Serial Killers: Luis Alfredo Garavito (PART 2)

 When police started to find mass graves all over Colombia, they had to stand up and take notice of the rising body count! How could they trace the perpetrators when the victims had no missing person reports, no families looking for them, and no identifiable dental or fingerprint records? 

Some revolutionary investigation techniques were introduced in the Garavito case, let's see what they were!

Part 1 is here!

POLICE INVESTIGATION

In 1997, police found a mass grave containing the bodies of 41 children, just outside a town called Pereira. Up to now, children went missing and clusters of bodies were discovered all over Colombia, but the police didn't give them much notice. Most of the victims were not reported as missing, and cartel activity was rife due to the continuing civil war and unstable political climate. 

The bones found at various mass graves from Garavito's victims 

The bodies were badly decomposed, so there was only two avenues of identification left: DNA testing and facial reconstruction. Mario Leon Artunduaga, who was Colombia's best facial reconstruction expert, worked diligently to help police. 

The parameters in the facial reconstruction field were geared towards adults. As such, Artunduaga had a bit of trouble with his latest batch of victims. These were children between the ages of eight and sixteen years old, whose bodies had not fully developed. This meant the bones were also not fully grown, so normal reconstruction methods could not be applied. 

The facial ratios and measurements of an adult are fairly standard and easily replicated, but with a child this is not the case. The eyes are bigger, the face is smaller, and the calculations are different. So Artunduaga hired a local boy who had similar looks to the victims, and he measured every inch of the boy's face. 

After that, he used those measurements to painstakingly reconstruct each victim's face. The police  released pictures of those faces in the hope that a family member would see it and identify the victims. 

While the investigation was progressing, more young boys were going missing. Police had pressure to act fast as now the crimes could not be ignored anymore. They deduced that maybe these killings were drug related, or a Satanic cult was responsible. Wax was found with the bodies, but none of the theories brought them closer to their suspects. 

Aldemar Durán, the detective in charge of the investigation in Genova, Quindío made a breakthrough! He deduced that there was string of these crimes that fitted the same pattern, and they were throughout Colombia. Durán surmised that they were probably done by a serial killer! The inquisitive investigator dug out cold cases between years 1991 to 1998, and built a pattern of behavior. 

Durán deduced that there were many points of similarities between the cases. The victims were buried in similar fashion, with similar positions and the same items found at all grave sites. They also had matching rope fibers on the bodies. Forensic evidence pointed to the fact that this was a sexually motivated serial killer, but Colombia at the time did not have abilities within the police system to create a profile on the suspect.

February 6, 1999, was monumental day in cracking this case. Another detective, Mr Carlos Hernan Herrera was assigned to investigate the crimes. In Palmira, Colombia the bodies of two young children were found. They were buried on a hill next to a sugar case field. 

The next day, they found the body of another young boy buried just meters away. All three victims shared the same signs of sexual abuse and bound hands. The victims' cause of death was from having their neck cut, and their bodies showed severe mutilation and sexual assault signs. 

The location was interesting to police because they wondered why nobody from the sugar cane field saw or heard anything. The other thing was that the police found some great evidence that they were able to use to identify the suspect.  

The murder weapon was found close to the victims. Also found were a pair of glasses, a pair of shoes, underwear and money. Garavito fell asleep with a cigarette in his hand, and set fire to the cane field's surrounding area. All the evidence was burnt. A note with a woman's address and some receipts was also spotted at the crime scene. 

The police were able to use the evidence to identify some key features of the criminal. From the shoes, they deduced that the uneven wearing of the heels was consistent with someone with a limp. The glasses showed that he was a middle-aged man with astigmatism. They were able to tell that his height was between 1.63 to 1.67 meters. The bottles found at every crime scene also showed that he had a preference for the cheapest alcohol found in Colombia, and he did not buy anything else. 

Police were able to create a shortlist of 25 suspects who were active in the area around the victims' locations. Amongst these suspects was a man called Pedro Pablo Ramirez Garcia. He was a child sex offender with a long history, stretching back to the 1980s. Coincidentally, he also had a limp in his right foot and was 44-years of age. Other similarities were the fact that he was the same height and was selling honey in similar containers found at the crime site. Police arrested him after a young victim in Pereira identified him as the man who attempted to sexually assault him. 

While this man was in jail, more children disappeared in Bogota. By now, the police used the address on the note found at the burial site to track down Garavito's girlfriend. She informed them that they have not been in touch for months, but he did leave a suitcase behind, which she promptly handed over to the police. Inside, there was pictures of young boys, detailed journals with the murders, a count of his victims and some bills. 

Police were able to find out where he was living at the time, but Garavito was not at the residence. Law enforcement thought that he was probably travelling for work or was looking for his next victim. They managed to track him to Pereira, 6 hours away from Palmira, where he went to get treatment from his burns. There, he attempted to rape a 16-year-old boy who managed to get away. 

On 22nd April 1999, Garavito was arrested and placed in an eight-hour-long interrogation, where he refused to give up too much information. When all tactics failed, Mr Aldermar Durán, who has been extensively involved in this case, was called in. His expertise and tactics worked and pushed Garavito over the edge. 

Durán described the crimes to Garavito in great details and it led him to have a mental breakdown. Amazingly, he confessed to everything. The heinousness of his crimes was too much for Garavito, and he welled up in tears. 

TRIAL AND SENTENCING

After confessing to the murders, Garavito was taken to prison. However, under Colombia's justice system, they also need undeniable proof in correlation to the confession. Police had to use the evidence collected at the crime to show that there was a direct link to Garavito and the victims. 

Well, they had the glasses, the shoes and the underwear that was collected from the last crime scene. The whole investigation to tie Garavito to the crimes had to be done covertly as to not tip of the suspect.

Garavito in prison giving an interview in 2006

They matched the DNA found on the underwear and the brandy bottles left at the last crime scene, that could be matched with DNA found on the victims' bodies. Then they took DNA samples from Garavito's cell, while he was out. His DNA was a perfect match. 

Then, the eye glasses were matched. Garavito had a specific, quite rare eye disorder that happened to men his age, so the glasses were unique to him. The police made it mandatory for all prisoners to have an eye exam in the prison, so that Garavito would not suspect and start lying about his eyesight. Those test results could be attributed to him. 

Garavito confessed to 140 murders of children. He was accused of 172 killings throughout Colombia. He was found guilty of 138 of those 172, and the others are still being investigated. His sentence was the longest in Colombian history, 1853 years in prison. Of course, we can't let the monster rot in jail, so the maximum that anyone can serve in Colombia is 40 years in prison. But! Garavito helped police find the victims' bodies and his sentence was further reduced to.... 22 years in prison! 

Let me say that again, a sentence of 22 years in prison for 138 confirmed murders of small children!

The serial killer was eligible for parole at the end of 2022, but the judge ruled against releasing him, and said that Garavito will never walk free. 

He has severe eye cancer and needs daily blood transfusions, he is very weak and tired because of his illnesses. Garavito spends a lot of his time in jail making handcuffs, earrings and necklaces. Furthermore, he is separated from the other inmates, as there are fears he will be immediately killed if he is exposed to general population in jail.

Garavito hoping to get out of prison and
have a future helping children 

CONCLUSION

I have nothing more to say than that it is very surprising that we don't know more about this monster in Western media. Actually, Colombia also holds the title for the second most prolific serial killer with Mr Pedro Lopez. 

He was known as the ''Monster of the Andes'' and his crimes includes the proven killings of 110 victims, mostly young girls aged 12 years old. He is also suspected of killings hundreds of victims. And despite all that, he was released in the late 1998, spending only 18 years in prison.