Luis Alfredo Garavito is died, Known as The Beast of Colombia

Luis Alfredo Garavito, known in Colombia as "The Beast" or "The Monster of Genoa", died in a clinic in Valledupar, where he was serving a 40-year sentence for the atrocious crimes he perpetrated against at least 200 children in Colombia. The National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (Inpec) confirmed the news on Thursday, October 12. The criminal died at the Nueva Santo Tomás del Caribe clinic, at the age of 66.

Initially, Garavito was sentenced to 1,853 years and 9 days in prison for his grisly crimes, but his sentence was reduced to 40 years, the maximum sentence in Colombia at the time, due to the unfeasibility of maintaining such a long sentence. . "The Beast" was accused of sexually abusing and murdering at least 172 children between 1980 and 1999, making him one of the most dangerous criminals in the country.

The infanticide, at the time, became one of the main objectives of the Technical Investigation Corps (CTI), which finally managed to capture him in 1999 and take him to prison, where he had remained until his death. Throughout his time in prison, Garavito collaborated with authorities, providing details about his crimes, the location of the bodies and helping to identify dozens of his victims.

"The Beast" had a modus operandi where he posed as a priest, an old man, a street vendor, a street dweller and others, to gain the trust of children, most of them from low-income families, orphans or in situations of need. street dwellers. He would offer them food, candy or money before taking them to uninhabited areas where he would abuse and kill them.

The case of Luis Alfredo Garavito was fundamental in promoting reforms in Colombian laws regarding crimes against minors and preventing convicted criminals from being beneficiaries of sentence reductions. Despite serving more than 20 years in prison, "The Beast" had his parole request denied in 2021 and failed to meet other requirements for his release, ultimately ending his life in prison.

Garavito suffered from leukemia, which caused cancer in his eye. In recent months, images were published that showed his very poor state of health, therefore, in recent months he suffered several health problems that ended up ending his life.