Nikita Vakhtangovich Lytkin was born on March 24, 1993, in Irkutsk Akademgorodok in Russia. Like Anoufriev, Lytkin’s father, who was of Ossetian descent, was absent for most of his childhood, leaving the family when Lytkin was very young. Lytkin was raised by his mother, Marina, who worked at a shoe store. At one point, Lytkin’s father had returned to the family, but due to depression, there was no contact between the two. Before Lytkin’s father had reconnected with the family, his second wife had died and his second son, Lytkin’s half-brother, killed himself as a result. This tragic event caused Lytkin’s father to have a deep depression that limited his interaction with his son.
Lytkin’s father would visit him arbitrarily, leaving Lytkin with disappointment and frustration each time he left. His father would promise not to abandon him again, but kept breaking this promise. The last visit from Lytkin’s father was when he was sixteen, but communication was difficult for them. Nikita once said: “Why do I even need a father?”
“Then he left again, but he came to us and told Nikita that now he would not abandon him. But he usually did not keep his promises. The last time he came was when Nikita was about sixteen. They sat silently in the room. They were both silent. Nikita in this isolation and silence is the spitting image of his father. He is Ossetian by nationality... In general, Nikita considered himself oppressed.” - Marina Lytkin.
During Lytkin’s childhood, he and his mother would attend church regularly and both of them were baptized. As time went on, however, they would stop attending as Lytkin began to reject the church and Lytkin’s mother was more focused on her work.
“No, not exactly. Even before school, I wanted to baptize Nikita. And we were baptized together. And we went to church. This went on for about two years. And then we went less and less. He was about thirteen, and he would still ask: "Mom, it's been a while since we've been to church..." But I worked a lot, then I took a daily job. In vain, probably…” - Marina Lytkin.
At one point, Lytkin had attended a wedding for a friend of Marina. During the wedding, people had to kiss a cross. Lytkin did so, but was enraged afterwards, as he had a complicated relationship with religion.
“When he turned around after the ceremony, he was very red and agitated. His face was unnaturally distorted. It seemed to me that demons had entered him and that he was about to rush out of the church. I now tell him on dates that only faith can save him. And he says, "I want to believe, but I don't know how." His question about the meaning of life, which he had not resolved for himself, faith will resolve.”
Lytkin would shift his attention to hobbies such as painting, kickboxing, and music. But Lytkin would eventually give up on these activities, instead spending most of his time online.
“Nikita never finished anything. He took up music a little, played scales, but when it became more difficult, he quit. He went to the Seeker club to draw. He had talent, he even won first place in a city competition. The teacher wanted to transfer him to an art school, but Nikita refused. He also went to kickboxing. But there was no success there, he never won. The only time he took third place, but then he kept saying that it was undeserved, an unfair result. Then he stopped going to classes altogether. I once met him on the street at a time when he was supposed to be at training. Nikita never found anything constructive, something to his liking. He never found a goal in life.” - Marina Lytkin.
Psychologists suggested that he should be given more freedom and space, but Lytkin’s mental health was already declining. Lytkin began to dislike his mother and avoided her. He would avoid being near her and only walked by her when he knew that no one would see them.
“I tried to take him to psychologists when he was a child. We went to the city psychological help center in Krasnoarmeyskaya. We didn’t even talk to him. We went there for three days and took some tests the whole time. Finally, Nikita said that he would never go there again. Then I found a female psychologist through friends. We went to her home. She told us that Nikita’s psychological development was lagging behind his peers. She advised us not to put pressure on him, to give him more freedom, to give him personal space.” - Marina Lytkin when asked if she ever got help for Lytkin.
“He told me that he considered himself shit, that he was a worthless person, a scumbag, and that he didn’t intend to live long.” - Marina Lytkin.
Throughout Lytkin’s life, he was described as shy and quiet by his peers. When guests would visit, he would avoid them and isolate himself in his room. He was usually withdrawn and never shared his problems. Lytkin was not socialized much as a child and feared talking to people, even talking to people on the phone made him nervous.
“He was always withdrawn. He never complained about anything. But there were depressions, grievances. And he would never tell — you have to pull it out with pliers. He never took the initiative. He was afraid of everything. He was even afraid to talk on the phone. His friend Arthur calls, but he doesn’t want to pick up the phone. And when he does, his little hand gets sweaty…” - Marina Lytkin.
However, during elementary school, Lytkin befriended a boy named Artur Lysenko who helped him with socializing.
“He treated him like an object. But he helped him a lot - helped him to adapt. Nikita could not refuse, did not know how to say no. He had no option. I taught him to be able to say this very no. And when he learned that, he stopped being friends with Artur,” - Marina Lytkin.
