marriage with her. Kozikova and Melnikova, realizing that this was their chance to escape, persuaded Ganyushkina to agree. Komin threatened to deal with the 22-year-old woman if she tried to escape. Ganyushkina agreed, but when Komin left her for a few minutes in his apartment unattended, she ran to the police on July 21, 1997. Initially, the employees did not believe the applicant, but when she called the names of those in the bunker, they immediately demanded her to indicate the bunker's location. Komin was arrested near his garage. He tried to stop the electricity in the ladder to try and escape, but Ganyushkina had reported this in advance. After Melnikova and Kozikova were discovered in the bunker they were hospitalized, with both of them wearing a bandage around their eyes, so that they would not be blinded by the sunlight, which they had not seen in two years. Mikheev was arrested soon after Komin, and began to testify, confessing to four murders, the illegal deprivation of liberty of three more people, the use of slave labor and illegal entrepreneurship. In 1999, the Kirov Regional Court sentenced Alexander Komin to life imprisonment, and Alexander Mikheev to 20 years imprisonment. After the sentencing, Komin committed suicide in his cell, by cutting open his femoral artery. See also Viktor Mokhov Josef Fritzl case Kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard Ariel Castro kidnappings List of Russian serial killers References 1953 births 1999 deaths 1999 suicides Male serial killers Prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment by Russia Russian serial killers Serial killers who committed suicide in prison custody Suicides by sharp instrument in Russia