Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova

Not to be confused with Darya Petrovna Saltykova.

Darya Saltykova
Born	Darya Nikolayevna Ivanova (1730-11-03)November 3, 1730
Died
Other names	The Saltychikha
Criminal penalty	Life imprisonment
Killings
Victims	38-147
Span of killings	?–1762
Country	Russian Empire
Date apprehended	1762

Darya Nikolayevna Saltykova (Russian: Дарья Николаевна Салтыкова; née Ivanova, commonly known as Saltychikha) (1730 – December 27, 1801) was a Russian sadist, serial killer and noble from Moscow who became notorious for torturing and killing over 100 of her serfs, mostly women and girls.

File:GRpergament.jpg

Saltykova punishing one of her serf

Darya Nikolayevna married young into the famous Saltykov family. She was born to the nobles Nikolai Avtonomovich Ivanov and Anna Ivanovna Davydova, and married the noble Gleb Alexeyevich Saltykov, uncle of Nikolai Saltykov. She had two sons: Theodore (1750-1801) and Nicholas (d. 1775).

She was widowed in 1755 at the age of 26. With her husband's death, she inherited a substantial estate, where she lived with her two young sons and a great number of serfs. Many early complaints to authorities about the deaths at the Saltykova estate were ignored, or resulted in punishment for complaining. Saltykova was well connected with those in power at the royal court.

Eventually, relatives of the murdered women were able to bring a petition before Empress Catherine II. Catherine decided to try Saltykova publicly, in order to further her "lawfulness" initiative. Saltykova was arrested in 1762.

Saltykova was held for six years (until 1768), while the authorities conducted a painstaking investigation. Catherine's Collegium of Justice questioned many witnesses and examined the records of the Saltykova estate. The investigating official counted as many as 138 suspicious deaths, of which the vast majority were attributed to Saltykova.

She was found guilty of having killed 38 female serfs by beating and torturing them to death, but the Empress was unsure how to punish her; the death penalty was abolished in Russia in 1754, and the new Empress needed the support of the nobility.

In 1768, Saltykova was chained on a platform in Moscow for one hour, with a sign around her neck with the text: "This woman has tortured and murdered." Many people came to look at her during the hour she was displayed. Afterward, she was sent to imprisonment for life in the basement of Ivanovsky Convent in Moscow. She was buried next to her relatives in the Donskoy Monastery necropolis.

See also

• Elizabeth Báthory
• La Quintrala
• Delphine LaLaurie

Sources

• История России. Всемирная, мировая история - Салтычиха(Салтыкова Дарья Николаевна) (Russian)
• Simon Sebag Montefiore: Potemkin