The Crimes Of Luis Garavito

A man named Luis Garavito is incarcerated in an isolated maximum security jail in Colombia.

Garavito stays apart from the other convicts for his own safety, and only consumes food and drink provided by individuals he knows. His guards characterize him as calm, optimistic, and deferential. 

He’s studying to be a politician, and upon his release, he hopes to start a career in activism, helping abused children.

Having harmed over 300 children himself, Garavito is an expert on the subject of child abuse.

From 1992 until 1999, Luis Garavito, also known as "La Bestia" or the Beast, raped, tortured, and murdered between 100 and 400 boys aged six to sixteen. His official victim count is 138, the number he admitted to in court.

The police think the figure is closer to 400 and are still attempting to prove it.

The Early Life Of The Serial Killer

Before becoming a criminal himself, Luis Garavito endured a cruel upbringing. Garavito, born on January 25, 1957 in Génova, Quindo, Colombia, was the eldest of seven brothers, all of whom, according to him, were subjected to physical and emotional abuse at the hands of their father.

At the age of sixteen, Garavito left home and worked several odd jobs throughout Colombia. He worked as a store clerk and also sold prayer cards and religious symbols on the street for a time.

According to reports, he developed an alcohol problem and was known for his bad temper. According to police accounts, he once attempted suicide and afterwards had five years of psychiatric care.

The Colombian civil war, which began in the late 1960s and lasted for decades, left thousands of civilians homeless and fending for themselves on the streets. Many of the homeless were children whose parents were either deceased or had long passed away, meaning that no one would notice if they disappeared.

In 1992, when he committed his first murder, Luis Garavito would take advantage of this.

The Horrible Crimes Of The Serial Killers

The territory of Garavito's crimes was vast. He preyed on perhaps hundreds of youngsters in 54 Colombian towns, primarily in the western state of Pereira.

Garavito targeted primarily the destitute, the homeless, and the orphaned youths who roamed the streets in search of food or safety. Once he located a victim, he would approach them and draw them away from the bustling city streets by offering them candy, money, or a job.

And while providing a job, Garavito would impersonate a priest, a farmer, an elderly man, or a street vendor, asking for a young person to assist him around his home or company. He frequently changed his disguises, never posing as the same person too frequently to escape suspicion.

Once he had enticed the child away, he would stroll with him for a while, encouraging him to tell him about his life in an effort to gain his trust. In truth, he was wearing down the children by walking just long enough for them to tire and become defenseless before he would attack.

Luis Garavito would seize and bind the exhausted victims' wrists. Then he would torment them beyond imagining.

According to police sources, the Beast lived up to his name. The recovered victims' bodies exhibited symptoms of protracted torture, such as bite marks and anal penetration. Multiple victims had their genitalia removed and placed in their mouths. Several of the bodies had their heads off.

The police did not begin to investigate the missing children until five years after La Bestia murdered his first victim.

Arrest And Sentencing Of The Serial Killer

A mass grave was discovered by accident in Pereira at the end of 1997, causing authorities to initiate an inquiry. The scene of perhaps 25 corpses was so horrific that investigators assumed a satanic group was responsible.

Then, in February of 1998, two naked infants were discovered sleeping side by side on a hillside in Pereira. A few feet away, a second body was discovered. Three individuals had their hands shackled and throats slit. The murder weapon was discovered close by.

While examining the area surrounding the three boys, authorities discovered a handwritten letter with an address. The address belonged to Luis Garavito's girlfriend, with whom he had been in a relationship for years. Although he was not present at the time, his belongings were, and his girlfriend granted authorities access to them.

In one of Garavito's suitcases, authorities uncovered photographs of young boys, notebook entries detailing each of his murders, and a list of his victims.

The search for Garavito lasted for days, during which time his known houses and areas where he was known to frequent in pursuit of additional victims were searched. Unfortunately, none of the searches yielded any information about Garavito's location. Specifically, until April 22.

A week after the search for Garavito began, authorities in a nearby community arrested a guy on suspicion of rape. Previously, a young man sat in an alleyway and observed a small boy being stalked and then attacked by an older man. The man, believing the situation to be grave enough to warrant intervention, rescued the boy and notified police.

The police arrested the man on suspicion of attempted rape and booked him. Unbeknownst to them, they had in their custody one of world’s deadliest killers.

The Beast crumbled under the pressure of interrogation by the Colombian national police. He admitted to assaulting and burying the bodies of 147 young boys in unmarked graves. He even created burial maps for the police.

Garavito's claims were confirmed when authorities discovered a pair of eyeglasses at one of the crime scenes that matched his detailed description. Ultimately, he was convicted of 138 charges of murder, however his other admissions are still under investigation.

In Colombia, the maximum sentence for murder is approximately 13 years. The punishment of Luis Garavito was 1,853 years and nine days when multiplied by the 138 counts he received. According to Colombian law, those who have committed crimes against minors must serve at least 60 years in jail.

Luis Garavito was sentenced to 22 years, however, for his assistance in locating the victims' remains. In 2021, he made a highly public appeal for his release, stating that he has been a model prisoner and is afraid of being murdered by other convicts.

 La Bestia remains incarcerated and is up for release in 2023.