Anatoly Onoprienko was born on July 25, 1959, in the village of Lasky, Zhytomyr Oblast, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union. He was the younger of two sons; his brother, Valentin, was thirteen years older. His father, Yuri Onoprienko, was a decorated World War II veteran. After his mother's death when he was four, Anatoly was cared for by relatives before being placed in an orphanage, an experience he later claimed shaped his destiny. ​

Anatoly Yuriyovych Onoprienko committed a series of murders between 1989 and 1996. He confessed to killing a total of fifty-two victims. His first murders took place in 1989 when he and an accomplice killed a family of ten during a robbery attempt. Later that year, he shot five people who were sleeping in a car, including an 11-year-old boy, before setting the vehicle on fire.

In December 1995, Onoprienko shot and killed a family of four in their home during another robbery. He then set the house on fire. In January 1996, he murdered two families within days, shooting them dead and killing a pedestrian to eliminate a witness. Onoprienko continued his spree, killing four people on a highway by stopping cars.

On January 17, 1996, he killed the Pilat family of five in their home, which he also set ablaze. In late January, he shot dead a woman and her two sons along with a visitor. In February, he attacked the Dubchak family, using a hammer on the mother and daughter after demanding money. He then killed another family, the Bodnarchuks, using a gun and an axe, also killing a neighbor shortly after.

His last murders were on March 22, 1996, when he shot a family of four and burned their home to destroy evidence. His method involved creating chaos to lure out the victims before systematically killing them and setting their homes on fire.

Onoprienko was eventually captured in March 1996 following a manhunt, and he was sentenced to life imprisonment after his death sentence was commuted. He died in prison on August 27, 2013, at the age of 54.