Bio

Alexander Nikolayevich Komin was born on July 15, 1953, in Vyatskiye Polyany, Kirov Region, Russia. He spent most of his life in the same industrial town where he later committed his crimes. Public records describe him as an electrician and laborer who had also learned sewing work while serving an earlier prison sentence for hooliganism.

During the early 1970s, Komin served time in prison. While incarcerated, he worked in a sewing workshop and later continued to use those skills after release. He eventually worked different jobs, including as a watchman, electrician, and manual worker. By the 1990s, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, he owned a garage in Vyatskiye Polyany.

Komin became focused on the idea of building an underground workplace beneath his garage. With the help of Alexander Mikheyev, he spent several years digging and constructing a hidden bunker. The underground area was fitted with rooms, electricity, ventilation, sewing machines, and an electrified ladder designed to prevent escape. At first, he claimed the space was meant for private production, but it later became a prison where he held people captive and forced them to work.

Murder Story

Between 1995 and 1997, Alexander Komin and his accomplice Alexander Mikheyev held several people captive in a bunker beneath Komin’s garage in Vyatskiye Polyany. The victims were forced to work in an underground sewing workshop producing clothing and household items that Komin sold locally. Some captives were beaten, raped, chained, and kept in harsh underground conditions.

The first known captive was Vera Tolpayeva, who was brought into the bunker in 1995. She later helped lure other victims, including Tatyana Melnikova and Nikolai Malykh. Malykh was killed after Komin decided he could not be controlled or used as forced labor. Reports state that he was left outside in freezing conditions while unconscious, and his death was initially treated as accidental.

Komin later brought Yevgeny Shishov into the bunker. Because Shishov had electrical knowledge, Komin feared he might disable the escape-prevention system. Shishov was killed by electrocution. His body was removed from the bunker and abandoned.

Tatyana Nazimova, also known as Oksana, was later taken captive after Komin found her near a railway station. She was kept underground, sexually abused, and eventually killed after being given antifreeze or brake fluid. Vera Tolpayeva was also killed by poisoning after she fell out of favor with Komin.

Two surviving women, Tatyana Melnikova and Tatyana Kozikova, were held in the bunker for about two years. Komin forced them to sew for long hours, punished escape attempts, and tattooed or marked the word “slave” on their foreheads. Another survivor, Irina Ganyushkina, was brought into the bunker in 1997. Komin later decided he wanted to marry her and took her above ground, which gave her a chance to escape and contact police.

On July 21, 1997, Ganyushkina went to police and told them about the underground prison. Officers initially doubted her account, but she gave enough details to lead them to Komin’s garage. Police arrested Komin near the property and rescued the surviving captives from the bunker.

Komin and Mikheyev confessed to murder, kidnapping, illegal imprisonment, sexual violence, forced labor, and related crimes. Komin was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Kirov Regional Court in June 1999. Shortly after sentencing, he died by suicide in a detention cell. Mikheyev received a 20-year prison sentence.