Luis Alfredo Garavito, known as “the beast,” died at the age of 66 in a clinic in Valledupar due to multiple health problems.
Garavito is remembered for having raped, tortured and murdered more than 200 children and was serving a 40-year prison sentence.
In the past, he was diagnosed with eye cancer and leukemia, and was said to be awaiting death in a cell at the high-security Tramacúa prison on the outskirts of Valledupar.
Its macabre story
Luis Alfredo Garavito was born on January 25, 1957 in Génova, Quindío, and throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, he was responsible for the disappearance and death of at least 200 children in different regions of Colombia and also in Ecuador; His crimes were particularly brutal and atrocious, generating deep fear in Colombian society.
Garavito was arrested in 1999 and sentenced to 1,853 years in prison for 139 of his crimes in 2001.
However, due to Colombian laws at the time, the maximum sentence he could receive was 30 years.
The “monster” became one of the most well-known and controversial criminals in Colombia, and his case highlighted the need for reforms in the country’s legal and prison system.
Garavito lured his victims, who were mostly children and adolescents, by posing as a trusted figure, such as a beggar or a street vendor. He used his ability to manipulate and deceive children, further compounding the insidious nature of his crimes.
So it fell
Luis Alfredo Garavito was captured on April 22, 1999 in the rural area of VillavicencioMeta.
His arrest was possible thanks to a call from a citizen to the La Esperanza Police Station, who reported about a lottery seller who had found a young man naked and tied hands and feet, being subdued by a man who was trying to abuse him.
The attacker stoned the lottery seller, but he managed to escape. The lottery seller took the young man to a farm house where he notified the Police.
A corporal and two agents went to the scene and captured the aggressor, who identified himself as Bonifacio Morera Lizcano, but his true identity was later discovered as Luis Alfredo Garavito Cubillos.