Saltychika (Daria Nikolaevna Saltykova, 1730–1801) was a Russian landowner, one of the most famous serial killers in history, who became a symbol of the cruelty of serfdom. After the death of her husband, she inherited about 1,200 farmers and tortured dozens of people to death within a few years.
In the period between 1755 and 1762, she systematically tortured and killed her peasants on the Troitskoya estate near Moscow. The main victims were girls and young women. In total, she was blamed for the deaths of 139 people.
For a long time, due to connections and bribery, the complaints against her were abandoned. In 1762, two runaway peasants managed to deliver the complaint personally to the empress. The investigation lasted 6 years; The official court was able to legally prove 38 murders.
Ekaterina II deprived her of her noble title and the right to be called by a human name (ordered her to be called "Daria Nikolaeva"). She stood for an hour tied to a wooden post in Red Square with the sign "torture and murderer".
The land owner was sentenced to life imprisonment in the underground prison of the Ivanovo Monastery in Moscow. She spent 33 years in solitary confinement and torture chambers and died in 1801 at the age of 71.