SERIAL KILLER STORIES VOLUME 5: William Bonin And Alexander Pichushkin - 2 Books in 1 Featuring... *William Bonin *Alexander Pichushkin 2 Great Books in 1! William Bonin America: home of the free, land of the brave. Thousands of screaming fans pack into baseball games, football (not soccer!) stadiums, and rock concerts. Americans like loud music, fast cars, and women with more plastic in them than the cutlery they use at Fourth of July picnics. But America has another claim to fame. Killers. Sure, the rest of the world has turned in some iconic killers, from Jack the Ripper to Osama Bin Laden. But killers and serial killers, in general, are as American as apple pie. The F.B.I. theorizes that there are anywhere between twenty-five and fifty serial killers active in the United States of America at any given time. They each murder an average of three people per year, and are active sometimes for decades. The F.B.I. goes on to clarify that a serial killer is defined as having killed two or more people in separate events and times. These arent crimes of passion, where someone murders someone during an argument, or after catching their lover in bed with someone else. These are planned and calculated with a cold-blooded efficiency that reminds one of black-eyed sharks, slicing silently through the water to ambush their prey. With all of that said, it appears as though the golden age of American serial killers is over. That crime has steadily fallen since the 1970s and 1980s. Sure theyre still around, men and (a few) women who take life after life with their knives and guns, but gone are the days of Bundy, Gacy, and their ilk. Well take a look at one more, one not everyone is familiar with, but a man who carved a bloody path through multiple years as the 70s gave way to the 80s. His name was William Bonin, and they called him The Freeway Killer. Alexander Pichushkin Born into a poor family in a cramped apartment in forgotten Moscow suburb Alexander Pichushkin would achieve something that none of his contemporaries in the Konkovo District would ever manage. His actions between 1992 and 2006 ensured that his name would go down in history. To some he is the Bitsevsky Park Maniac. To others he is the Chessboard Killer. To the people he grew up with he is Alexander Sasha Pichushkin an ordinary boy who would become one of Russias most feared serial killers. After his father left Alexander Pichushkin grew up in a single parent family. Initially a shy child a playground accident turned him into an angry young man, unable to control his temper. This event also helped to turn Pichushkin into an outsider. As the child became increasingly unhappy his mother, Natasha, ran out of options. It was then that her father, Alexander Pichushkin's grandfather, stepped in. For the next few years Pichushkin lived with his grandfather and learnt how to be a man. He also learnt how to play chess and drink vodka. After the death of his beloved grandfather and loyal pet dog Pichushkin found himself to be increasingly isolated. By now he was once again living in a cramped apartment with his mother and half-sister. During this period Pichushkin took to drinking heavily and looking at pornography. Itis reported that he also found enjoyment in scaring the young children who played in the nearby Bitsevsky Park. A few months after his 18th birthday Alexander Pichushkin committed his first murder, brutally killing a school friend, Mikhail Odichuk. Despite investigating the police did not have enough evidence to charge Pichushkin so he was allowed to go free. This is the true story of these brutal events, which later earned Pichushkin the label 'The Chessboard Killer'.