Ukrainian Police Seek Serial Killer Ex-Convict Accused Of Killing Families, Burning Homes

Police launched a nationwide hunt Saturday for an ex-convict suspected in a three-month killing spree in Ukrainian villages that left 39 people dead, including seven families.

Authorities broadcast a photograph of Sergei Nikolaevich Ignatenko, 40, on television Friday night, and revealed his name on Saturday.

Interior Ministry spokesman Oleksii Tkach said Ignatenko has a long criminal record, but refused to discuss the evidence against him or his possible motive.

But another investigator, Viktor Krivorotko, said last week that police believe the killer is a “maniac” driven by a desire to strike out at families because of his own unhappy childhood.

The ex-con known, by the nickname “Baldy,” is believed to be the gunman who has been stalking villages in western and central Ukraine since Dec. 30.

On that night, a man armed with a hunting rifle strolled into the tiny village of Bratkoivichi near the Polish border. He killed four members of the Krechkovsky family, then set their home ablaze.

The killer struck again on Jan. 17 in the same village, gunning down five members of the Pilat family and two witness and again setting fire to the house. Among the victims was 6-year-old Oleg, shot three times in the head at point-blank range.

The village, home to just 1,500 people, quickly became an armed camp, with police and soldiers on constant patrol and people cowering behind barred windows at night.

A telephone was installed in the schoolhouse, the electricity - normally turned off at night because of energy shortages - was left on and lights burned around the clock.

A huge police task force was assembled, but investigators made little progress. The killings, meanwhile, continued. Five more families were slain in five more villages, the last just a week ago.