Toregeldy Zharambaev was born in 1964 in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, then part of the Soviet Union. He was the third child in a poor but seemingly typical family. Despite his parents' efforts to raise their children right, Toregeldy showed signs of violent behavior early on. He bullied classmates, acted out at home, and struggled to connect socially.

He claimed his first sexual experience at age 15 led to a venereal disease. After finishing eighth grade, he refused to study further and was unable to hold a job. In 1982, he was drafted into the Soviet Army, where he endured hazing and eventually suffered a serious head injury. This incident appeared to worsen his mental health, and upon return, he was arrested for violent outbursts and diagnosed with schizophrenia. He spent time in psychiatric care and was later released under monitoring.

Zharambaev lived off disability payments, received routine mental treatment, and developed addictions to alcohol and marijuana. He married in 1986 and had a son, but remained unemployed and dependent on his parents, who grew resentful.

Between 1990 and 1992, Toregeldy Zharambaev launched one of the most disturbing killing sprees in Kazakhstan’s history. Unlike most serial killers, he had no preferred victim type — he attacked both men and women, adults and children, without discrimination. His victims were beaten or stabbed to death, often mutilated after death, and sometimes sexually assaulted or defiled in grotesque ways. Many of his crimes involved inserting objects into the corpses and masturbating on them.

His first known victim was 22-year-old Kenes Zhakauov, a junior army sergeant whom Zharambaev lured from a canteen and murdered with a hammer. He mutilated the corpse and left it near the train tracks. His next victim, 16-year-old Lyazat Duisebayeva, was stabbed 92 times after being followed into a park. She wasn’t raped, but semen was found on her bloodied body. Soon after, 12-year-old Yevgeny Shapovalov was killed in similar fashion and sodomized with a stick.

Zharambaev’s spree continued with 16-year-old Marat Zhakipbayev, whose mutilated body was discovered after a night of drinking. Notably, the killer carved "get married" into the victim’s thigh. In a later case, 30-year-old Mahmud Burakhodjaev was bludgeoned and castrated, and his severed genitalia were hung on the door of a government building. These were just a handful of the 33 murders Zharambaev was confirmed to have committed. Authorities later estimated the real number might exceed 50.

His arrest came in early 1992 after a nurse from a local psychiatric clinic saw him assaulting a young boy in broad daylight. Police searched his home and discovered a chilling scene — bloodied weapons, stolen belongings, and the remains of three victims buried in shallow graves in the yard. Shockingly, his own parents admitted they had known about the murders but kept silent out of fear and distrust of the authorities following the USSR's collapse.

During interrogation, Zharambaev gave detailed accounts of his killings, only to later claim he was following the orders of a mysterious voice. He was sent to Moscow’s Serbsky Center for psychiatric evaluation and declared legally sane. In 1993, he stood trial in Kazakhstan. Given the overwhelming evidence, he was found guilty of 33 murders and sentenced to death. That same year, Zharambaev was executed with a single gunshot to the head at SIZO-1 in Shymkent.