Yevhenii Balan (, ; born 1967), known as The Fastiv Maniac (), is a Ukrainian serial killer and rapist who murdered nine people, including male acquaintances and his stepdaughter, from 2006 to 2011 in Fastiv and the surrounding area. Arrested by a passer-by for an attempted murder and rape, he soon confessed to his other crimes, after which he was tried, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Early life and first crime Little is known of Yevhenii Balan's early life. Born in 1967 in Boiarka, at some point in his life he went to the Komi ASSR in the Russian SSR, where he was convicted of rape and sentenced to 8 years imprisonment. His time in prison affected him mentally, with Balan deciding that if he were to continue raping, he would not leave his victims alive. Release and move to Fastiv After serving out his sentence in full, Balan returned to Ukraine, initially settling in Volytsya and then Fastiv, where he entered into a common-law marriage with Nataliya Kornienko, a housekeeper whom his mother had hired to help around the house. He eventually moved in with Kornienko, who lived with her 16-year-old daughter Svitlana Strizh. Kornienko would later claim in the first three months of their relationship, Balan managed to get a job at a sawmill and helped with housework, but would unexpectedly quit for not apparent reason. He refused to seek employment and lived off her his partner's wage, which he would spend on alcohol and cigarettes. Kornienko also claimed that Balan did not get along with her daughter, and that he would sometimes lock himself in a closet for upwards of an hour, apparently just sitting and staring at a photograph of Strizh. His behavior would get progressively worse, as he began molesting Strizh and verbally abusing Kornienko during his drunken stupors, but always convinced them that he was remorseful and that he had no idea what he was doing while in a drunken state. Murders Balan's first murder occurred in January 2006, while he was still living in Volytsya. He strangled a male drinking companion and hid his body in a drainage pipe, where it was discovered in April - however, due to advanced decomposition, authorities were unable to establish a cause of death. In the summer of 2009, Balan visited Volytsya again to meet up with a 45-year-old female acquaintance. He would later claim that