New York Serial Killer Sentenced to 200 years in Prison

New York City - Maksim Gelman, a native of Ukraine, was unapologetic and rude while receiving his sentence on January 17. The 24-year-old pled guilty in November of last year to killing four people and injuring four others.  He showed so impolite during his sentencing at one point he had to be removed from the courtroom.

Gelman's cackling, along with his insulting of Judge Vincent Del Giudice, led the official to comment to Gelman, "You are a violent predator and sociopath."

During the two-day murder spree that started February 11 in Brooklyn, an irate Gelman stabbed his stepfather after becoming angry he couldn't use his mother's car. After stealing the vehicle, Gelman drove to Yelena Bulchenko's home.

The knife Gelman used to stab his victims

Friends of Bulchenko's stated that Gelman was obsessed with his girlfriend and took the break-up badly. relationship. An enraged Gelman claimed Bulchenko was a heroin addict and set him up for a robbery.

When he reached the Bulchenkos' home, he discovered Yelena wasn't home, causing him to lash out at his mom and stabbed her to death. Nine hours later Yelena arrived home to find her mother's body and was then stabbed 11 times by Gelman, who had been waiting on her return.

Following the double-homicide Gelman drove away in his mother's car, rear-ended a vehicle, and non-fatally stabbed the driver. He then stole the driver's car and ran over Stephen Tanenbaum, who later died from his injuries.

Gelman abandoned the vehicle used to run over Tanenbaum, hailed a cab, and attacked the driver. Not long afterward, he ran to another car, attacked the driver, and took his car. Both victims survived the attacks.

While speaking at the sentencing of Gelman, the cab driver, Fitz Fullerton's voice box was still badly damaged, forcing the victim's words to be slightly more than a whisper.

While police were looking for him, Gelman was spotted on a subway train by passengers who recognized his face from news reports and newspaper articles. In an attempt to escape, Gelman switched trains and was arrested shortly after attacking his last victim, an unidentified subway passenger who survived.

Gelman's last victim before being captured by police

Initially Gelman insisted he was innocent, but following psychiatric evaluation and the seeing the overwhelming evidence against him, he Gelman pled guilty on November 30th.  He is currently serving a life sentence of approximately 200 years in prison.