Finger done: criminologists unwound the murder of a colleague by fingerprint
In Moscow, an end has been put to one of the criminal cases of crimes of previous years — the court found 65-year-old resident of the Tver region Victoria Kochergina guilty of the murder of former prosecutor of the Preobrazhensky district Vitaly Tikhomirov and his wife, committed in Moscow in 1998. A fatal detail of this long-term investigation for the defendant was a fragment of a fingerprint, which, with the help of new forensic technologies, investigators were able to use decades later. How crimes of the past years are solved is in the "Izvestia" material.
An old age sentence
The Preobrazhensky District Court imposed a sentence of 14 years in prison to be served in a general regime penal colony in the case of the murder of the prosecutor and his wife. This was reported by the Moscow Prosecutor's office. """""" Kochergina was convicted on counts "a", "g", "h" of Part 2 of Article 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("murder of two persons committed by an organized group and associated with robbery").
This is the price paid for the attack committed on December 10, 1998 in an apartment on Narimanovskaya Street in the east of the city. The motive is selfish. The investigation found that the reason for the visit to the apartment of the pensioners was the discussion of the sale of the cottage. However, as follows from the position of the prosecution, this meeting was used as a pretext for a pre-prepared robbery.
A visit disguised as a customer
It was established that it was Kochergina who developed a plan to attack the apartment of a pensioner of the prosecutor's office and his wife. She attracted an acquaintance to the crime, and he called a friend "to the case."
The woman found out that the old men were selling their country house, and on December 10, 1998, she came to an elderly couple, allegedly to discuss the sale of their cottage. After that, she invited her accomplices to the apartment, introducing them as potential buyers. The former employee of the prosecutor's office had his hands tied, a rope wrapped around his neck and, threatening with a knife, demanded to know where the money and other valuables were. The attackers failed to get what they needed — there was simply no money in the apartment.
To hide the traces of the crime, the attackers strangled the owner of the apartment first, and then his wife. The robbers took the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God in a silver frame and a fur coat, which was of no material value due to dilapidation, from the modest dwelling of the old men.
The couple's daughter found the bodies when she arrived at the apartment after her parents stopped contacting her. Initially, it was assumed that the former prosecutor could have been killed out of revenge.
How they got on the trail of the killers decades later
The case remained unsolved for almost 28 years. His investigation was developed again after law enforcement officers were able to use forensic traces that had been preserved since 1998. As a result, "Izvestia" found out that it was possible to solve the crime using artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.
"In 2025, on behalf of the investigator of the Metropolitan Investigative Committee, as part of the work on uncovering and investigating crimes of previous years, specialists from the ECC of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia carried out a check of finger marks seized at the scene, which were previously considered unsuitable for identification. As a result, a match was established with the tracks of a previously convicted man born in 1967, and the defendant was detained. During the interrogation, he exposed the accomplice and another person involved, naming them," the Investigative Committee of Russia reported details.
One of the accomplices, according to "Izvestia", turned out to be a former serviceman who retrained in the 1990s as bandits, now the man is 59 years old. Victoria Kochergina was detained the second time. Another man is wanted, and the case against him has been separated into separate proceedings.
The crime scene is becoming clearer
""The investigation of crimes of the past years remains one of the priorities for the investigative authorities," said Valentin Stanovov, a former senior police officer and author of the book "Notes of an Old Detective", in an interview with Izvestia.
"In such cases, the safety of physical evidence, the quality of the initial inspection of the scene, investigative protocols, witness statements and the ability to re—check the materials using modern expert techniques are crucial," he explained.
Finger marks are among the most stable physical evidence, the expert noted. However, it is not so easy to remove a finger trace correctly.
— A lot depends on the surface, for example, it was previously difficult to remove a fingerprint from a porous, rough surface. Often, this kind of material, although it was withdrawn, was rejected," the specialist said.
It is also difficult to obtain a papillary pattern suitable for identification if the perpetrator's fingers have wounds, scars or abrasions.
But the development of automated fingerprint records and the expansion of data arrays allow us to return to unsolved cases in which it was not possible to establish a match in the past, the "Izvestia" interlocutor noted. Special equipment and software equipment can enhance the contrast of the pattern or "pull out" the details of the drawing. Modern criminology works wonders with fat—based traces, the microparticles of which are stored in old plastic films - there are components that react with "biology", revealing the missing fragments.
Forensic software is able to "straighten out" deformed areas, such as a smudged finger mark, Stanovov claims. It was this technique that shed light on the archival case of Tikhomirov's murder.
The criminologist is also aware of cases when detectives use AI to analyze the collected evidence and connections of alleged criminals.
DNA is a priority
In the late 1990s, investigators also used fingerprints, but the possibilities for rapid data comparison and the amount of available arrays were significantly more limited than they are now.
"Along with fingerprinting, the investigation of old crimes uses genetic examinations, repeated analysis of biological samples, ballistic studies, work with archival documents, checking old connections between victims and suspects," Valentin Stanovov listed.
But the applicability of each method depends on what traces and objects have been preserved in the criminal case, the retired police colonel said.
"In some investigations of past cases, DNA studies of old biological traces, genetic genealogy, olfactory (odor) examinations, or other special methods are used," he added.
What about the timing
In criminal law, there are statute of limitations that allow perpetrators to evade real punishment. But the Criminal Code makes an exception for murderers.
"In accordance with Article 78 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, a person can be released from criminal liability due to the expiration of the statute of limitations," lawyer Ekaterina Krasnova explained to Izvestia. — For murder under aggravating circumstances, classified as particularly serious crimes (Articles 15, 105 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation), the total statute of limitations is 15 years from the date of the commission of the act, if during this period the person did not evade investigation and trial and did not commit new serious or especially serious crimes. However, if such an article provides for life imprisonment or the death penalty, a special rule applies — the issue of applying the statute of limitations in these cases is decided by the court.
That is, the court has the right both to release a person from criminal liability due to the expiration of the statute of limitations, and to refuse it, based on the nature of the crime, the identity of the accused and other circumstances of the case.
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