Luis Alfredo Garavito, responsible for killing and raping the most children in Colombia’s history, died on Thursday at the age of 66. The news was confirmed by the Colombian National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (INPEC), which said in a statement that he had died at the Santo Tomás Clinic in Valledupar, where he was being treated for cancer. The monster from Génova – as Garavito was known – was guilty of sexually abusing and murdering at least 189 minors. He confessed to the crimes, which occurred over a period of less than a decade in the 1990s. A few months ago it was announced that Garavito had been diagnosed with cancer.
Garavito was sentenced to more than 1,800 years in prison in 2000 for killing and sexually abusing 189 children between the ages of eight and 16. However, he was only sentenced to 40 years in prison, which was the maximum sentence allowed under Colombian law at the time. He was still serving his sentence when he died. Garavito – also known as “The Beast” – was captured in April 1999 and imprisoned on charges of forcible sexual intercourse, forcible sexual intercourse, murder, arson and kidnapping.
In 2021, he applied for parole for good behavior, but his application was denied. In May of the same year, the television program Los Informantes published a letter from INPEC attesting to the prisoner’s good behavior. However, the following November, then-director of INPEC, Mariano Botero Coy, announced that Garavito would not be released under any circumstances. The criminal, from the municipality of Génova (Quindío), served his sentence in the maximum security prison La Tramacúa, in the capital of the department of Cesar.
The self-confessed serial killer committed his crimes in at least 11 of Colombia’s 32 departments. He also committed some crimes in neighboring Ecuador. To get close to his victims, he disguised himself as a homeless person, a monk or a disabled person and turned to foundations that worked with children, often from humble backgrounds. He also sometimes lured children with sweets or promises to gain their trust and get them to less crowded areas.
During his incarceration, Garavito gave several interviews to various national and international media outlets. In it he not only confessed to the crimes and stated where he had buried his victims, but also claimed to be repentant and to have accepted the Christian faith. The possibility of Garavito being released on parole has always been strictly rejected by Colombia. The country lived in fear before he was arrested in the 1990s, which was already a very violent time for the country.
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