Tavakal Urinovich Khamidov (Russian: Тавакал Уринович Хамидов; born 13 September 1986), known as The Holosiiv Maniac (Russian: Голосеевский маньяк), is an Uzbekistani serial killer and necrophile who murdered at least 11 people in Kharkiv and Kyiv Oblasts between 2018 and 2024. Khamidov himself has claimed responsibility for at least six additional murders, including one in Russia, but these have not been confirmed. Khamidov was charged and successfully convicted of his confirmed crimes in Ukraine, which led to him being sentenced to life imprisonment.
Early life Little is known about Khamidov's early life. Born on 13 September 1986 in the village of Pulati, Bukhara Region, Uzbek SSR, he grew up in a large, impoverished family. According to him, his father was an alcoholic and did not protect him from his older brothers and other relatives, whom Khamidov claimed bullied him. He additionally claimed that he was sexually abused by an older man from his native village, but this was never corroborated. Khamidov often skipped school due to a lack of interest in studying and poor grades, instead preferring to be in the company of various petty criminals on the streets – it is not known if he committed any crimes during this period, as he was never arrested and was not known to be aggressive. In 2005, Khamidov and several friends moved to Russia for work, where they resided in the Moscow Oblast for approximately five years. In 2009 and twice in 2010, he was arrested by police officers for not having a valid work permit.
Deportation and move to Ukraine In April 2010, Khamidov was fined 2,000 rubles for immigration offenses and ordered to be deported from the country, but for reasons unknown, this never occurred – instead, he simply left Moscow and moved in with some friends in Tula, Tula Oblast. Supposedly, he lost his passport during the move, as a result of which he was unable to find a job or register at his place of residence. In mid-2010, Khamidov was arrested by local authorities after he was positively identified in the Migrant database for not reporting the loss of his passport. In May 2011, he was fined an additional 2,000 rubles and temporarily held in a detention center before he was finally deported back to Uzbekistan. After living in his homeland for a while, Khamidov left Uzbekistan again and moved illegally to Ukraine. For the next several years, he traveled across the country as a vagrant and made a living via low-skilled labor, odd jobs, and theft. He preferred to be in the company of other homeless people and petty criminals, most of whom were alcoholics like himself. In 2020, Khamidov was arrested in the Chernihiv Oblast for immigration violations, for which he was eventually fined and deported. He returned to the country only a couple of months later, but was arrested yet again in the following year in Kyiv for stealing a car. Eleven months later, in 2022, he was found guilty on all counts, but was given a suspended sentence with five years of probation, allowing Khamidov to remain free.
Murders
Modus operandi Unbeknownst to the authorities at the time, between 2018 and 2024, Khamidov committed at least 11 murders against his drinking buddies in Ukraine, almost always following a certain modus operandi. He would kill them in various manners after getting into arguments or sometimes completely unprovoked, after which he would sexually abuse the bodies of the female victims. In particular, Khamidov liked to partially undress them and kiss their genitalia. After each murder, he would rob the murder victim, with his most valuable haul being a phone worth 1,600 hryvnia and 5,000 hryvnia in cash. The victims' bodies were often left in vacant lots or other abandoned areas, and most often were found days later, when decomposition made it difficult to determine what the cause of death was. The ages of the victims ranged from 35 to 81, and were of varying nationalities. According to the official tally count, Khamidov killed eight Ukrainians; one Uzbekistani; one Latvian, and one Georgian.
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