conducted a painstaking investigation. Catherine's Collegium of Justice questioned many witnesses and examined the records of the Saltykova estate. The investigating official counted as many as 138 suspicious deaths, of which the vast majority were attributed to Saltykova.

She was found guilty of having killed 38 female serfs by beating and torturing them to death, but the Empress was unsure about how to punish her; the death penalty had been abolished in Russia in 1754, and the new Empress needed the support of the nobility.

In 1768, Saltykova was chained on a platform in Moscow for one hour, with a sign around her neck with the text: "This woman has tortured and murdered." Many people came to look at her during the hour she was displayed. Afterward, she was sent to imprisonment for life in the basement of Ivanovsky Convent in Moscow. She was buried next to her relatives in the Donskoy Monastery necropolis.

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