Inventor 'killed six with electric chair'

A Russian inventor murdered at least six people after luring them to his garage and strapping them to a home-made electric chair, police say.

The power station worker, dubbed "Dmtry K", also devised an electrified carpet which would kill people the moment they stepped on it, Russia's Life newspaper reports.

Police swooped on the 30-year-old by tracing fingerprints found on the charred corpse of one of his victims — a student known only as "Anton A".

"Dmtry K" confessed to killing Anton and told police he would admit to at least five other murders — but only if they could find the bodies.

Police said the man lured victims to his home in Yekaterinburg in the Russia's southwest by advertising his services as a computer supplier on the internet.

Once at his home, he convinced victims to sit in the makeshift "death chair" before he overpowered them and strapped them down.

He then pushed a button on his computer which was wired to the chair, sending an electrical surge through the victim.

Police believe the victims, all killed in the past year, were dumped in forests on the city's outskirts before being set alight.

"Dmtry K" said he refined the electric chair after killing his first victim, Anton.

In that murder, he wrapped the student's body in copper wires connected to four powerful capacitors.

Anton's body was so badly burnt that police could only identify him by dental records.

"He attacked this victim in his garage, tied him into his death chair and sent a huge electric charge through his body," investigator Vladimir Davydov was quoted as saying.

Officials said "Dmtry K" also claimed to have created a camera that blasted victims with an electromagnetic ray, erasing their memories.

He also said he was building another machine that would stop passing cars by disabling the motor and then electrocute the driver.