Luis Garavito

Quick Facts

Nicknames or Aliases: The Beast; Goofy; The Monster of Génova; The Priest; The Madman; Conflict; Alfredo Salazar; Bonifacio Morera Lizcano

Offender Status: Alive, currently in prison.

MO: Child-murderer, torture-killer, rapist

Timespan of Crimes: 1992-1999

Date Apprehended: October 1999

Date of Incarceration: Spring 2000

Sentence: He is up for parole in 2023. 1,853 years and 9 days’ imprisonment (2001); 835 years imprisonment (2000); 22 years’ imprisonment in Ecuador (2007).

Case Status: Closed

Number of Victims: 147 minors (confessed), 193+ (suspected)

Victims: all minors

Location of Crimes: Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela

Summary of Luis Garavito’s Crimes

Garavito’s victims were poor children, peasant children, or street children, between the ages of 6 and 16. Garavito approached them on the street or countryside and offered them gifts or small amounts of money. After gaining their trust, he took the children for a walk and when they got tired, he would take advantage of them. He then raped them, cut their throats, and usually dismembered their corpses. Most corpses showed signs of torture.

Garavito was captured on 22 April 1999. He confessed to murdering 140 children. However, he is still under investigation for the murder of 172 children in more than 59 towns in Colombia.