Name Saeed Hanaei | Role Serial Killer | |
 | ||
Spouse Fatemeh Hanaei (m. ?–2002) Similar Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni, Delara Darabi, Ehsan Fatahian | ||
Saeed Hanaei or Said Hanai (سعید حنایی, died April 8, 2002) was an Iranian serial killer.
Contents
Crimes
Hanaei targeted female prostitutes in the eastern city of Mashhad. He often targeted drug addicts.
The killings were referred to as the "spider killings" by the Iranian press because Hanaei lured the women to his home and strangled them and dumped their bodies. He killed 16 women between 2000 and 2001 before he was apprehended by the police.
Motives
His motives were primarily focused on the ideal that he was helping cleanse the city of moral corruption. He claimed in court that he began killing the prostitutes after his wife was mistaken for one.
Execution
He was found guilty and hanged at dawn on April 8, 2002 in Mashhad Prison.
In popular culture
The incident was the subject of the 2002 documentary And Along Came a Spider.