local media reported that popkov , 49 , had admitted in prison to another 60 killings .
picture : investigative committee in irkutsk region the butcher sexually attacked his mainly young female victims before slaying them with axes , knives ( photo courtesy siberian times ) former siberian policeman mikhail popkov , who is already serving a life sentence for the murders of 22 women , has confessed to killing 59 more , police told the siberian times .
according to tass , the investigation began when women kept disappearing from public places in angarsk in the mid-1990s , at the time popkov was a police officer .
the sensational new findings follow intensive detective work over two years since father - of - one popkov - who was married when he committed his offences and is nicknamed ' the werewolf ' - was convicted in january 2015 of an initial 22 murders of mostly young women .
nicknamed the “ werewolf ” of siberia for the brutality of his methods — he raped women and then killed them with axes , knives or screwdrivers — mikhail popkov carried out his bloody rampage between 1992 and 2010 in the angarsk and irkutsk regions of siberia , the paper reported .
he attacked women around irkutsk .
so far prosecutors … popkov has confessed to 59 new murders .
mikhail popkov , nicknamed the werewolf , was handed a life sentence two years ago after the murders in the city of angarsk , near lake baikal .
picture : vostochno - sibirskaya pravda siberian maniac and former policeman mikhail popkov - who raped his victims before killing them - appears to be the world 's third worst known serial killer .