I’ve had a macabre fascination with the disturbing and the dark, since I was a teenager. In my free time, you could often find me diving down rabbit hole after rabbit hole of the most depraved things human beings have done to other humans beings. Most of us at some point developed an interest in crime or killers and where some of us have moved on after a time to other things, I couldn’t. I got uncomfortably hooked, constantly going deeper and deeper into my research because I needed to know “why?” What caused these kinds of thoughts in a person and to be more specific, what kind of dark soul, or lack of one to you have to have, to commit these kinds of dark acts.
Now, most of us have heard of the more famous, or should I say infamous killers in recent history, with movies even basing their fanatical monsters after real life ones. Ed Gein being an example with both Buffalo Bill “The Silence Of The Lambs” and Leather face “Texas Chainsaw Massacre”. And Bundy and Dahmer having so many shows of their own, about their crimes, so it’s hard to not at least know some of these names. You might even hear an Albert Fish story thrown around the ‘true crime’ world, or learned about Andre Chikatilo’s sins. Both seemingly soulless ‘people’ who were both disgustingly…unique in the crimes they committed. What I find interesting though, is how these names are so “mainstream” yet they are but a tiny shard of ice at the top of a very deep iceberg showcasing just how dark, ‘human beings’ can actually be. Things that make Bundy and Gacy look more like societal nuisances. And don’t misquote me now, those are horrid horrid men, yes, but the deeper you dive into the truest vile capabilities of human kind, you find yourself questioning not the validity of the stories, because the death certificates and victim counts are very real. But the validity of the “human” in these beings. Some people go to such far extremes in their depravity and filth that after years and years of researching this side of humanity, I have found myself repeating one constant, concerning, realization…
Just because they look human, doesn’t make them human.
These beasts, these monsters, they live among us, blending in, making friends, teaching in our schools, preaching in our churches, policing our cities, all while malevolently shading their dark secrets and black souls. While these killers who’s names and crimes we know well, have done horrible things and clearly are evil and disturbed. We need to talk about the demons who lurk in our streets, who kill hundreds of our innocent, who employ methods we can’t even fathom, to bring death and destruction, we need to talk about the aformentioned “Beasts” that walk among us, and who better to start this dark deep dive but “La Bestia” himself. Luis Aflredo Garavito Cubillos, Columbian serial killer, pedarist, rapist, child molester, and necrophile.
Estimated to have murdered well over 300 children…
…193 of them confirmed…
The devil himself was born on January 25 1957, in Genova Quindio to Manuel Antonio Garavito, a violent alcoholic, and the equally violent and drunk, Rosa Delia.
Growing up in a hell akin to the one he would later create as an adult, Garavito’s childhood home environment was extremely toxic. Filled with years of fighting abuse and neglect, in an interview, Garavito recalled being strapped to a tree and beaten by his father for attempting to defend his mother from one of his more vicious beatings during one of Rosa’s many pregnancies. He was trapped in a world filled with violence and darkness. Garavito wasn’t even granted the small break of going to school as his father forced him to drop out of school around the 5th grade so he could work. And work of course brought him no solace either, as in 1969, while working, Garavito was brutally attacked by a local drug store owner and close friend of his fathers. Allegedly he was bound to a bed and burned with a candle, cut with a razor blade and was repeatedly bitten while being violently molested.
This abuse continued until the family moved away to Trujillo in 1971 and though he was far away from the shop owner, the physical and emotional trauma from it proved to be so severe that Garavito would suffer erectile dysfunction for the rest of his life. Following in his parents footsteps, teen Garavito fell into the malicious arms of alchoholism, which very quickly brought forth his own sadistic and pederastic tendencies. After the attempted rapes of two young boys aged 5 and 6, he was kicked out of house, but not before his own father assaulted him, angry not that he chose to assault children or anyone at all for that matter, but that he chose two young boys instead of a choosing a woman to rape.
