Luis Garavito

Luis Alfredo Garavito Cubillos (25 January 1957 – 12 October 2023), also known as La Bestia ("The Beast") or Tribilín ("Goofy"), was a Colombian serial killer, sex offender, pedophile, and necrophile.

Around 1968, Garavito left school in fifth grade due to poor memory and his father's insistence on making money to sustain the family.

This dismayed Garavito, who was also forbidden to have friends or a girlfriend by his father.

In 1969, Garavito was allegedly subjected to extensive physical and sexual abuse by a local drug-store owner and devoutly religious neighbor on his father's visits to the store for Garavito's vaccinations.

Garavito claimed the neighbor (who was a close friend of his father) had bound him to a bed before sexually assaulting him and proceeding to burn him with a candle, cut him with a razor blade, and bite his genitals and buttocks on several occasions during these incidents of molestation.

The severity of this abuse and Garavito's various other claims of extreme abuse were later questioned by several experts and interviewers.

Following the first incident of this abuse, Garavito allegedly killed and dissected two birds out of frustration, which prompted him to feel remorse and shame shortly thereafter.

After stoning the birds, Garavito began suggesting to his younger brothers and sisters that they sleep with him naked in their shared bed.

He then sexually fondled his younger siblings as they slept on multiple occasions after removing their clothes.

Garavito also alleged he molested a 6-year-old boy in 1969.

According to those who knew him, Garavito became very withdrawn, extremely aggressive, and "ready to take revenge on the world."

The neighbor's sexual abuse ended after the family's relocation to Trujillo in 1971, and rendered Garavito sexually impotent with female partners and permanently unable to ejaculate properly.

Believing that his father and family would not feel concern or believe him, Garavito chose to hide his sexual abuse experiences.

Soon after arriving in Trujillo, he was shown heterosexual pornography by another neighboring family friend.

Because Garavito responded with disgust, the neighbor beat him into the undergrowth before raping him.

In 1972, Garavito aggressively and repeatedly attempted to initiate sexual relations with women, but these advances were rejected.

Through various alcoholic family members, Garavito accessed alcoholic drink and developed an addiction.

A rebellious young man, Garavito was briefly evicted in 1972 after being caught by his mother attempting to rape a 5-year-old boy and again in 1973 following an attempted sexual assault on a 6-year-old boy at a train station in Bogotá.

The boy screamed, which alerted authorities to arrest Garavito, who stated he only wanted to "lightly" molest the child in response to an attempted rape charge.

Following the latter incident, Garavito was reprimanded by his father Manuel for not choosing a woman to sexually assault instead of a young boy.

With Garavito's inclination for young boys causing frequent arguments between him and his father Manuel, he was evicted for the final time for "homosexual behavior".

As a young man, Garavito started working as an assistant at a compensation fund and later in a chain of stores, and studying in marketing.

Despite his new-found career, he began to have problems with his co-workers, clients and bosses which gradually escalated to physical altercations.

Beginning a series of torture-rapes on minors aged 6 to 16 in the autumn of 1980, Garavito was estimated to have raped and tortured a minimum of 200 minors, before committing the rape, torture, mutilation, and murder of an additional 189 minors in Colombia from 4 October 1992 to 21 April 1999, and a further four murders in Ecuador during the summer of 1998.

In October 1999, he confessed to committing the rape, torture, mutilation, and murder of 147 minors, predominantly young men and boys in western Colombia.

Apprehended on 22 April 1999 for the attempted rape of 12-year-old John Iván Sabogal, Garavito was held under suspicion for several months until he confessed on 28 October 1999.

The court ruled that Garavito should serve sentences totalling 1,853 years and 9 days in jail.

Between his Colombian and Ecuadorian victims, Garavito is confirmed to have murdered at least 193 minors in total, making him the most prolific serial killer and child molester in modern history.

If his 2003 confession is to be believed, his murders of 23 minors and 5 adults would raise his murder victim count to 221.

As a result of his father's frequent infidelities and drinking habits, Garavito's parents frequently fought verbally and physically in the presence of their children, whom they largely neglected.

Later remarking that he "had the misfortune of being in a family that spent its time arguing, fighting, and throwing words of great calibre", he alleged being strapped to a tree and beaten with a machete case by his father after attempting to defend his mother, whom Manuel was known to beat during pregnancy.

Because of the spontaneous nature of the physical abuse, the children often hid upon their father's return home from work.

Sleeping in the same bed as his father, Garavito speculated he may have been fondled on one occasion.

Garavito was belittled as an imbecile, a bastard, and other pejoratives by his father, who he claimed "never had a good word" for him, solely bringing his son with him for work-related purposes and to run errands.

Attending Simón Bolívar School in Ceilán, he was initially collaborative and cheerful, but was frequently ridiculed and bullied by other children.

Garavito's teachers noted his desire to learn conflicted with his extreme frustration with an inability to understand subjects.

Nicknamed "Garabato" (meaning "Squiggle") for his glasses and timid nature by peers, Garavito's glasses made him feel insecure and he eventually preferred playing alone at recess.

He was quick to throw tantrums, and reacted violently toward students who chased and mocked him by screaming "Squiggle".

Despite the violent conflicts, his teachers made no attempt to intervene.

This distressed Garavito, who accumulated resentment toward his belittling father and envy toward peers from stable homes.