SERIAL OFFENDER 2
Luis Garavito is believed to be the world’s worst serial killer. Having been born and brought up
in Colombia, Luis was also answerable to the alias La Bestia, Colombian for The Beast.
Garavito, in 1999, admitted to torturing, raping and murdering 138 teenage and young boys.
However, the number is believed to be higher than that, with police opining that they may be up
to 400 young boys that he abused, tortured and murdered.
As is described by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the profile of a serial killer continues to
shift in definition, having been defined differently from place to place over the last 30 years.
However, the most acceptable profile of a serial killer defines that serial killing is the
performance of more than three killings in a series, committed in one area, and having common
characteristics that may be identified to one person. (FBI, 2018). From this definition, it is clear
that Garavito fits the profile of a serial killer, having committed the murders over Colombia, and
having a specific characteristic of doing this to young boys.
Serial killer classification, also referred to as typology, is dependent on the mode in which killers
perform their act, according to the Holmes Typology (Freeman, 2018). Serial killings may be
act-based or process-focused. In the context that Garavito took time before killing his victims, he
falls in the process-focused typology, which describes serial killers that take time before they
kill. With these counts, Luis Garavito was sentenced to life imprisonment, in accordance with the
Colombian law, which provides for a maximum of thirty years in prison. Currently in prison,
Luis seems to be reformed, with the officials describing him as calm and collected, an inmate
studying to be a politician, and hoping to be a child rights’ activists on his release.
