Murder Monday #1 Luis Garavito

  I'm super excited to finally be doing this, so let's talk about some murder! So, I want to give some explainers first since this is the first one. One, I'm not glorifying these killers in any way, following Philip DeFranco I won't be showing the killer's face unless they haven't been caught. Two, I won't intentionally mock or blame the victim's, but of course, I can't know how other people might respond to this, so know that I'm not intentionally being garbage, I might not convey my thoughts in the best way possible, I'm still human after all. Three, reader's discretion is advised, I will be discussing murder, but I will be discussing child abuse, domestic abuse, rape, torture, etc depending on the case, I will try to label certain triggers as best as I can, but don't go crazy because I'm discussing murder.  I think that's it for right now, but to quote Small Town Murder "Shut up and give me murder!"

 Let's talk about the serial killer with possibly the highest body count, Luis Garavito aka La Bestia. He was born in 1957 in Genova, Quindio, Colombia. He was the oldest of his seven brothers and potentially suffered physical and emotional abuse from his father, also claims to have been sexually abused when he was younger, but I think this was his statement when he was caught almost to excuse his horrendous actions. At the age of 16, he ran away from home and became a transient.
 
  Now there aren't any murders in his younger years, but honestly who knows, but in 1992, boys started to disappear off the streets of Colombia. For the most part, Garavito's victimology was boys between the ages of six and sixteen, most of which were homeless, due to the Colombian Civil War. Garavito would offer them money or a gift and when he gained their trust, he would lure them away, separating them from everyone until they got tired and then Garavito would rape them and slit their throats, for the most part, his signature was that the bodies had bite marks, but some of them were even decapitated. It wasn't until 1997 when one of Garavito's mass graves were uncovered. Police found three bodies, naked and hand bound, found outside of Genoa. A note was found at the scene that led them to Garavito's girlfriend; but, she didn't know where he was, but she gave them a bag that he had left in her possession that had pictures of young boys and detailed journals of his murders.

A few days later, they arrested him when he was trying to rape an adolescent boy and he insisted he was innocent when they questioned him about the boys in Genoa, however, the amount of evidence he left at the scene was so ridiculous, it's borderline stupid: empty liquor bottles, his underwear, his shoes, and his glasses, which he had a rare eye condition and he had to get special glasses) and they also found his DNA on one of the victims, in case for some reason the evidence wouldn't be admissible. Garavito finally confessed, but he didn't just confess to those three, he confessed to 140 murders! However, he was charged with 172, although he was only found guilty of 138, because apparently just wanted to make round up his count. His prison sentence was for over 1000 years since Colombia doesn't have the death penalty, but I feel like this guy could maybe be the exception. Now, here's the kicker, Colombian law limits prison sentences to a maximum of 40 years and since he helped police find some of his victims, his sentence was reduced to 22 years! That's serving one year for about every six murders. He is currently still in prison, although no one knows where since probably if anyone knew he wouldn't be alive now. Also, he's in solitary confinement for good behavior, and while most think that the separation is bad, I guess if you're one of the most notorious killers in the world, it makes sense.


Now, time for the worst part, Garavito could be released as early as 2021. It's not like he'll be so old and decrepit that he can't do anything, he'll be 64, there's a good chance he could go back to killing. Fortunately, Colombian law dictates that crimes against children are required to spend at least 60 years of their sentence, so hopefully he won't be released, but hey if he does he'll at least be 100.

So that's La Bestia, the serial killer who is considered the killer with the highest count, with at least 140, although his count could very well exceed 300.