MOSCOW , Russia ( CNN ) -- A Russian serial murderer dubbed the `` Chessboard Killer '' was given the maximum sentence of life in prison Monday and ordered to undergo psychiatric therapy for a string of at least 48 murders that terrorized Moscow for years . A Moscow jury convicted Alexander Pichushkin last week of 48 murders and three attempted murders . Pichushkin claimed he had actually committed 60 murders , though prosecutors were unable to find evidence to prove that . Pichushkin earned the nickname `` Chessboard Killer '' for saying he had intended to kill one person for each of the 64 squares on a chessboard . In ordering Pichushkin to receive compulsory psychiatric therapy , the judge said the defendant has a mental disorder but is still sane and can not avoid responsibility for his crimes . Throughout his trial , Pichushkin gloated over his crimes and ridiculed the police case against him . `` I was dismayed my work had been attributed to others , '' Pichushkin said . `` In one week , I killed two people . If they had n't caught me , I would have never stopped . Having caught me , they saved many lives . '' Watch video report on serial killer Alexander Pichushkin . For years until his arrest in June 2006 , Pichushkin kept Moscow on edge , stalking the heavily forested Bitsa Park on the city 's southern outskirts and preying on the homeless and elderly . Pichushkin claimed to have committed all but one of his murders in the park . He lured his victims with the promise of alcohol and , after getting them drunk on vodka , he beat them to death and dumped their bodies in the park . It led Russian media to give Pichushkin his other nickname , the `` Bitsa Maniac . '' Over the years , Russian police recovered dozens of corpses , some with sticks and vodka bottles rammed into their skulls . But the crucial lead came in 2005 , when a woman Pichushkin worked with at a vegetable store was found dead . She had left a note at her home saying she was going for a walk with him . Pichushkin said he had been aware of the note but killed her anyway . E-mail to a friend . CNN Correspondent Matthew Chance contributed to this report .
The court sentences serial killer to maximum penalty of life in prison . Sergei Pichushkin was found guilty of killing 48 people . He was ordered to undergo psychiatric treatment at the prison .