Maria Kutitonskaya was born into a noble family in Odesa, in 1856. She graduated from school in 1875 and went on to serve in the Odesa City Duma. The following year, she travelled to Paris, where she met Russian revolutionary German Lopatin. After returning to Odesa, she joined the revolutionary circle led by Ivan Kovalskyy [uk; ru]. She was arrested for her participation in the circle on 20 July 1878, but was released on bail.
On 19 June 1879, she was arrested again for her continued association with revolutionaries in Odesa. She was found guilty by the Odesa Military District on 5 August and sentenced to 15 years of penal labour, but her sentence was commuted to 4 years by the governor of Odesa. On 15 January 1880, she arrived at the Kara katorga to begin her sentence. On 23 July 1882, she was transferred to the settlement in Aksha.
On 16 September 1882, she shot at the governor of Transbaikal Oblast, Luka Illyashevich [ru], in revenge for violence committed against exiles. On 17 November 1882, she was tried for the assassination attempt in Chita and sentenced to death, but the sentence was commuted to indefinite penal labour. She wasn't transferred back to Kara, as the authorities feared her influence on the other prisoners. Instead she was imprisoned in Irkutsk on 7 January 1883. She died there from tuberculosis on 4 May 1887.
