'Granny Ripper' beheaded neighbour and then boiled her head in a pot
Tamara Mitrofanovna Samsonova was known as the 'Granny Ripper'(Image: Wikipedia )There's a familiar horror film convention that portrays elderly women as vulnerable, fearful and likely victims of the monster. But what occurs when they become the monster themselves?That's precisely what transpired with Russian pensioner Tamara Samsonova. Dubbed the "Granny Ripper" and even "Baba Yaga" – named after the fearsome witch from Slavic folklore – Samsonova may have appeared like an ordinary grandmother, but this murderous pensioner became one of Russia's most brutal and prolific serial killers.Currently in her late 70s, Samsonova was born in Siberia's unforgiving territory in 1947, whilst Russia was still recovering from World War Two's financial and social devastation. Whilst little is documented about her early years, records show she relocated to Moscow as a young adult before eventually settling in St Petersburg, where she wed a man called Alexei.Tamara Samsonova is said to have been obsessed with the 'Red Ripper' (Image:
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)According to her few remaining acquaintances, she led an ordinary existence in the city, holding various positions within the tourism sector. In 2020, Alexei mysteriously disappeared and despite Samsonova alerting authorities, the investigation made no progress.Many believe Samsonova was involved in foul play, though this remains unproven, reports the Mirror.After her husband's disappearance, Samsonova started accepting lodgers into her flat. In 2003, she allegedly killed one of them during a dispute – 44-year-old Sergey Potanin – before dismembering his body and disposing of the remains throughout the local area.The murder remained undetected for over 10 years. Despite the savage nature of the murder and the clumsy disposal, the case remained unsolved.However, 12 years later, Samsonova wouldn't be so fortunate. In early 2015, she moved into her neighbour Valentina Ulanova's flat while her own was being renovated.Tamara Samsonova is suspected of killing 14(Image: CNN/Reuters )Initially, the arrangement worked, but soon they started to bicker. When Ulanova asked her to leave, Samsonova refused and instead began plotting her next horrific murder.She managed to acquire phenazepam, a potent prescription sedative, which she crushed and mixed into Ulanova's favourite Olivier salad. After her neighbour collapsed, Samsonova set about dismembering her body.Reports at the time depicted Samsonova decapitating her neighbour, before boiling her head in a pot.She then made multiple trips outside with bin bags in the dead of night, stashing them in various locations. Thankfully, one of these bags was found by police near a residential pond.Tamara Samsonova on CCTV (Image: E2W NEWS)When the authorities went to question Samsonova, she calmly led them to a bathroom smeared with blood and a missing curtain, identical to the one wrapped around the corpse.The horror intensified when detectives discovered her handwritten diary, where she allegedly boasted about previous killings, detailing how she dismembered victims and disposed of their body parts around St. Petersburg.An excerpt from her diary reportedly reads: 'I killed my tenant Volodya, cut him to pieces in the bathroom with a knife, put the pieces of his body in plastic bags and threw them away in the different parts of Frunzensky district. '.Samsonova was swiftly deemed mentally unfit for trial and dispatched to a secure psychiatric hospital, where she continues to reside. Russian police have stated that she is under investigation for up to 14 murders, but the true number of victims claimed by the so-called Granny Ripper may never be revealed.
