Once hitchhiking, two beautiful young women fell into the hands of a sick man. Both were locked in a secret basement and raped every day for 3 years and 7 months. When they were freed, one of them was preparing to give birth to her third child and almost lost her life because of a difficult birth. The case shocked Russian public opinion for many years.
Secret basement
When Viktor Mokhov happened to watch a documentary about Alexander Komin, the criminal who kept his slaves in an underground cellar, Viktor longed for a secret space of his own for sexual slavery.
Viktor lives in Skopin, a small Russian town, about 90 km from the city of Ryazan. This man was originally a miner, but because all the mines in the area were later closed, Viktor switched to metalworking in an auto assembly plant. At work, Viktor is considered by everyone to be an exemplary worker, always ready to help others, and has a relatively good salary.
However, Viktor’s private life was not very smooth. Viktor got married in late 1970 but soon there were disagreements and divorced just three months later. The couple has not yet had children together. Viktor moved back in with his mother and began thinking about building an underground prison where he could keep girls to satisfy his sexual needs.
Thinking about it, Viktor then began building a solid basement. Viktor placed the entrance in a place that was difficult to find and required a screwdriver to pry out the metal plate held by magnets.
A staircase leads down a narrow passage, following it to a concrete wall with two doors, one of which leads to a scary room. Everything is ready and Viktor’s job now is just to find his “prey”.
Bold plan
The first kidnapping plot was carried out by Viktor in December 1999. This man lured a 16-year-old girl and her boyfriend to his house. Here, he let them drink a lot of alcohol and tried to take advantage of the girl. But Viktor’s efforts failed and the girl left.
Viktor quickly followed her into the street, attacked, and dragged her into his basement. Here, he detained and raped the girl for two weeks until the victim took advantage of Viktor’s vulnerability and escaped. However, the victim did not later report the incident to the police.
As for Viktor, he continues to look for other opportunities for himself. And the second time came on September 30, 2000.
That day, Lena Samokhina (17 years old) and Katya Martynova (14 years old) were on their way home from a disco in the city of Skopin, western Ryazan province, Russia, when a car stopped in front of them. In the car were Viktor Mokhov and his accomplice Yelena Badukina.
When receiving a request for a ride, the two young girls immediately agreed. Viktor looked gentle, and he was with his girlfriend, so Lena and Katya felt safe and confident right away.
On the way, Yelena Badukina enthusiastically invited two young girls to drink water. Lena and Katya happily drank, not knowing that there was an anesthetic in it. After drinking, the two girls felt dizzy and no longer knew what was happening. The two girls just fell asleep and began a rather long journey to Mokhov’s secret bunker.
When they woke up, they found themselves in a dark room with only two beds and a table. Katya was brutally raped by Viktor soon after.
That was just the beginning of a series of hellish days for two young girls in a place 6 meters deep from the ground.
Life is harsh
Viktor Mokhov designed and built his secret bunker meticulously and solidly. In it, he placed an oven, a heater to protect against harsh weather when winter came, a cassette player, a radio, pencils, and paper. The cellar was underground and didn’t have any place where natural light could get in. Mokhov used soundproofing materials during the construction of the basement so the screams for help of the two victims Lena Samokhina and Katya Martynova could not leak out.
Initially, both Lena and Katya were raped by Viktor every day. The two girls had to learn to consider it as part of their lives. Each time, Viktor dragged each person out to a small room in the basement. The walls of this room are plastered with pornographic pictures cut from magazines. Later, Lena and Katya only had to serve Viktor’s sexual needs about twice a week.
When the victims appeared obedient, Viktor gave them the privilege of using a cassette player, radio, and some books. When they refused, he would punish them by starving them, cutting off the electricity in the bitter cold or even cutting off the air pump to the basement.
2 difficult childbirths
One month after being kidnapped, unable to stand the harsh living conditions, and having to be a sex slave for the sick man, Lena and Katya together plan to kill Viktor. The two girls tried to strangle Viktor with the electrical wires from the heating system. However, they are too weak for a strong man like Viktor. He was able to pull the rope away from his neck.
