Why did the Kazan shooter's young wife marry him?

Recently, news resounded across Russia: 24-year-old Kazan shooter Ilnaz Galyaviev, who killed nine people at Gymnasium No. 175 in Tatarstan, got married. The ceremony took place on the territory of the Black Dolphin colony in Sol-Iletsk, where life-sentenced prisoners are held.

The shooter«s chosen one was 18-year-old Diana K. from the Rostov region. When the massacre at the Kazan gymnasium occurred in 2021, she was not yet 14. The girl first saw Galyaviev on TV—he seemed handsome to her, and she decided to write him a letter. The couple married on June 30.

MSK1.RU spoke with a psychologist and psychiatrist to understand why teenagers romanticize violence and why women around the world decide to tie their lives to criminals.

On May 11, 2021, 19-year-old Ilnaz Galyaviev entered Kazan«s 175th gymnasium armed with a hunting rifle and a homemade bomb. He had studied at this school until the 9th grade. According to investigators, Galyaviev watched videos about mass shootings online and planned the attack in advance. Seven children and two adults died in the shooting, and 24 others were injured. Earlier, we detailed the tragedy.

Performance or conscious decision?

As MK reported, Diana initially hid from relatives that she was corresponding with Galyaviev. According to the girl, they found many common topics—for example, similar childhoods. When Diana turned 16, she left her family and moved to Tatarstan to be closer to Ilnaz and attend court hearings involving him.

“Without telling my parents, I left for the trial. Then, on the way, I called and told them. They calmly accepted the situation. After that, there were many arguments. They said: «You don»t need this,«” Diana shared with journalist Eva Merkacheva.

As MSK1.RU found out, while Galyaviev was in pre-trial detention center No. 1 in Tatarstan, Diana sent him care packages—mostly food. In addition, she filed complaints to various authorities that Ilnaz had stomach problems because his meals were distributed late.

According to the girl, her parents were overprotective and anxious—allegedly, this was an additional argument for moving early. As the Telegram channel Shot reports, Diana«s father raised her alone and surrounded her with care his entire life.

On June 30, Ilnaz and Diana registered their marriage; for this, a registry office employee was invited to Russia«s most stringent colony. After the ceremony, the newlyweds were allowed a three-day meeting. During this time, according to Diana, they managed to feel a »kinship of souls.«

According to Shot, the daughter«s marriage to the Kazan shooter was a big blow to the girl»s father. Relatives are sure that Diana staged such a «performance» to spite society, because she always loved doing everything against others. Because of this behavior, at age 14, Diana«s friends turned away from her. But instead of coming to her senses, the girl tried to commit acts that caused public condemnation. Rumors spread that Diana»s father intended to admit his daughter to a psychiatric clinic. The girl called this disinformation and stated that her family «perceived the news of the marriage normally.»

“I roughly imagined how everything would be, how society would perceive the news, but overall the statements don«t bother me,” Diana told journalist and MK observer Eva Merkacheva.

Handsome, bad, evil

There are plenty of examples where criminals gained crowds of admirers. In the 1970s, American killer Ted Bundy killed more than 30 victims. This fact did not prevent him from gaining a crowd of fans. Girls could not believe that a handsome and charming man could be involved in crimes. Bundy later married one of his fans, and the girl gave birth to his child. Another high-profile case is Ukrainian killer and pedophile Sergei Tkach, who operated from the 1980s to 2005. His guilt was proven in 36 episodes, but the criminal himself claimed there were many more victims. Already in the colony, he married 24-year-old Elena Bulkina from Rybinsk, who later gave birth to his daughter.

Galyaviev also had fans: hundreds of people subscribed to him on social media. Young girls collected money for the shooter«s lawyer and did not believe that he could have committed such a cruel crime. Media reports indicate that Diana was not the only girl with whom Galyaviev corresponded.

As psychiatrist and narcologist Vasily Shurov says, sexual and romantic attraction to criminals, murderers, or other people posing a threat to society is called hybristophilia. In pop culture, this term is also called the «Bonnie and Clyde syndrome.» According to the expert, a person with hybristophilia may perceive committing a crime as a manifestation of strength, power, and independence.

“Some women think that such a strong figure will help heal their trauma. There is a certain flair and status—like, I«m the wife of a bandit, the wife of a killer. On the brutality scale, such criminals are supposedly at the highest level, since a person can easily kill another. This is biology: »I found the strongest man in the tribe.« Some develop the illusion that they are protected because their husband is so »cool,«” Shurov explains to MSK1.RU.

According to the expert, there can be many reasons why women marry criminals. Often, many of them lie in childhood.

