Valeriy Giers

Valeriy Giers, born in 1990
Born into a VERY wealthy family. His parents ran a large real estate business together and owned luxurious hunting lodges. His mother also held a stake in a renowned fashion magazine, was quite a public figure, and wielded influence in the fashion industry.

Family relationships were rather cold. The parents were more like business partners than a married couple. Their child was just another "project" they aimed to perfect. Love was not part of the equation.

The mother played almost no role in raising him, believing that a boy should be brought up by a man. The father, on the other hand, was as strict as his pity and love for his son allowed him to be.

Valeriy had no free time and rarely attended school. His childhood was spent studying, attending extracurricular activities, and trying to become the best version of himself. His parents raised him without indulgences, in almost Spartan conditions, despite having more than enough wealth to afford a lavish lifestyle. Their frugality was intentional.

Their greatest fear was raising a child spoiled by wealth and incapable of achieving anything without the influence of their money. Their goal was to mold a business shark—an intelligent, driven person ready to climb to the top and achieve whatever he needed by any means necessary.

When Valeriy turned 12, in 2002, his parents died in a car accident.

That same year, custody was taken by his closest maternal relatives. This, of course, wasn’t driven by familial love but by the hope of gaining access to the Giers family's vast fortune.

In his new family, Valeriy was openly disliked. He hadn’t known these relatives before his parents’ deaths, as his parents had severed all ties with their families.

Valeriy stood out starkly in their environment, enduring mockery for his excessive refinement and seeming like an outsider in every way.

The relatives were ultimately unable to access the family fortune, which only fueled their resentment toward the boy, who had now become a financial burden.

A month before his 14th birthday, Valeriy killed his older stepbrother—the son of the family that had taken him in.

The details and motives of the murder remain unknown. With each new question from investigators, Valeriy provided a different story. One thing was clear: the boy killed his stepbrother and then attempted to dispose of the body. Later, he called the police himself and turned himself in.

The trial was delayed until Valeriy’s 14th birthday. Through the efforts of his guardians, he was declared sane and received the maximum sentence for a murder committed with exceptional cruelty: 15 years in a juvenile detention center.

At the time, the case attracted significant public attention, and Valeriy became infamous as the "Cannibal Boy," due to the manner in which he attempted to dispose of the body and false rumors about him spread by the media.