How the “Vyatka slave owner” Alexander Komin killed and forced to work slaves locked in a bunker under a garage

A maniac from the Kirov region in the mid-90s, Alexander Komin, nicknamed the “Vyatka slave owner,” kidnapped and killed those who were not particularly sought after—the homeless and the “socially disadvantaged.” They managed to catch him after committing four murders by pure chance: the maniac fell in love.

"Subsidiary farming"

Alexander Komin was born in 1953 in the town of Vyatskie Polyany, Kirov Region. This town became famous for the fact that in the fall of 1941, at the Molot plant, serial production of the PPSh (Shpagin submachine gun) assault rifles, which became famous during World War II, was launched there. It was to Vyatskie Polyany that the machine-building plant from Zagorsk near Moscow was evacuated in the fall of 1941, where the first copies were produced. The developer of the famous machine gun, Georgy Shpagin, also moved there and headed the design bureau of the new plant. After the war, the glory of the PPSh will be eclipsed by the AK (Kalashnikov assault rifle). They will forget about Vyatskie Polyany again, but at the end of the 90s the name of the city will again appear in the newspapers - it will have its own maniac.

Comyn's parents were factory workers. Until the age of 18, it was the life of a simple Soviet teenager: kindergarten, school, street companies, cheap port. Then he was supposed to serve in the army, but before being drafted, he got involved in a street fight, during which two people were seriously injured. Komin and three more of his accomplices were convicted under the article “hooliganism”. Instead of the army - three years in the adult zone.

In the colony, Komin worked in the sewing industry, he liked it so much that after his release he even graduated from a technical school with a specialty in sewing. In the zone, the future maniac met a prisoner named Beagle, who received a prison sentence for organizing an underground workshop for the production of wooden toys. The workers in this workshop were “homeless people,” people without registration or any rights, which were abundant in the country even in those days. In conversations with Beagle, Comyn, in his own words, for the first time realized that he wanted to feel complete unlimited power over a person. But for a long time this remained only a fantasy.

Everything changed in 1991, after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Comyn decided that the time had come to realize his long-standing dreams of organizing a “subsidiary farm” in which free workers - slaves - would work. But first we needed to find a room. Komin never had a car, but he had a garage in a garage cooperative - he decided to dig something like a bunker under the garage. The task is quite labor-intensive, and therefore an assistant was required. This was his fellow electrician Alexander Mikheev, who unconditionally recognized Komin’s leadership and followed all his instructions. Komin himself also worked at that time either as a watchman, but as a worker, or as an electrician in the housing office.

For almost five years, the men dug and equipped the bunker. When the large space under the garage was ready, labor had to be found. The plans of the accomplices changed all the time. At first they planned to grow vegetables underground and then sell them to cooperative cafes that began to appear at every turn. But then the intentions changed. Komin decided that it would be more profitable to sew robes and panties. Two electric sewing machines, fabric and thread were purchased, and electricity was supplied to the bunker. Comyn would later use electricity not only for lighting, but also as a security system and a murder weapon.

The first slaves

The first victim of the new slave owners was Vera Talpaeva. On January 13, 1995, Komin met a 33-year-old woman near school No. 3 on Gagarin Street. He invited her to celebrate the “Old New Year” in good company, and Talpaeva agreed. And she wasn’t even particularly surprised when Komin led her to the garage. After the first glass, Talpaeva passed out: the vodka was heavily diluted with clonidine. She woke up already in the slave bunker.

But the first slave did not know how to sew at all, and did not want to learn. And then Komin exclaimed in his hearts:

- If you can’t sew yourself, then tell me who can!

And Talpaeva named her friend Tatyana Melnikova. I didn’t know the exact address of my friend’s residence, I only remembered the name of the street - Parokhodnaya. Vyatskie Polyany is not such a big city. Komin decided to go to Parokhodnaya and look for a potential seamstress on his own. And almost immediately I found what I was looking for.

On Parokhodnaya Komin met an acquaintance from the zone, Nikolai Malykh. This may seem incredible, but Malykh was the roommate of that same seamstress. Komin found his bearings instantly. He invited both Malykh and his girlfriend to visit him.

The former prisoner did not refuse the offer to drink. And he even convinced Tatyana Melnikova to go visit. Well, then everything happened according to the already tested scheme. Vodka “charged” with clonidine and awakening in a bunker.

Komin understood that it would not be possible to make an obedient slave out of Maly.

The fact is that in the criminal hierarchy Comin was a “cormorant” who served a short term on an unpresentable charge. He was serving time as a “hooligan,” but Malykh was serving time under the more “noble” charge of “robbery.” So Malykh stood immeasurably higher than Komin in the criminal hierarchy and would hardly have wanted to obey the “cormorant”. But his girlfriend was very necessary, and therefore Komin did not want to let them go. He decided to kill his former cellmate.

Komin and Mikheev stripped Malykh, who was passed out, dragged him upstairs and left him to freeze in a vacant lot in twenty-degree frost. Malykh's body was discovered only a couple of weeks later. This death did not arouse any suspicion among the police. The former prisoner drank too much, went outside for some reason and froze in the snow. The disappearances of Talpaeva and Melnikova, which were known to law enforcement agencies, also did not prompt the police to conduct a serious investigation. Both were women who drank and the law enforcement agencies thought that they were just out on a spree.