Fearing for their lives, Lena and Katya begged Viktor to release them and they promised not to complain to the police. However, Viktor said he would neither kill nor release them. The two victims will only be free after 20 years when each gives birth to 10 children.
During the first 6 months of living in sexual slavery, the two young women could only cry. They knew it would be difficult to get out of there and began to live indifferently, not bothering to shower or eat.
But then, both understood that they needed to regain their spirits, keep their minds alert, and not give up hope of being saved. They always prepare a small piece of paper with their parent’s home address and their situation.
With a food supply of rice, buckwheat, vegetables, and occasionally fruit and meat for Lena when she was pregnant, Katya took the time to cook and gave the better part to Lena.
Because of harsh living conditions, Katya’s puberty slowed down. Meanwhile, Lena gave birth twice in the basement. Both times Katya had to become a midwife with rudimentary tools provided by Mokhov. Viktor left the two newborn babies at the entrance of the buildings when they were born.
Finally, with Lena and Katya’s patience, Viktor began to trust and be more accommodating. Lena and Katya realized this was their rare opportunity.
Secret piece of paper
With the patience of the two victims Lena Samokhina and Katya Martynova, Viktor Mokhov began to trust and appear more accommodating. He even often leads the girls out of the cellar to get some air, but only goes one by one and ties them tightly. Sometimes Viktor even introduces to others that Katya is his niece.
One day, Viktor decided to expand his “harem”. He forced Katya to help him seduce a female student. Lena and Katya realized this was their rare opportunity and pretended to agree.
To carry out his plan, Victor takes Katya to a dinner with the girl. Before leaving, Katya gave the girl a getting-acquainted gift, which was a cassette tape.
Viktor seemed happy thinking that Katya was trying to lure his “prey” without knowing that inside the cassette tape was a small piece of paper that Katya had secretly hidden, on which was written about the two’s current situation. girl as well as their home address.
A week later, on May 4, 2005, the other female student found the note and quickly went to the police.
The detectives were very surprised because these were two girls they had been looking for for a long time but had no clue. They no longer even hoped to find Lena and Katya alive.
The next day, the police immediately surrounded Victor’s house and rescued the two poor girls. When they entered the basement, they were shocked to see that Lena was 8 months pregnant and this was her third pregnancy. The baby later died immediately after birth due to a difficult birth. Doctors said that if Lena had not been rescued in time, she would probably have lost her life during this childbirth due to many complications.
Lena and Katya were rescued after 1,320 days of being kidnapped and held captive. Victor tried to run away when he saw the police appear near his house. However, he was caught immediately afterward and had to confess all of his crimes.
The pain remains forever
Freed, Lena shed tears when talking about the two babies she had previously given birth to. Lena said when she was pregnant, Victor brought the girls a book about midwifery and asked them to prepare themselves. As a result, Lena’s two sons were born in November 2001 and June 2003, both delivered by Katya (then 15 years old) in unsanitary conditions, lacking medicine and equipment.
When Lena’s first son was two months old, Victor left him in front of an apartment building in the city. Nearly two years later, the story repeated itself with the birth of her second child four months later. Both children were then placed in an orphanage and adopted by two families.
After examining Mokhov’s mental condition, doctors said the 54-year-old man was completely normal and responsible for his actions.
In 2004, Victor was sentenced to 17 years in prison for kidnapping and raping teenage girls. His accomplice Yelena Badukina received 5.5 years in prison. Mokhov’s mother, 80-year-old Alice, was not charged because it was determined that she did not know anything about what her son did.
The case is closed, but the physical and mental pain that Victor Mokhov caused to Lena and Katya cannot be erased forever. After being freed, the victims had to make great efforts to learn how to adapt to society. Lena loses hope for the future and says she can never trust another man again. Katya has hope for tomorrow but still has to deal with emotional trauma.
