Dmitry Gennadyevich Kazakov was born on 7 May 1972 in Iskitim, Novosibirsk Oblast, the second of three children. His parents, Gennady and Tatiana, worked at a secret Soviet machine-building plant for the space industry. The family was not wealthy, but there is no record that his parents encouraged criminal behavior. As a teenager, Kazakov developed kleptomania and began committing thefts from homes and shops in the late 1980s, leading to multiple short prison terms.

Through his adult life, Kazakov lived an antisocial lifestyle, frequently abusing alcohol, being detained for disturbing the peace, and cycling through short-term imprisonments. He fathered a daughter with one girlfriend, but neither parent wanted to raise the child, leaving her in the care of Kazakov’s parents. He later married another woman and had a son.

Kazakov made his living primarily through theft and robbery, avoiding formal employment. In 2007, he committed a major robbery with a school friend at the “Olimp” company in Iskitim, stealing over 1.3 million rubles. Despite frequent brushes with the law for non-violent crimes, he was not suspected in any homicides before 2009. His family benefited from unexplained wealth, including a BMW X5, snowmobile, and motorcycle, despite his lack of legitimate work.

Kazakov’s murder spree began in May 2009, when he broke into the Energomontazh office in Novosibirsk, entering via a second-floor balcony. Confronted by a security guard, he beat the man with a rock, killing him, and stole over 600,000 rubles. In October 2009, he robbed the PSK Berezka company, assaulting and tying up the guard, who later died from his injuries, and stole over 100,000 rubles.

In December 2010, during a robbery at the Kudryashovskoye company in Krivodanovka, Kazakov shot a guard in the head with a shotgun, killing him instantly, and took 500,000 rubles. In March 2011, he targeted the Metapribor office in Novosibirsk, beating and binding a guard who later died in hospital from injuries sustained in the attack.

On 6 March 2012, he committed a large-scale robbery at the Iskitim post office, stealing 5.6 million rubles in pension funds after tying up the female guard. He was quickly identified through fingerprints left on tools and arrested. Convicted in July 2012, he received a 7-year prison sentence, later extended to 8 years for infractions while incarcerated.

Released in March 2020, Kazakov soon resumed criminal activity. On the night of 26–27 September 2020, he broke into the home of 66-year-old Lyudmila Kaigorodova, wife of Iskitim City Hospital’s chief physician. After tying her up, he bludgeoned her with a crowbar when she screamed, killing her. Public outrage and high-level involvement from federal investigators followed. DNA evidence linked Kazakov to the scene, and he fled to Tomsk Oblast.

On the night of 1–2 June 2021, he broke into the Tomsk House-Building Company, killing 60-year-old security guard Grigory Emelyanov before stealing a safe containing over 600,000 rubles.

Kazakov was arrested on 8 June 2021 in Tomsk. He confessed to all six murders and other crimes, claiming his motive was financial gain. He also admitted he had been planning another robbery targeting a high-ranking official in Tomsk. While in custody, he expressed remorse and reported seeing his victims in dreams.

In February 2022, prosecutors approved charges for six counts of murder, robbery, and related crimes, with trial scheduled for August. On 9 August 2022, shortly before the trial was to begin, Kazakov committed suicide in his Novosibirsk detention cell. Resuscitation efforts failed, and officials reported he had shown signs of suicidal intent due to the likelihood of a life sentence.