Nizhny Tagil mass murder (2002–2007)

In early 2007, a mass grave was discovered by a dog near the village of Levikha in Sverdlovsk Oblast, Russia, approximately 40 kilometres south of Nizhny Tagil. The grave contained the confirmed remains of 15 young women and girls, aged between 13 and 25, with investigators estimating the true total could be as high as 30. The first public report on the discovery appeared in the Russian newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda on February 2, 2007, authored by Urals correspondent Rinat Nizamov. On the same day, the Prosecutor's Office of Sverdlovsk Oblast issued an official statement confirming the discovery.

Police investigations determined that the killings had taken place between 2002 and 2005 across several locations in Sverdlovsk Oblast, including Nizhny Tagil, the towns of Kirovgrad and Kushva, and the districts of Nevyansky and Prigorodny. Investigators arrested a gang of eight men, aged 25 to 46, accused of abducting local girls beginning in 2002. According to the investigation, victims were raped, beaten, and threatened with death to force them to work as prostitutes in a brothel disguised as a massage parlor. Some victims were reportedly compelled to write reassuring letters to their families to delay suspicion. One of the murdered girls, Elena Chudinova, was alleged to be the 14-year-old daughter of gang leader Eduard "Edik" Chudinov.

The case drew scrutiny of local police conduct, as it emerged that between 2005 and 2006 there were 462 unsolved missing person cases in Nizhny Tagil alone, a city of approximately 400,000 residents, raising accusations that missing person reports had not been properly investigated.

Prosecutors formally connected 14 of the murders to the gang, though sources close to the investigation suspected the actual number of victims could be as high as 50. In April 2008, gang leader Eduard Chudinov was sentenced to life imprisonment; however, the charge relating to the murder of his daughter Elena was dropped from his case. The seven other members of the gang received prison sentences ranging from 10 to 24 years.

Among the confirmed victims named were Olga Bubnova, 15, who disappeared in June 2005; Viktoria Yushkova, 13, who disappeared in June 2005; Irina Kuzmina, 17, who disappeared in 2004; Elena Chudinova, 15, who disappeared in July 2004; Olesya Yakimovich, 13, who disappeared in January 2004; and Evgeniya Konstantinova, 13, who disappeared in January 2004.