Career
Biryukov kidnapped and murdered his first victim on 16 September 1977, when he took off with a stroller that had been left briefly unattended in front of an infant formula store on Marshal Biryuzov Street in Moscow (Улица Маршала Бирюзова). Later that day, the missing stroller was found empty and the baby was found dead in the hallway of an apartment building on the same street. Biryukov kidnapped his second victim (a three-month-old girl) on 19 September 1977 when he seized a stroller from in front of the "Children"s World" store ("Детский мир") on Prospekt Mira.
At this point the Soviet authorities realized they had a possible serial perpetrator, and launched a large operation looking for the missing baby.
The body of Biryukov"s second victim was found in a landfill near Mamyrov (Мамыри) on October 17, and it showed signs of having suffered sexual assault before death. Three additional infant victims are attributed to Biryukov before he was foiled in an attempt he made in October in Chekhov.
In the aftermath of the attempt, he was chased after by citizens who later described him to the investigators, leading to Biryukov"s arrest. Biryukov was sentenced to death.
The sentence was appealed to the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in 1978, but he was executed in 1979.
The murders were the subject of episode 206, titled "Empty stroller" (Russian: "пустая коляска"), of the NTV show "Следствие вели..". Participants included two eyewitnesses, the mother of one of the victims, two state investigators and the perpetrator"s defense attorney.