“Sometimes women believe that they can fix him with their love. This is the «Beauty and the Beast syndrome.» We need to look at the person«s childhood; maybe there was a suffering mother with an insane father who saved him all his life. Now the daughter also develops a picture that living like this is normal. Like, I»ll fix him, he«ll become good, and we»ll have a wonderful family,” Shurov explains to MSK1.RU.

According to Vasily, in the case of Galyaviev«s bride, age and youthful maximalism could have played a role.

“The girl, judging from the news, is from a single-parent family. Dad, most likely, devoted himself to making money and could not give her enough attention, show her what love looks like when there is both a mother and a father. Probably, the daughter«s interest in true crime could have been missed. If at 16 she broke down and went to court, then, probably, there was pedagogical neglect,” Shurov reflects in a conversation with MSK1.RU.

Diana«s words about the »kinship of souls« seemed outrageous to the expert. Nevertheless, even such behavior can be explained from a psychological point of view.

“If she doesn«t justify it, she will have to admit that she wants to live with a killer who killed innocent children and cannot explain why. He put on a headband »God« and went to shoot. If you don»t justify, then you admit that you live with a villain who made a bunch of people unhappy,” Shurov explains to MSK1.RU.

The expert does not rule out that the girl could have done this for hype. For example, the testimony of Carole Ann Boone, who married Ted Bundy after his arrest and gave birth to his daughter, formed the basis of Stephen Michaud«s book »The Only Living Witness: The True Story of Serial Sex Killer Ted Bundy«. And Elizabeth Kendall, with whom Bundy lived while committing crimes, wrote her own—»The Phantom Prince«.

“The third category of women who marry maniacs do it to make money, to write books as the wife of a famous killer. You can«t get into the head of each of these women—there can be many reasons,” Shurov concludes.

A similar hypothesis was proposed by psychologist Alisa Kuramshina, who spoke with our colleagues from UFA1.RU. According to the expert, the desire to touch someone else«s fame could have played a role. When a criminal becomes a media figure, his personality acquires special weight in the eyes of some people.

“In psychology, this is called the halo effect: a person becomes significant not because of his qualities, but because everyone talks about him,” explains psychologist Kuramshina.

For some women, it is not the criminal«s personality itself that matters, but the attention he attracts. Being next to a person everyone talks about, they also feel at the center of events.

According to the psychologist, for some girls, a connection with a famous criminal can be a way to feel special. And then she perceives herself not as one of many, but as the one who managed to see a person in the «monster.»

Another important factor is the desire to touch someone else«s fame. When a criminal becomes a media figure, his personality acquires special weight in the eyes of some people.

What should parents do and how to protect their child

Child psychologist Ekaterina Klochkova, in a conversation with MSK1.RU, suggested that the fascination of so many teenagers with Galyaviev during the criminal investigation and trial could be explained by romanticization. At this age, children are impressionable, and their psyche is plastic.

“I think that the main core of fans, female and male, were teenagers prone to daydreaming, with poorly developed critical thinking, probably well-read and having watched works where the lone hero is romanticized and his inner world is ennobled, poeticized with varying degrees of artistry,” the expert tells MSK1.RU.

As the expert notes, the shooter had a lot of time in prison to think through each of his letters.

“He could write anything to her—in the pre-trial detention center and in the colony, he had space to invent a romantic image without a serious threat of being exposed. A large distance from the object of affection allows for a lot of imagination and dreaming. If they lived nearby, the story could have turned out differently,” the expert explains to MSK1.RU.

The psychologist does not rule out that children who were fascinated by Galyaviev and did not believe in his guilt could have had problems communicating with peers. Such teenagers tend to look for people with similar problems and form groups.

“A sense of belonging reduces social stress and feelings of loneliness, and is also a way to solve one«s problems. After all, the normative task of adolescence is to develop skills for gaining and maintaining status among peers. Hypothetically, this could have been one of Diana»s motivations, but I cannot judge without speaking personally,” Klochkova tells MSK1.RU.

“The advice to talk and support is repeated everywhere. It«s important, but it»s become cliché. I would recommend supporting the development of a child«s critical thinking, building long cause-and-effect chains, doubting, and persistently asking clarifying questions. Even the most romantic flair dissolves under persistent questions. And then a dangerous criminal is no longer a Byronic hero, but simply a person with problems who needs timely help,” the expert explains to MSK1.RU.

The psychologist also recommends asking the child about their socialization and how relationships with friends are developing—whether they are satisfied or need help.

“If parents« resources are insufficient, you can send them to a teenage psychological group where, in a form comfortable for the child, they will help improve communication skills,” advises Ekaterina Klochkova. “Separately, I recommend helping the teenager find an activity where they will feel successful and willingly develop in it.”

Earlier, we reported on how the trials in the high-profile case of Ilnaz Galyaviev went. We also published a chronicle of the tragedy at Kazan school No. 175.