Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs (Ukraine Serial Killers), Real? or Internet Hoax?

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For anyone not familiar with the "Dnepropetrovsk Maniacs". Here is the Wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dnepropetrovsk_maniacs That page is where I first read about this and was horrified. And then learned about the snuff-film "Three Guys, One Hammer" which I never watched. But when I tried to some research on the case I was mystified as to why it seemed to be completely blacked out by American mainstream media (CNN, FOX, NBC, etc.). No articles whatsoever on any of their websites. Not even a blurb. Doing a search for the names of the killers or any of the victims on any of the top news sites brings zero results. So this raises the question for me whether this really happened or some sort of elaborate hoax. If you go to any of videos that cover this story on YouTube and read the comments you will see a large majority have accepted it as fact and very few question whether it is a hoax.

RT's official YouTube channel has a story covering the case http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OqmfAPxSE0

Whenever I've questioned this story on a forum the most common reason given for the American media blackout is that this happened in a small town in Russia so it was ignored by the the American media. I just don't buy that seeing as we are always hearing about horrific crimes from all over the globe reported by the likes of CNN. I know every murder in Europe is not going to be covered in America but I'd think 2 teenagers brutally killing 21 people and posting a video on the internet of one of the victims being tortured and murdered (that was viewed by many Americans) would at least warrant a blurb no?

I did a search on this Ukraine message forum http://www.ukraine.com/forums/ and found not a mention. I still have yet to watch the "Three Guys, One Hammer" video because I am not 100% convinced this a hoax but I'm leaning that way.

Thoughts?
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rampage_killers

How many of these have you ever heard about? What we hear, will often depend on the news here. A mass killing that happens during a heavy news time, say like Katrina or Sandy, may well be ignored. One that happens when there isn't a lot of news here, may get some notice. I listen to the BBC world about 6 hrs a day and I do hear things that are not reported here.
 
I did a search on this Ukraine message forum http://www.ukraine.com/forums/ and found not a mention. I still have yet to watch the "Three Guys, One Hammer" video because I am not 100% convinced this a hoax but I'm leaning that way.

Thoughts?

A Russian language search gives plenty of results. Nobody disputes the fact of mass murders, but some are questioning whether the convicted youths were their perpetrators or not. The father of one of them is still protesting his son's innocence.
 
Why anyone would want to watch such a film is beyond me. Just by viewing it you are legitimising it in the eyes of its makers.
 
Seems like there's a vast amount of references in Russia.

Really there's very little news of this sort from Russia that makes it to the Western Media - tens of thousands of people get murdered every year in Russia (and Africa, and China, and India, and South America) - you never hear of any of them. It's just not interesting to a US audience.

Very little news about this story would be one thing. But we are talking zero news. Complete blackout. I know that many murders are committed over there and not reported over here. But teenage serial killers with a semi-viral video? I would think that would interest at least one journalist over here. Just like whoever got murdered in Chicago last night is not going to make the news in Russia but something like the Columbine Massacre was an international story. As much as the U.S. media loves to sensationalize stories like this I just find it odd it has not even a mention. There have been other serial killers from Russia that make international news.

Also, I find this interesting. Here is an article from CNN World News http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/08/13/russia.killer/index.html?iref=allsearch about a Russian serial killer with a similar nickname given (Bitsevsky Maniac), who also killed his victims with a hammer and was on trial just as the killing spree of the other Maniacs had begun.

I understand that this story being ignored by the U.S. media in no way proves that it's a hoax. I really can't think of any other story though that has so much coverage by non-mainstream sources and zero coverage by the mainstream.
 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rampage_killers

How many of these have you ever heard about? What we hear, will often depend on the news here. A mass killing that happens during a heavy news time, say like Katrina or Sandy, may well be ignored. One that happens when there isn't a lot of news here, may get some notice. I listen to the BBC world about 6 hrs a day and I do hear things that are not reported here.

How many of those has anyone ever heard about? The difference with the case I listed is that it is a very well known case on the internet. Videos with millions of views, etc. That's why I figured I would at least be able to find a blurb. But you have a point that if serial killing is such a common occurrence over there it would make a story like this more prone to being ignored.

A Russian language search gives plenty of results. Nobody disputes the fact of mass murders, but some are questioning whether the convicted youths were their perpetrators or not. The father of one of them is still protesting his son's innocence.


An English language search gives plenty of results as well. My problem wasn't finding results in a google search. It was finding results on sites like CNN, FOX, NBC, BBC
 
Well it may just be me but I would think many agencies would choose not to run a story like this out of pure decency and respect for the victims dignity.
 
An English language search gives plenty of results as well. My problem wasn't finding results in a google search. It was finding results on sites like CNN, FOX, NBC, BBC

Well, I thought that you are leaning toward this story being a hoax, because it had not appeared in the main western media. I can suggest a plausible explanation, why it was "missed" at the time. It was the time when Ukraine was rulled by an "orange" pro-democratic and pro-western coalition, so it was not in the media interests to tarnish the image of the new "free" Ukraine they had created. As soon as the coalition collapsed because of the bitter rivalry of its leaders and the opposition took control of the country, the media returned to business as usual. At least the BBC, which I watch, listen and read every day.
 
You don't hear much about the dead women of Juárez either.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Female_homicides_in_Ciudad_Juárez

Not every story from another country makes the English language news.

http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/americas/9805/08/mexico.juarez.gangs/video.html?iref=allsearch
http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/news/2012/07/05/violence-against-women-worse-than-ever-in-juarez-experts-say/
http://www.nbcnews.com/id/6799804/ns/world_news/t/ten-sentenced-killing-women-juarez/
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1171962





If you type in "dead women of Juarez and CNN (or FOX, or NBC)" into Google. You will get results with that story being covered (or mentioned) by those mega news networks or their affiliates. If you type in the names of those serial killers or any of their victims and CNN, FOX or NBC. You get no mention at all by any of those mega news networks. These networks are established in other parts of the world and will cover stories anywhere if they are big enough. I'm not asking for anyone to show me a full page article on this case by the MSM. Just some sort of mention. Any mention at all. It could be referenced to in an article from another crime even. A paragraph, A line, A name. Not any mention at all?

Yes there are a lot of horrific crimes from around the world that do not get covered. And yes most people have never heard of those atrocities agains women in Ciudad de Juarez. But even that story can be found on MSM. How about a story that a lot of people know about? Why would that get zero coverage? I don't buy that it's out of respect to the families of the victims. That's never stopped the media before from covering a story. Not asking them to show the viral torture video. Just cover the story.

That video has been removed from YouTube several times because it's considered a "snuff film" so there is no way to tally up the views but it's in the millions. The video of their court appearance has over a million views. Even a video that only shows reactions of people who are watching the video has hundreds of thousands of views. I'm just looking for a comparable criminal case (that has occurred during the internet era) that has this type of notoriety online and completely blacked out by the MSM. I would love to hear another example of this. Not looking for examples of a story that is mostly unknown online as well as by major news networks. A criminal case viewed/read by millions on the internet.

While at first (when the story first started floating around the internet) I thought it was some sort of marketing campaign for an upcoming horror film. That is clearly not the case. I'm not really convinced it's a hoax but just mystified at not being able to find any mention at all by the MSM when taking into account the internet notoriety.
 
Just to be cynical about the whole thing, I say that there is no money in it for them expend coverage on it.
 
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