4 – Daria Saltykova (1730 – 1801)
Saltykova is yet another relatively unknown female serial killer but is compared to Elizabeth Bathory due to the similarities of their crimes. Saltykova was a Russian noblewoman who tortured and murdered over 100 of her serfs over a seven year period. The majority of her victims were women and girls.
She was the daughter of Russian nobles and married into the famous Saltykov family, but was widowed in 1755. Upon the death of her husband, Saltykova inherited a massive estate with up to 600 serfs. The trigger for her murderous spree may have been rejection by a man named Nikolay Tyutchev who she had an affair with. Tyutchev fell for a young woman and married her in secret. The jilted Saltykova wanted him dead, but he fled to Moscow with his wife. After missing the opportunity for revenge, she took out her frustrations on her serfs.
Saltykova hated females; the younger they were, the more she despised them. The killings would begin with the noblewoman flying into a rage before she beat, whipped and tortured her victims to death. She murdered in a variety of ways; breaking people’s bones, throwing them naked outside in the snow, and pouring boiling water on their bodies were among her favored methods. Saltykova only killed three male serfs, and these deaths were apparently accidents. Instead, she would kill a man’s loved ones. According to reports, she took a dislike to a male serf but rather than kill him, she murdered his wife, then his second wife and finally, his third.
Her noble status allowed her to get away with her deeds for far too long. Early complaints were ignored, and it was only after seven years, and countless complaints from serfs who lost family to her twisted hand, that Saltykova was charged with 38 counts of murder (although she probably murdered at least 100 serfs).
Although she was arrested in 1762, Saltykova was only found guilty after a six-year investigation and sentenced in 1768. While most serfs were too scared of the killer to testify, Saltykova was eventually found guilty of 38 murders; forensic detectives put the real figure at 138 or 139. As Russia had abolished the death penalty in 1754, the only option was to hand down a life sentence. Saltykova was beaten in public in Red Square, Moscow and forced to wear a sign that said ‘This woman has tortured and murdered’ for an hour. She spent the next 11 years in a convent basement before being moved to a monastery building. Saltykova reportedly spat at and cursed visitors as she exhibited clear signs of mental illness. She died in December 1801 and was buried beside her relatives.