Leaving his childhood home brought him no freedom. As a result of all the abuse Garavito suffered as a child, he would be plagued with psychosis, paranoia and extreme depression. For most of the 70’s and 80’s he would molest children of both sexes as he fell deeper and deeper into his mental illness. After a failed attempt at suicide, and various stints in mental facilities, Garavito started work at a supermarket in Armenia where he began a relationship with a single mother named Claudia. He graduated to binding and raping children during his lunch breaks, in order to satiate his sexual desires, as him and Claudia were not having sex. After this short lived relationship, Garavito moved quickly from molesting to implementing the same torturing methods used on himself as a child. Ironically, in spite of these very monsterous things he did, Garavito considered himself a very religious man. He would write the names of the abused children in a little blue notebook he kept on him, whom he would then pray for while chanting around his room, violently beating his chest. He would then spend his nights compulsively reading the bible every in search of answers for why he was like this. After years of this ritual and finding nothing, he would turn his attention to the occult and satanism. And after discovering Hitler’s book, Mein Kompf, he would even come to start to idolize Hitler. Identifying himself with the tyrant, drawing parallels to the homosexuality they both experienced and the homelessness they endured. He would go so far as to outwardly and publicly express his admiration for Hitler, specifically his use of mass graves, and even the concentration camps.
In January of 1984, Garavito suffered a mental breakdown, landing him in the psychiatric hospital for over a month. After being released, in true sick fashion, he immediately took off to Pereira where he familiarly kidnapped, molested, burned and bit two children. By this time, Garavito had assaulted well over 100 children, had now taken to collecting knives and scalpels and storing them in plastic bags for future victims. He even went as far as to remove a tooth so he could bite children more effectively.
As if his fascination with Hitler wasn’t bad enough, he also found himself developing an admiration for Columbian spree killer Campo Elias Delgado. He wanted the same attention that Delagado’s mass murder at the Bogota received. Delgado having been killed by authorities after his killing spree, awakened dark fantasies in Garavito’s mind, convincing himself that committing mass murder and dying by suicide was the ideal way to kick the bucket.
During this period of sadistic development, the Columbian killer kept many girlfriends, and though his capacity for real emotions seems slim, he claimed to have truly loved a few of them. All of these women lived obliviuos to his true nature, a bleak reminder that you never really know who you let into your home. They thought of him as a hard worker and even a good father figure to their children. Though unbeknownst to them, most of them housed at least one trophy of his in their homes as Garavito, having started to document his crimes and collect trophies, had used each of their homes as storage for these tragic relics.
By 1992 Garavito’s victim list was already at the 200 mark of raped and tortured minors. One day after being told by the devil himself (after entering a state of psychosis, in which the devil asked him to serve him) telling him to “Kill, that with killing many things may come.” Garavito attempted to commit his first murder. After attempting to lure a young boy selling sweets on the street, he was caught, beaten and robbed by the local police….and then for whatever absurd reason, they let him go.
On October 4th 1992, Garavito committed his first successful murder. After which, having enjoyed himself so much, he decides to start wearing an assortment of disguises to better help him get closer to his victims and commit his crimes. earning the nickname “Goofy.”
Garavito as ‘Goofy’ and other convenient aliases, spent the next few years making his way around Columbia, torturing, raping and murdering young boys all around the country. He moved as a transient, staying with the girlfriends he acquired when he could, always leaving his little black suitcases filled with relics in every home.
His methods were chillingly consistent and effective. He primarily targeted boys from poorer backgrounds, often street children, beggars, or those from dysfunctional families, knowing they were less likely to be missed or reported quickly. Garavito would approach his victims with a friendly demeanor, often offering them small sums of money, food, or the promise of a job or a better life. He would pose as a monk, a salesman, or a kind stranger, exploiting their vulnerability and desperation. Once he had gained their trust, he would lure them to secluded area like abandoned fields, forests, or remote house, where he would subject them to extensive periods of torture, rape, and ultimately, murder. He often buried their bodies in shallow graves, littering the Columbian country side with their innocent little bodies.
