Mikhail Viktorovich Popkov was born on March 7, 1964, in Norilsk, a city in Krasnoyarsk Krai, in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Shortly after his birth, his family moved to Angarsk, a city in Irkutsk Oblast. Details about his early life are limited. He grew up in a region known for its harsh climate and industrial background.

Popkov later married Elena Popkova, and they had a daughter named Ekaterina. Throughout his life, he held various jobs. He worked as a police officer in the Irkutsk region. At some point, he also worked as a security guard at the Angarsk Oil and Chemical Company, as well as at a private security firm.

Mikhail Viktorovich Popkov committed his crimes from 1992 to 2010 in Angarsk and other places in the Irkutsk region of Russia. During this time, he killed many women, aged 19 to 50, as well as one policeman. He believed he was "cleaning the streets of prostitutes," guided by what he called his "inner convictions." His targets were often women he thought were acting immorally, like those attending parties without male escorts.

To lure his victims, Popkov would dress in his police uniform and offer them rides in his police car. Instead of helping them, he took them to secluded spots. He used various weapons, including knives, axes, and baseball bats, to kill them. He raped their bodies and mutilated them extensively. This brutality led to the media giving him nicknames like "the Werewolf" and "the Angarsk Maniac."

For many years, local police searched for the killer. They found a pattern that linked the murders. Tire tracks from a police vehicle were found at multiple crime scenes. In 2012, DNA testing on over 3,500 police personnel led to Popkov's arrest. He was convicted in January 2015 for 22 murders and received a life sentence.

In the years that followed, Popkov confessed to many more killings. In 2018, after another trial, he was found guilty of 56 additional murders. He then received a second life sentence. By July 2020, he confessed to a total of 83 killings. In 2021, he was found guilty of two more murders, adding nearly ten years to his sentence. In November 2023, he was convicted for three additional murders and sentenced to another ten years in prison.