Ion Rimaru AKA The Wolf Man

Ion Rimaru was a serial killer born on the 12^th of October 1946.  He committed a series of murders at around 1970 to 1971.  Ion is the eldest of the three sons.  His father would constantly beat his mother that would eventually lead to their separation.  His father, Florea moved to Bucharest where he took the occupation of a driver.  Years after his death, Florea was discovered to be a serial killer. 

He had a quite troublesome youth days.  He had to repeat his ninth grade education.  He also started a public scandal when the people discovered that he was having an intimate relationship with the daughter of a school teacher who is a minor age.  He also had to spend some time inside the prison for aggravated theft.  But during his high school era, Ion always received an outstanding grade in conduct.

Ion’s usual target would be those waitresses who occasionally go home late at night.  He is known to use knife, iron bars, hammer and also an axe when attacking his victims.  He would always attack during late at night when the area is having an abnormal weather condition.  The testimony of the victim who survived his attack led to his arrest on the 27^th of May 1971.

Here are the 16 grave offences that led to his conviction: (based on murderpedia.org)

·         8/9 April 1970 – Elena Oprea – premeditated murder (not raped because a neighbour scared him away)
·         1/2 June 1970 – Florica Marcu – rape (knocked unconscious in front of her house, carried to Sfânta Vineri cemetery, pushed hard off the fence there, raped, stabbed and had her blood sucked while walking home with him, saved by a truck driver)
·         19/20 July 1970 – OCL Confecţia store – theft of public property
·         24 July 1970 – Margareta Hanganu – aggravated theft
·         22/23 November 1970 – Olga Bărăitaru – aggravated attempted murder, rape and aggravated theft
·         15/16 February 1971 – Gheorghiţă Sfetcu – aggravated attempted murder and aggravated theft
·         17/18 February 1971 – Elisabeta Florea – aggravated attempted murder
·         4/5 March 1971 – Fănică Ilie – aggravated premeditated murder, rape and aggravated theft
·         8/9 April 1971 – Gheorghiţa Popa – aggravated murder, rape and aggravated theft (48 stab wounds to the head, chest, groin and legs, five blows to the head, ribs crushed by stomping, genitalia bitten out)
·         1/2 May 1971 – Stana Saracin – attempted rape
·         4/5 May 1971 – Mihaela Ursu – aggravated murder, rape (he was interrupted in the act and left unsatisfied, leading him to seek a new victim)
·         4/5 May 1971 – Maria Iordache – aggravated attempted murder (attacked two hours after Ursu; escaped when he dropped the metal bar with which he was beating her while she was running)
·         6/7 May 1971 – Viorica Tatu – aggravated attempted murder
·         6/7 May 1971 – Elena Buluci – aggravated attempted murder
·         May 1971 – Iuliana Funzinschi – aggravated theft of public property and aggravated theft of private property.

The authorities went on heightened alert after the death of Popa.  Her body was so mutilated that only wild animals can do this.  He suffered a total of 48 stabbed wounds all over her body, her ribs were all crushed and something has bitten out her genitalia.  Rimaru was known as one of the most vile serial killer due to his method of killing, hacking them in the head, raping them while they are out of their consciousness, biting their flesh, drinking blood, in some cases there are also signs of missing parts on the body of the victim.  Authorities believed that Rimaru cannibalize those parts.

He was executed on a firing squad on the 23^rd of October, 1971. After a year of his execution, his father, Florea died on an unfortunate accident.  His body was sent to the Medico Legal Institute where his dead body was examined.  His height and shoe size caught the attention of those personnel.  They took his fingerprints and it matched on a series of murder that happened on 1944.  Incidentally both their first victim possess the name Elena.