Serial killer receives life sentence

  • 2005-05-18
  • By TBT staff
RIGA - The Riga District Court sentenced one of the most prolific serial killer in Latvian history, Kaspars Petrovs, to life in prison on May 12. Petrovs was convicted for the murder of 13 people, eight attempted murders, as well as theft and robbery.

Petrovs was originally charged with the murder of over 30 women between 2000 and 2003, but due to a lack of forensic evidence he was only convicted of 13 murders.

The assailant said he regretted the murders, and asked for the families of those killed to forgive him. Petrovs had previously blamed his upbringing and family for his killing spree, which involved the murder of mostly elderly women.

"I understood that I would not be able to earn as much as my family demanded from me. Therefore I turned to crime," he reportedly said at the trial.

Petrovs added that he regretted murdering the women.

"I can not return the victims to life by words, but I wish they were still alive, that nothing had happened and that I wasn't here. I would rather be sitting on the street, subsisting on bread and water," he said. "I wanted only to rob them, not to kill them."

Petrovs would strangle his victims, who were often older women that he followed home. The murderer would con his way into their houses disguised as a gas company employee. Petrovs emphasized, however, that when he left the women's apartments, they were often breathing.

Petrovs had spent the last three years living on the streets of Riga. By robbing his victims, he was able to collect an estimated 18,000 lats (26,000 euros) in goods and money. The conviction was not his first run in with the law. Petrovs was previously convicted for theft in 1998.