Alexander Sergeyevich Lokhtachyov (; born 1981) and Pavel Yuryevich Safonov (; born 1982) are a pair of Russian serial killers who raped and murdered eight women and girls around Magnitogorsk and its environs from 2003 and 2004, with Lokhtachyov murdering two others by himself. Both were found guilty on all counts to their respective crimes and have received life sentences. Murders First murder The pair's first recorded murder dates back to one night in July 2003, when Lokhtachyov and Safonov were out drinking and searching for the company of a woman around Magnitogorsk. They finally came across a young woman at the intersection of Karl Marx Avenue and Leningradskaya Street and convinced her to join them - they then drove to a field near the village of Verkhnezikilsky, where both took turns raping her. After they were finished, the victim threatened that she would report them to the police. Lokhtachyov and Safonov then grabbed a lace from a tracksuit and choked her to death. When she stopped breathing, they poured gasoline over the corpse and burned it, whereupon they got into Lokhtachyov's car and went back to Magnitogorsk. Killing spree Lokhtachyov and Safonov did not meet up for approximately two months after the first murder, mostly due to work and personal reasons. When they met again, they planned to abduct another victim from Karl Marx Avenue. After selecting another young woman and offering her free alcohol, they drove to the outskirts of Magnitogorsk, next to the cement plant. After taking turns raping her, Lokhtachyov and Safonov then choked her to death and burned the body just like the first victim. In October, the pair got a new Volkswagen and sought out a new victim at Karl Marx Avenue. They took in two friends, but took one of them home at her request, while the other decided to go with them. She was then brought to a beach, where Lokhtachyov and Safonov proceeded to sexually assault her. Pretending that they would drive her back, Lokhtachyov drove until they reached an embankment of the Ural River - he then stopped the car, pretending to have engine trouble. Safonov and the victim then got out, ostensibly to help push it, but she was then hit on the head and strangled with a shoestring. Her body was then thrown into the Ural, and the two killers left. The pair repeated their usual routine with