Colombia: Luis Alfredo Garavito, who was sentenced to 40 years in prison for abusing and murdering almost 200 minors, dies

Abuser and murderer of almost 200 minors, Luis Alfredo Garavito, "La Bestia" (The Beast), died on Thursday at the Nuevo Santo Tomás Clinic, as confirmed by a source from the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute of Colombia (INPEC) through a brief statement picked up by Infobae: "Mr. Luis Alfredo Garavito Cubillos, who was detained in the city of Valledupar, died in recent minutes."

Considered the worst serial killer of children in the country, Garavito was captured in 1999 when he tried to rape a minor. In December 2002, he entered the Valledupar maximum security prison after confessing that he raped and murdered 197 minors in various places in the country during the 1990s. These acts led him to be sentenced to 40 years in prison after being found guilty of crimes relating to violent sexual acts, homicide, violent carnal arrest, kidnapping and arson, according to RTVE.

Garavito's death is not surprising. In April of this year, it was announced that the killer had leukemia and eye cancer. The prison shared images of the prisoner, and his poor state of health was evident. At that time, it was clear how the disease had affected his left eye, which was almost completely closed. In addition, Garavito appeared much thinner than his usual weight.

Garavito, the worst serial child killer in Colombia

Luis Alfredo Garavito spread terror in Colombia during the 1990s for the way in which he lured, raped and killed his victims, all of whom were minors. The criminal managed to go through 13 departments of the country for seven years. In 1999, "La Bestia" was captured just before he tried to rape a minor.

Later, authorities managed to link him to other crimes and, although Garavito tried to deny it, the remains of DNA on the corpses and other evidence against him revealed that he perpetrated almost 140 crimes, and he later admitted to another 32.

Garavito was sentenced in 2002 to 1,853 years and 9 days in prison, but they reduced his sentence to only 40 years because the previous sentence was considered not viable.