Tamara Samsonova: The Granny Ripper

Tamara Samsonova, a 68-year-old grandmother beheaded, dismembered, and then eaten parts of her victims in St. Petersburg.

Tamara, who was nicknamed the "Granny Ripper" and "Baba Yaga" by the Russian media, kept a diary in which she documented her acts of murder and cannibalism. She wrote in three languages: Russian, English, and German. According to the entries in her diary, she would extract the lungs of her victims and consume them.

Early life

Tamara Samsonova was born on April 25, 1947, in Uzhur, a city now located in the Krasnoyarsk Krai region of Russia. After completing high school, she moved to Moscow and enrolled at the Moscow State Linguistic University. Following her graduation, she relocated to St. Petersburg where she married Alexei Samsonov. In 1971, the couple settled in a newly constructed apartment complex on Dimitrov Street.

Tamara worked for the Intourist travel agency for some time, including a stint at the Grand Hotel Europe. At the time of her retirement, she had accumulated 16 years of work experience.

In the year 2000, Tamara's husband went missing. She reported the incident to the police, but despite extensive searches, no evidence was found. After fifteen years had passed, in April 2015, she once again approached the authorities, specifically the investigative unit of the Frunzensky District in St. Petersburg, to provide a statement regarding her husband's disappearance.

 

 Crimes

Tamara victimized both her neighbors and former tenants, including her husband who went missing and has never been located.

Following her husband's disappearance, Tamara started renting out a room in her apartment. Investigators claim that during an argument on September 6, 2003, she killed one of her tenants, a 44-year-old man from Norilsk, dismembered his body, and disposed of it on the street.

In March 2015, Tamara became acquainted with Valentina Nikolaevna Ulanova, a 79-year-old resident of Dimitrov Street. A mutual friend asked Ulanova to provide temporary accommodation to Tamara, as her apartment was undergoing renovation, and Ulanova agreed to do so.

Tamara resided in Ulanova's apartment for several months, assisting with household tasks. As time passed, she grew attached to the residence and refused to vacate the premises. However, their relationship became strained, and Ulanova eventually requested Tamara to depart. Following another dispute, Tamara resorted to poisoning Ulanova, ultimately carrying out the deed.

Arrest

Tamara was arrested on July 27, 2015, after being filmed by CCTV cameras near her home, removing the body parts of her latest victim, Valentina Ulanova, in a black plastic bag, and carrying a cooking pot containing her head.

Tamara was brought before a court hearing, accused of murdering Valentina Ulanova. To carry out the crime, Tamara traveled to Pushkin, where she convinced a pharmacist to sell her phenazepam, a prescription drug. Upon her return, she purchased an Olivier salad, one of Ulanova's preferred dishes, and spiked it with the pills before serving it to her victim. Following this, Tamara dismembered Ulanova with a hacksaw while she was still alive. Ulanova's torso was discovered in a pond in St. Petersburg. Tamara kept a detailed record of her murders, including one entry in her diary that stated: "I killed my tenant named Volodya, dismembered him with a knife in the bathtub, placed his body parts in plastic bags, and scattered them throughout the Frunzensky district."

During her court appearance, Tamara blew kisses at the press and addressed the magistrate, saying:

“I did it to be known as a serial killer. It’s all deliberate. I’ve been preparing for this day for 10 years. l am a very old person and I now have nowhere to live, so I decided that I must go to prison.”

“I will die there and the State will probably bury me. It is such a disgrace for me. I am guilty and deserve a punishment”

Trial

Tamara was detained in custody awaiting trial in relation to 14 murders. She reportedly suffers from schizophrenia and has been hospitalized three times in psychiatric institutions in the past.

Tamara was required to undergo a forensic psychiatric evaluation, and on November 26, 2015, the findings revealed that she posed a threat to both herself and society. Consequently, she was confined to a specialized institution until the conclusion of the investigation.

Tamara was ordered to undergo mandatory psychiatric treatment at a specialized hospital located in Kazan in December 2015.

Check a book

The shocking true crime story of one of the most bizarre mass murders ever recorded—and the girl who escaped with her life.

In the fall of 2010, in the all-American town of Apple Valley, Ohio, four people disappeared without a trace: Stephanie Sprang; her friend, Tina Maynard; and Tina’s two children, thirteen-year-old Sarah and eleven-year-old Kody. Investigators began scouring the area, yet despite an extensive search, no signs of the missing people were discovered.

On the fourth day of the search, evidence trickled in about neighborhood “weirdo” Matthew Hoffman. A police SWAT team raided his home and found an extremely disturbing sight: every square inch of the place was filled with leaves and a terrified Sarah Maynard was bound up in the middle of it like some sort of perverted autumn tableau. But there was no trace of the others.

Then came Hoffman’s confession to an unspeakable crime that went beyond murder and defied all reason. His tale of evil would make Sarah’s survival and rescue all the more astonishing—a compelling tribute to a young girl’s resilience and courage and to her fierce determination to reclaim her life in the wake of unimaginable trauma.

The Girl in the Leaves (Berkley True Crime)