In 1948, near Kazan, a female guard at a food warehouse was strangled with a laundry rope. After a thorough investigation, the suspects who were detained turned out to be innocent. Soon there was a second murder with similar signs: the victim was again a woman, and the cause of death was again the rope. Major Vitaly Shchelkounov found at the scene a small round trace indicating that the offender likely used a cane. This gave hope to investigators, since it would be easier to find someone who limped. But their optimism was dampened by new testimony from a woman who had managed to avoid being killed by the maniac.