Adrian Stroe
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Drug trafficking x1
15 years (drug trafficking)
Adrian Stroe | |
|---|---|
| Born | 24 October 1959 |
| Other names | "The Taxi Driver of Death" |
| Convictions | Murder x3 Drug trafficking x1 |
| Criminal penalty | Life imprisonment (murders) 15 years (drug trafficking) |
| Details | |
| Victims | 3 |
Span of crimes | January – September 1992 |
| Country | Romania |
| State | Bucharest |
Date apprehended | 17 September 1992 |
Adrian Stroe (born 24 October 1959), known as The Taxi Driver of Death, is a Romanian serial killer responsible for the murders of three women in the vicinity of Bucharest, committed between January and September 1992.[1] Sentenced to life imprisonment for these murders in 1996, he was paroled in 2018.[2]
Adrian Stroe was born on 24 October 1959, in Bucharest. Little is known about his early life, but he would later claim that he grew up without feeling any love towards his mother.[3] He studied as an engineer at the Faculty of Civil Engineering, from where he successfully graduated, but instead opted to work as a taxi driver, because he claimed that he'd "earn in one evening as [he] would earn after a month in the construction site". At the age of 22, he married a local woman and had a daughter.[3]
In 1991, the couple divorced. Stroe started to feel embittered by the separation, as he still loved his wife, and eventually turned his anger towards his female passengers.[3][4]
Murders
In the evening of 29 January 1992, Stroe picked up 26-year-old Lavinia Stoian, and drove her to Lake Cernica.[3] When they got to the destination, he asked her if she would like to have sex with him, which she refused. Annoyed by her refusal, Stroe strangled her to death. After picking off all her jewellery and undressing her body, he threw it into the lake and promptly left.[3]
On 29 March, he was driving down a street in Bucharest, when he picked up 25-year-old Russian tourist Elvira Vasilieva in front of a hotel.[3] Stroe drove to Lake Cernica again, where he attempted to kiss the woman in a state of arousal. Vasilieva rebuffed his advances, and in a blind rage, Stroe strangled her. He then undressed her body, leaving only her blouse on, and threw it into the lake.[3]
On 9 September, Stroe picked up his final victim, 25-year-old Mariana Baltac, a saleswoman working at the Unirea store.[3] With this victim, Stroe claimed that he had attempted to befriend first, with the pair going to two restaurants and him buying her expensive perfume and shoes.[3] When they reached Lake Cernica, he attempted to court her, but Baltac refused his advances. Enraged by her refusal, Stroe raped and then strangled Baltac. He then got the body out of his car, doused it in gasoline and lit it on fire.[3] After letting the fire disfigure her body for some time, he put it in the taxi's trunk and drove to nearby Glina, where he discarded it in a ditch.[3]
Discovery, arrest and trial
Between March and April, the decomposing bodies of two women were found within two weeks of each other in Lake Pantelimon. Authorities were able to identify both victims as Stoian and Vasilieva, but were unable to determine whether the case was related.[5] This suspicion was confirmed when the badly burned body of another woman was found near Glina. Despite most of her body being burned up, some of her fingers had miraculously avoided any damage, and thus she was identified via fingerprints as Mariana Baltac.[3][4]
Sensing that the killer might've had a more personal connection to this victim than the previous two, investigators started reconstructing the girl's final day by interviewing friends and acquaintances, among whom was Adrian Stroe.[5] While he was being interviewed in his apartment on 17 September, he denied any involvement, but this came into question when the woman's brand new shoes were found hidden behind the toilet bowl.[1] Stroe was brought to the police station, whereupon he confessed to the three murders, claiming that he had killed the women because he was angry that they rejected his advances.[4] He was transferred to the Jilava Penitentiary Hospital for a psychiatric examination, where he was diagnosed with a psychopathic disorder.[3]
He was brought to trial, where he readily admitted that he was responsible and would wish for appropriate punishment, but claimed that he "only regretted the acts, not the victims".[3] After a lengthy trial lasting four years, he was sentenced to life imprisonment.[1]