Despite struggling to socialize with his peers in school, Lytkin has good grades. He participated in creative contests, had good behavior, and received commendable letters from teachers. Because of high test scores, Lytkin was able to be put in a math class, but he was not accepted by his classmates, according to Lytkin’s mother.
Lytkin finally met Anoufriev in sixth grade while at Lysenko’s birthday party. During this time, he was struggling with depression and confided with Anoufriev about his problems. Anoufriev would offer support in return. Although, according to Lytkin’s mother, most boys did not like Anoufriev, as he often had an unfriendly personality towards others. This personality would spread to Lytkin, causing him to lose friends. Lysenko claims that his sudden shift in personality caused him to lose friendships. Lytkin, however, did not care about losing them and referred to their relationships as “fake children’s friendships.” Lytkin would express this shift in personality by not greeting anyone and acting very closed-off.
"I remember very well the day when it all started. When he distanced himself from me, from everyone..." — Andrey says. — "Nikita came into the classroom during the first lesson, we were all sitting together. He didn’t say hello to anyone. I said to him: “Hello,” he muttered something in response. From then on, he never said hello to any of us. He hid in the back row, stopped studying, didn’t do his homework, and was silent." - Andrey Kornilov, a former friend of Lytkin since first grade and witness.
“Nikita had many friends until the 5th or 6th grade. Then he met Artem. It happened at the birthday party of their mutual friend Artur. The kids didn’t like Artem very much. After the fifth grade, Nikita began to communicate only with Artem. Some of his friends left their school, some stopped communicating with Nikita — it seems that the unfriendly attitude towards Artem spread to Nikita.” - Marina Lytkin.
“When Nikita’s friends came to his birthday party, Artem was jealous. I was fine with that. But Nikita’s friends were becoming fewer and fewer. He thought that his former friends were childish, not real friendships. I tried to talk to Nikita, tried to convince him to value the friendship he had with Artem. Although they communicated strangely — always, how can I put it, fooling around, putting on some kind of ridiculous show. Mom taught Nikita to play the guitar. The boys now had something in common — music. Artem studied at a music school in Akademgorodok.” - Marina Lytkin.
Lysenko claimed that Lytkin was bullied in school due to his poor social skills. Lytkin would never fight back, however, he would instead reply "die." Because of this response, he was nicknamed "Jimbo," in reference to Jimbo Jones, a Simpsons character. Lysenko also stated that Lytkin was jealous of richer classmates and because of this, he was very closed-off at school.
"Perhaps he was jealous — we had computers, cell phones, but he didn’t." - Andrey Kornilov responding to Lytkin's lawyer when asked why Lytkin withdrew himself.
"He couldn't resist violence. He couldn't fight back at all. He was afraid of everything, he was a coward," - Marina Lytkin.
According to Kornilov, Lytkin was bullied, but when talking about it, Kornilov tried to portray it as "just having fun." Everyday kids would point at him, usually two or three times a day. One time, Lytkin was grabbed by the collar by one of the bullies. Kornilov himself did not participate in any of the bullying and felt bad for Lytkin, but did nothing to stop it.
The lawyer asked Kornilov why teachers never intervened. Kornilov explained that the bullying occurred during break and teachers never noticed it. A teacher had noticed one time and told the bullies to leave Lytkin alone. The bullying lasted for five years. According to Kornilov, there was one boy who would talk to Lytkin. He was described as kind by nature. Lytkin did not tell the boy to "die" when approached by him, like he did with other students. The boy would try to explain to others that Lytkin was "a completely normal guy." Despite getting along with each other, they never became friends.
During 8th grade, Lytkin began to skip school frequently. He was expelled after nine classes.
“The teacher had no pedagogical education, she was a programmer. And she talked to the children as if they were students, she didn’t explain anything to them. She would correct mistakes in the notebook and say that they should have listened in class. People never understood that he was not like everyone else: he would never ask for anything, everything was silent. In the eighth grade, Nikita stopped studying. He started skipping classes, including his core subject — mathematics. But back then he still listened to me,” - Marina Lytkin.
Lytkin attempted to go to college for energy, but was expelled for academic failure when he failed the first session. Lytkin tried again, this time going to college for construction in September, 2009. His classmates began to bully him and in response Lytkin stole money and belongings from a classmate's house. Lytkin's mother filed a police report, but decided against it, not wanting her son to be imprisoned. Lytkin dropped out of the college after this incident.
“At first, Nikita was teased and bullied. And then they started extorting money from him. Then one of his classmates patronized him, and in return, together with the older guys, he demanded money - in other words, he started extorting. They came to our apartment together and took everything they found. First, a little money, then they took my player, and the last time they stole gold. Nikita followed them like a bull. It was impossible to hide the loss. I found out everything and called the police. A criminal case was opened.” - Marina Lytkin.