cleft throat and crucifixion
In April 1997, the city of Severo-Zadonsk in the Tula region, now a microdistrict of Donskoy, yielded a grim find: the mutilated body of a 16-year-old was discovered near a railway line. The youth had a deep throat wound, and shards of a broken bottle lay nearby, suggesting a violent end rather than a simple accident.
Initial police responses labeled the death a possible suicide. However, a forensic examination soon contradicted that assessment. The wounds did not align with a self-inflicted act; no blood traces were detected on the glass fragments, and the incidence of throat injuries pointed to a knife being used rather than a broken bottle. The evidence pushed investigators to reconsider the case’s direction.
The deceased’s mother became a pivotal voice in the inquiry. She insisted the boy could not have taken his own life, noting that he appeared to be in good spirits and had no visible problems. She also recalled that the teenager had been strolling with friends near their home on 20 Zheleznodorozhnaya Street the night before the body was found, a location later cited as a crucial sighting point.
When law enforcement attempted to question Zinaida Kuzina, a 73-year-old resident of that address, she refused entry and declined to answer questions. The case subsequently drifted toward closure with the initial suicide theory again prevailing.
Two months later, a second tragedy struck the same town: a teenage boy’s body was discovered in a forest belt, cruelly crucified to a tree. The killer rigged the victim to the trunk, binding arms and legs to branches, shattering the skull, and severing his right ear. This act plainly rejected the notion of suicide and demanded a different investigative approach.
“She danced a round dance around the slain”
The second murder was solved swiftly when two 16-year-old acquaintances of the victim were identified as suspects. Under interrogation, they admitted killing their friend because they did not share his religious beliefs. They stated that the victim refused to renounce God, after which the pair took action against him.
At first, prosecutors were skeptical, with an early theory suggesting the teens were feigning mental illness to avoid punishment. Yet their demeanor during questioning—assured and detailed—along with their confessions, shifted the momentum of the case. They described leading the victim into the forest, tying him to a tree, and urging him to abandon his faith before stabbing him in the heart and severing his ear, culminating in a claim that the act was a Satanic sacrifice.
In a surprising turn, the young men later admitted involvement in the earlier April death, revealing that more people were implicated beyond themselves. Investigators scanned the suspects’ homes and uncovered occult literature and evidence pointing toward a broader circle of participants. The retired resident, Zinaida Kuzina, emerged as a central figure, with investigators tracing connections between her, her son, and other youths involved in the crimes. The search uncovered icons, prayer texts, and religious paraphernalia, while Kuzina’s statements about preparing for Easter were contradicted by the discovered materials and testimonies.
Further probes linked the elder Kuzina’s son, Valery Kuzin, to the scheme. Authorities gathered statements suggesting that Satanic beliefs were being propagated within their household and that underage participants were drawn deeper into the practice of ritualistic acts. The case file described a ritual in which participants collectively conducted a demonic ceremony, reportedly involving blood rituals and rituals around a table as part of an Easter Eve rite. According to testimony, participants claimed to drink from a jar of blood and to perform a round dance in reverence to the Devil after the murder.
The sequence culminated with a plan to stage suicides near the railroad, using the conspirators’ belief systems to justify their actions. The investigation eventually identified ten people involved, including Zinaida Kuzina, her son, and eight teenagers aged 16 to 17. One of the younger participants even displayed a tattoo reading “666,” a detail noted by authorities as indicative of the group’s beliefs. During detention, the older youth’s demeanor drew considerable attention from fellow inmates, who perceived him as unsettling and eccentric, prompting concerns about his behavior in confinement.
Experts observing the trial cautioned that the case reflected a disturbing craze of the 1990s—demonic and occult movements gaining traction among impressionable youths. A respected commentator on such phenomena, Alexander Chausov, described the perpetrators not simply as Satanists or neo-pagans but as individuals driven by a volatile mix of charisma and delusional belief, a potent combination in totalitarian-destructive sect dynamics. He noted that, in that era, demonic cults were a relatively common, troubling feature of post-Soviet social life.
Ultimately, the court found all defendants guilty, delivering varied sentences that reflected age and health considerations: six were sentenced to between 8.5 and 9.5 years in prison, while the elder Kuzina received a comparatively lighter sentence of around five years due to age and health. The trial also exposed the emotional toll on family members, including a relative who maintained faith and insisted on innocence while expressing distress over the length of confinement others faced.
Commentators highlighted the broader implications of the case, emphasizing that Satanism, when coupled with social alienation and suggestible youth, can nurture dangerous outcomes. Historians and criminologists alike argued that the underlying motive often centers on power, fear, and a need to belong, rather than a straightforward pursuit of ritualistic cruelty. The episode stands as a stark reminder of how rapidly stressful social currents can coalesce into violent acts when belief and group dynamics converge.
In retrospective assessments, experts stressed that the case illustrates how sensational ideologies can distort judgment and lead to brutal acts. The investigations underscored the necessity for careful, evidence-based inquiry when confronted with seemingly inexplicable violence, and the importance of distinguishing belief from criminal action to ensure justice is served fairly and comprehensively.
[Source: marked in-text attribution for archival context]