A notorious Colombian serial killer, who admitted to taking the lives of over 190 children in the 1990s, passed away in a hospital on Thursday, as confirmed by prison authorities. He was 66 years old.
Luis Alfredo Garavito, known as "The Beast," admitted to the horrific crimes of kidnapping, abusing, and murdering children aged 8 to 16, primarily from low-income families. He used various disguises like posing as a monk, a homeless person, or a street vendor to carry out his heinous acts.
The National Penitentiary and Prison Institute reported that Garavito died while in prison at a Valledupar hospital in northern Colombia. The exact cause of death has not been disclosed.
Born in 1957 in the Colombian department of Quindío, Garavito roamed across 11 different regions as an adult, where he committed these gruesome acts. Authorities began connecting the dots when they noticed striking similarities in the cases of missing children in Pereira, Armenia, and Tunja.
In April 1999, Garavito was arrested on an attempted rape charge, but during an investigation, he confessed to being the perpetrator behind the deaths of 114 children whose bodies were found in 59 Colombian towns starting from 1994. He went on to admit to more murders, totaling over 190.
That same year, Garavito made a courtroom apology to the families of his victims, saying, "I want to ask for forgiveness for everything I did, and I am going to confess. Yes, I killed them, and not only those, I killed others."
In recent years, there was speculation that Garavito might be released from prison, as he had served three-fifths of his sentence. In 2021, former president Iván Duque (2018-2022) rejected the idea of his release, ensuring that he would remain incarcerated during his tenure.
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