Melnikova was really good at sewing panties and dressing gowns, which Komin sold on the market at a great profit. Talpayeva was brought in as an auxiliary worker and sexual servant: her accomplices regularly raped her.

A couple of months after the start of the “enterprise”, Comyn decided that he also needed a male slave. On March 21, 1995, he met 37-year-old Evgeniy Shishov at a wine and vodka store, he was an ideal candidate for slaves: no permanent housing, no permanent job, no relatives. Shishov was given vodka and clonidine and taken to a bunker. But then Komin almost ruined the entire so carefully planned business.

Shishov was an electrician by profession. And Comyn, when he organized a “home concentration camp,” created a “security system” based on electricity. To prevent the slaves from even thinking about the possibility of escape, he connected the stairs to the bunker to the wires. A professional electrician could easily unplug the ladder. And Komin decided to get rid of Shishov. Moreover, with the help of slaves, whom he decided to “bind with blood.”

Shishov was strapped to a chair, Komin wrapped exposed electrical wires around his arms and legs. Melnikova and Talpaeva had to press the switch buttons. Melnikova, clearly aware of her need (after all, it was she who brought the slave owner money), completely refused to press the switch. But Talpayeva, after Komin threatened her that she would be next, pressed without hesitation. Shishov died instantly.

Having made Talpaeva an accomplice to the murder, Komin decided to release her in search of another slave and promised to pay him well. And she found a new victim.

She became Tatyana Kozikova, whom Talpaeva lured into the garage in July 1995. The “factory” for sewing robes and panties was operating at full capacity. Komin forced slaves to sew 16 hours a day.

Well, Talpaeva continued to search for new candidates for slaves.

After several months of exhausting work, Kozikova and Melnikova decided to escape. They tried to lock Comyn in one of the bunker rooms and escape. Nothing happened: Komin escaped from behind the door, locked with a frying pan, too quickly, and the women simply did not have time to climb up the stairs. An enraged slave owner decided to give his slaves tattoos “slave” on their foreheads. The frightened women did not even resist when Komin and Mikheev gave them these tattoos. The detention regime has also become stricter. Now, before going down into the bunker, Komin gave a signal with a light bulb. After this signal, the slaves were obliged to snap the shackles around their necks and place the keys on the table. After which Komin turned off the current from the stairs and went down to get the goods.

Fatal love

The enterprise, according to Komin, required expansion. Quite unexpectedly, in the fall of 1995, Vera Talpaeva disappeared. But since the police did not appear in the garage, Komin correctly assumed that she had simply left somewhere. So Mikheev and Komin himself had to look for the next slaves. During his next visit to the local station, he met 27-year-old Tatyana Nazimova. So another slave appeared in the bunker.

But in this case, Comyn made a mistake with his choice. Nazimova was mentally ill and was absolutely useless as a seamstress. At first, Mikheev and Komin only raped her. A year later, Komin decides to get rid of the burden. He did not feed Nazimova for several days, and then gave her brake fluid.

Comyn's corpse was going to be taken on a sled to the morgue. Kozikova later said that the slave owner was going to “make a joke”: the morgue workers would come to work in the morning, and then “the client himself came.” But Komin failed to bring this plan to completion. He was scared away by a random passerby. Leaving the body near the garage, Komin fled. But this time, too, the police did not treat the investigation properly: well, another “homeless woman” was poisoned. The garages near which the body was found were not even checked.

Komin's "enterprise" continued to operate. Moreover, in addition to robes and shorts, he managed to receive an order to sew vestments for the priests of the local temple.

In January 1997, Komin meets Vera Talpaeva, who disappeared a year and a half ago, in the city. And offers her new opportunities for cooperation. Now Talpayeva had to not only look for candidates for slaves, but also look for new markets for clothing products. I even threw in a little money. Therefore, Talpayeva was enthusiastic about the opportunity to resume cooperation. Soon she brought 27-year-old Irina Ganyushkina to Komin’s garage.

While drinking, when Ganyushkina had already drunk vodka with clonidine, Talpaeva suddenly began to demand that he pay her a certain amount of money every week, or she would go to the police.

Komin did not want to pay. That’s why he forcibly poured brake fluid into Talpaeva. The body of Mikheev and Komin was thrown into a pre-selected ice hole on the Vyatka River.

And Komin really liked Irina Ganyushkina brought by Vera. So much so that he decided to marry her. Captives Kozikova and Melnikova saw this as their chance for liberation. They convinced Irina to agree to all of Komin’s proposals, and when he took her from the garage to his apartment, Irina ran straight to the police.

The police didn’t believe Irina’s story at first. But as she named the names of people who had suffered from Komin (her “colleagues” told her about the murders of Malykh, Shishov and Nazimova, and she saw Talpayeva’s corpse in person), the policemen’s opinion changed. The security forces decided to set up an ambush at Komin’s garage: Ganyushkina’s words were completely confirmed. Kozikova and Melnikova were hospitalized.

On June 12, 1999, the Kirov Regional Court sentenced Mikheev to 20 years in prison, and Komin to life imprisonment. Four days after the verdict, he cut open his groin artery in his cell and died from loss of blood. Mikheev was released in 2017 and for some time lived on telling stories to journalists for money and doing odd jobs. He died in 2022 from alcohol poisoning. The surviving victims of the “Vyatka slave owner” Tatyana Kozikova and Tatyana Melnikova, unfortunately, could not return to their former lives: they died of heart problems several years after the tragedy.