Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs - 2010 Chilean Documentary

2010 Chilean Documentary

On August 2, 2010, the Chilean television channel MEGA broadcast a documentary about the case. It was entitled Los maníacos del martillo (The hammer maniacs) and ran for 1 hour and 25 minutes as part of the investigative series Aquí en Vivo (Here, Live). Journalist Michele Canale flew to Dnipropetrovsk and interviewed a range of people involved in the case.

The parents of Suprunyuck and Sayenko maintained the innocence of their children, while detectives involved in the case gave their recollections, and repeated the lack of confirmation for the theory that the murder videos had been shot as snuff films for sale overseas. Lidia Mikrenischeva, an elderly lady who survived a hammer attack and helped to identify the killers in court, was also interviewed. She recalled being struck on the head from behind and falling to the ground, but her life was saved when the dogs accompanying her barked loudly and scared off the attackers. Natalia Ilchenko, the mother of the first known victim Ekaterina Ilchenko, recalled finding her daughter unrecognizable after the hammer attack, and commented that the killers should not be compared to animals because they killed for fun.

The documentary was notable for showing a wide range of previously unseen photographs and video material from the case. From an anonymous source, the makers obtained a longer and unedited version of the cell phone video showing the murder of Sergei Yatzenko on July 12, 2007. Suprunyuck and Sayenko are seen standing at the woodland roadside next to their Daewoo Lanos taxi, waiting for a suitable victim to arrive, and discussing what they are going to do. At one point, Suprunyuck is seen looking through binoculars for any approaching vehicles. He can also be seen posing with a hammer, which he conceals inside a yellow plastic bag. After twenty minutes, Sergei Yatzenko arrives on a bicycle, and is knocked to the ground before the attack in the woods next to the road begins. Yatzenko's children were asked to take part in the documentary, but declined. According to the commentary, at least five more murder videos are known to exist. The Yatzenko video was shown to the Chilean horror film director Jorge Olguín, who was so disturbed that he was unable to watch all of it. The documentary also showed brief excerpts from a five minute video of the murder of another victim of the maniacs, an unidentified man. At one point in the video, the killers comment that the man has a gold tooth. The man was killed with blows to the head and a knife, with some of his personal belongings taken as trophies.

The documentary also showed a video recording of the confession of Viktor Sayenko, in which he admits that robbery was a motive for some of the killings. A video of Alexander Hanzha was also shown, with his face bruised after alleged mistreatment by the police. Michele Canale attempted to obtain an interview with the killers in prison, but was denied by the Ukrainian authorities. A range of motives for the killings was examined, and it was concluded that despite the court verdict, there are still unanswered questions about the case.