His final documented crime leading to his capture occurred on April 22, 1999, in Villavicencio, when he attempted to abduct a 12-year-old boy named John Iván Sabogal. Garavito. Using one of his many aliases, “Bonifacio Morera Lizcano”, Garavito posed as a local politician, lured the boy, then threatening him with a knife, forced him into a taxi. It was during this attempted assault that Garavito was apprehended by local police. His arrest was initially for this attempted abduction, not directly for the plethora of murders he had committed. However, investigators had been tracking similarities in numerous child disappearance and murder cases across Colombia and were finally tying the pieces. Evidence found at various crime scenes, including a pair of glasses specifically designed for Garavito’s rare eye condition, bottles of brandy, underwear, and shoes, along with DNA, began to link him to the wider pattern of atrocities. His distinctive physical characteristics, such as his height, being only 5, 5″ and a noticeable limp, also played a crucial role in connecting him to the growing mountain of evidence.
Finally, on October 28 1999, Garavito gave a chilling and cold confession, revealing an icy lack of remorse that shocked even the most hardened of investigators. When an investigating judge directly asked him if he was responsible for the deaths of the 114 children whose bodies had been found across 59 Colombian towns since 1994, Garavito admitted the crimes and then surprisingly broke down and begged for forgiveness before confessing to even more murders. He not only detailed what his victims endured, he even produced the battered notebook in which he had kept a tally of his killings. He led authorities to numerous burial sites across multiple Colombian departments, including Risaralda, Valle del del Cauca, QuindÃo, and Cundinamarca. He ultimately admitted to the rape and murder of 172 boys, a figure that earned him the grim distinction of being the world’s most prolific serial killer by confirmed victim count. However, many believe the true number of his victims could be significantly higher, perhaps exceeding 300, as many disappearances in the chaotic landscape of Colombia went unreported or uninvestigated.
Garavito’s capture and trial sent shockwaves throughout Colombia and the international community. He was charged with a hoard of crimes, including violent sexual intercourse, violent carnal access, homicide, arson, and kidnapping. Despite the overwhelming evidence and his own disturbing confessions, Colombia’s lenient sentencing laws at the time, coupled with his cooperation, meant he received a relatively short sentence compared to the magnitude of his crimes. Initially, he was convicted of 138 murders and sentenced to a staggering 1,853 years and 9 days in prison. However, due to a legal loophole in Colombian law that capped sentences at 40 years and offered significant reductions for confessions and cooperation, his sentence was ultimately reduced to a mere 22 years. Public outrage was understandably intense, highlighting the deep flaws in the justice system and sparking widespread calls for reform. Garavito spent his incarceration in various high security prisons, largely in solitary due to the threats posed by other inmates and the public. During his imprisonment, he reportedly converted to Christianity and claimed to have found God, though many viewed this as a half a**ed attempt to manipulate the system or gain sympathy. In 2021, a request for his parole based on good behavior was denied by a judge, primarily because he had not paid the required fines to his victims’ families.
Luis Garavito died in October 2023, while still incarcerated, reportedly from cancer. His death closed a chapter on one of the most violent marks in modern history. Yet, his legacy endures as a chilling testament to the capacity for evil within ‘humanity’. Bringing me back to my thoughts about the validity of human kind. Can someone like him even be considered human? His crimes did force Colombia to confront uncomfortable truths about child protection, poverty, and the effectiveness of its justice system. The memory of “La Bestia” serves as a perpetual warning, a dark reminder that monsters can walk among us, often cloaked in the guise of normalcy, leaving behind a trail of devastation that forever scars the fabric of society.
Stay vigilant my friends, Just because they look human, doesn’t make them human.
Sources:
Colombian Killers: The True Stories of the Three Most Prolific Serial Killers on Earth – Ryan Green
