not separate, isolated cases as previous investigators had conveniently believed, but had in fact been committed by one person, a serial killer. The police also suspected that the serial killer was using a red Zaporozhets; as they started checking all the people of the Oblast who possessed such a car, Mikhasevich, as a druzhinnik, participated in these actions - essentially, searching for himself. This also gave him insight into the investigation itself, enabling him to learn of the steps investigators were taking beforehand, and allowing Mikhasevich to plan his own steps to avoid them. The year 1984 was especially 'prolific' for the murderer: he killed 12 women in this year alone. Eventually, Mikhasevich, who was now getting concerned, made a fatal mistake. In order to derail the investigation, he sent an anonymous letter to the local newspaper on behalf of an imaginary underground organization, 'Patriots of Vitebsk', purportedly calling on his fellow militants to intensify their struggle of killing communists and lewd women. When he left a similar hand-written note next to his new victim, again signed on behalf of 'Patriots of Vitebsk', the investigators started to ascertain the handwriting of the male residents of the Oblast. Having checked 556,000 samples, the experts detected that the sample with the handwriting of Gennady Modestovich Mikhasevich bore a striking resemblance to the handwriting on the murderer's notes. Further investigation revealed other evidence, convincing them of Mikhasevich's guilt. He was finally arrested in December 1985. After initial denial, he confessed and was sentenced to death and executed by firing squad in 1987. His case became notorious in the USSR (“The Vitebsk Case”, “Витебское дело”), as it revealed how corrupt investigators had tried to close cases quickly: by the time Mikhasevich was finally arrested, 14 people had already been convicted for the crimes Mikhasevich committed, and a couple of them had been sentenced to death and executed for crimes they did not commit. See also List of serial killers by country List of serial killers by number of victims Footnotes External links Biography of Mikhasevich in Russian Biography of Mikhasevich in Russian at serial-killer.ru Photos of Mikhasevich with commentaries in Russian 1947 births 1987 deaths Belarusian people executed by the Soviet Union Communist Party of the Soviet Union members Executed Belarusian serial killers Executed Soviet people from Belarus Executed Soviet serial killers Male serial killers People convicted of murder by the Soviet Union People