Alexander Greba

Alexander Ivanovich Greba (Алекса́ндр Ива́нович Гре́ба; born September 23, 1980), known as The Goblin (Леший), is a Russian serial killer. In March 2005, he was sentenced to life imprisonment for several murders.

Biography
Greba was born on September 23, 1980, in Moshchenoe, in the Yakovlevsky District. His parents divorced when he was barely 2 years old, as his father could not stand tolerating his wife. The mother drank, led a riotous life, stole from home and was hysterical. After the first divorce, she remarried, but the second husband soon abandoned her as well. After that, she took out her anger on her children, especially on Alexander. The family struggled to make ends meet, so from the age of 10, Greba began to steal. After growing up, he fled to the forest, where he lived.

At the age of 16 he was convicted of murder. On that day, it was beginning to get cold, and Greba had to leave the forest. He made his way into a coop, and when the landlady entered, he killed her, because she resembled his mother. Greba was caught at the crime scene and sentenced to 8 years and 10 months imprisonment. In April 2004, he was released on parole.

Coming out of the colony, Greba settled with his aunt. Two months after his release, he committed a new murder. Greba decided to spend the night in a barn with an unfamiliar elderly man and climbed there. When he saw the same man, Greba killed him, fleeing into the forest afterwards. In less than a week, Greba had dealt in a similar way with an elderly woman. He ate the food he found at her house, took things that looked cheap, and went back into the forest. In the wake of these crimes, operatives with dogs searched the forest. Soon they found a hut, in which Greba lived. At this time, he himself was watching them from behind the trees.

It was quite coincidental that the precinct officer, who investigated the first murder, identified Greba by accident. After his identity was established, Greba committed a double murder. The victims were 2 elderly women, to whom the offender asked to spend the night. Shortly before that, he had gone to a local Orthodox Church and asked the priest for work. The father had an unpleasant impression of the man, and softly refused. Soon the daughter of one pensioner from the village entered the house. She called the police, and Greba was soon arrested. The court sentenced him to life imprisonment, and Greba tried to appeal the verdict. Realizing that this would not work, Greba became religious in prison. He is now serving his sentence in the Polar Owl prison.

In the media

 * Documentary film "Leshy" from the series "Criminal Chronicles" (2009).