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A serial killer is typically a person who murders three or more people, with the murders taking place over more than a month and including a significant period of time between them. [1] [2] The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) defines serial killing as "a series of two or more murders, committed as separate events, usually, but not always, by one offender acting alone". [2] [3]
| Name | Years active | Proven victims | Possible victims | Status | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andrés Leonardo Achipiz | 2009–2013 | 12 | 35 | Incarcerated | Known as "The Fish"; psychopathic hired killer who killed in Bogotá involved in the drug trade | [4] |
| José William Aranguren | 1956–1964 | 115 | 115 | Killed in a shootout with law enforcement | Bandit who murdered people across three municipalities, together with three accomplices | [5] |
| Daniel Camargo Barbosa | 1974–1986 | 72 | 180 | Murdered in prison by a victim's relative | Known as "The Sadist of El Charquito"; raped and murdered young girls across Colombia and Ecuador | [6] |
| Manuel Octavio Bermúdez | 1999–2003 | 21 | 50+ | 56 years; commuted to 26 years | Known as "The Monster of the Cane Fields"; raped and murdered children in rural Valle del Cauca | [7] |
| Cristopher Chávez Cuellar | 1990s–2015 | 6 | 15+ | 40 years | Known as "The Soulless"; murdered various people around three municipalities, including three underage brothers | [8] |
| María Concepción Ladino | 1994–1998 | 6 | 6 | 40 years | Known as "The Killer Witch"; fraudster who poisoned victims she had defrauded | [9] |
| Luis Garavito | 1992–1999 | 142 | 193+ | Died in prison | Known as "The Beast"; tortured, raped, mutilated and murdered children across Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela | [10] |
| Sandra Giraldo | 2008–2011 | 3 | 3+ | Incarcerated | Together with Emilsen Rojas and several accomplices, she led "The Black Widow Gang"; defrauded and poisoned men for their life insurance policies | [11] |
| Pedro López | 1969–1980 | 110 | 350+ | Fugitive | Known as "The Monster of the Andes"; raped and killed young girls across Colombia, Ecuador and Peru | [12] |
| Luis Alberto Malagón Suárez | 1995–2001 | 6 | 6+ | Incarcerated | Known as "The Sadist of Rincón"; kidnapped, raped, and killed five girls from 1995 to 1997 in Suba, and later killed his wife | [13] |
| Tomás Maldonado Cera | 2002–2018 | 7 | 10 | Incarcerated | Known as "The Satanist"; murdered victims on or around Halloween night, then carved Satanic symbols on their bodies | [14] |
| Jaime Iván Martínez | 2005–2016 | 4 | 25 | 42 years | Known as "The Guarne Killer"; strangled young children and his wife in Guarne; suspected in other murders | [15] |
| Élver James Melchor Bañol | 1990s–2019 | 4 | 4 | 60 years | Known as "The Predator of Picaleña"; serial child rapist who murdered a girl in Tolima after being released on parole for three similar murders and sex crimes | [16] |
| John Jairo Moreno Torres | 1997–1998 | 4 | 20 | Murdered in prison by fellow inmates | Known as "Johnny the Leper"; underage gang leader who murdered people who interfered with his criminal activities | [17] |
| Yadira Narváez | 2011 | 5 | 6+ | 100 years | Known as "The Queen of Scopolamine"; poisoned men with Carbofuran to steal their money | [18] |
| Hernando Arturo Prada | 1990s–1999 | 10 | 10+ | Killed by a paramilitary squad while on the run | Known as "The Angel of Death"; gang leader who killed people in Bucaramanga | [19] |
| Luis Gregorio Ramírez Maestre | 2010–2012 | 30 | 30 | 34 years | Known as "The Monster of Tenerife"; tortured and murdered motorists he came across highways | [20] |
| Emilsen Rojas | 2008–2011 | 3 | 3+ | Incarcerated | Together with Sandra Giraldo and several accomplices, she led "The Black Widow Gang"; defrauded and poisoned men for their life insurance policies | [21] |
| Esneda Ruiz Cataño | 2001–2010 | 3 | 3 | Incarcerated | Known as "The Predator"; poisoned three husbands for their life insurance policies | [22] |
| Efraín Sarmiento Cuero | 2017–2023 | 3 | 3 | Incarcerated | Known as "The Beast"; murdered girlfriends across during arguments, including one during a conjugal visit in prison | [23] |
| Fredy Armando Valencia | 2012–2014 | 8 | 100+ | 36 years | Known as "The Monster of Monserrate"; strangled women around Monserrate, then had sex with their bodies | [24] |
| Rubén Villalobos Herrera | 2012–2017 | 9 | 9 | Incarcerated | Known as "The Black Canes Monster"; raped and murdered women in Villavicencio, then had sex with their bodies post-mortem | [25] |
| Name | Years active | Proven victims | Possible victims | Regions where active | Notes | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monster of the Mangones | 1963–1970s | 30 | 38 | Valle del Cauca | Kidnapped, raped, tortured and then murdered between young boys and teenagers in Cali; investigators believe the killer to have suffered from clinical vampirism | [26] |
Pedro Alonso López, also known as The Monster of the Andes, is a Colombian serial killer, child rapist, and fugitive who murdered a minimum of 110 people, mostly young women and girls, from 1969 to 1980. López claimed to have murdered over 300 people. He is considered by many as one of the most prolific serial killers and rapists in history.
Henry Loaiza Ceballos aka El Alacrán is a former Colombian drug trafficker and a member of the Cali Cartel. Loaiza was mainly in charge of the military apparatus of the organization, but was also involved in the shipment of illegal drugs.
Juan Pablo Espinosa Cuéllar is a Colombian actor.
Tu Voz Estéreo is a Colombian anthology series on Caracol Television, produced by Daniel Bautista. Among its initial librettists were Saldarriaga and Julio Ricardo Castaneda. Among its key players were Milena y Alejo, after entering Andrea and Felipe. Because Italo Londeros left the series, the new speaker was Sebastian, ex-contestant Protagonistas de novela of RCN Televisión.
Surviving Escobar: Alias JJ is a Colombian crime drama television series produced by Asier Aguilar, based on the book Sobreviviendo a Pablo Escobar by Jhon Jairo Velásquez, the lieutenant and right hand of Pablo Escobar, and stars Juan Pablo Urrego as the titular character. The series premiered in Colombia on Caracol Televisión on 8 February 2017 as Alias J.J., lo que pasa tras las rejas, and concluded on 23 May 2017. On Netflix the series premiered on 1 August 2017 with a total of sixty episodes.
Luis Gregorio Ramírez Maestre is a Colombian serial killer who has been convicted of murdering thirty people in various municipalities and cities in Colombia, including Tenerife, Sabanalarga, Aguachica, Santa Marta, Valledupar and Puerto Wilches.
Esneda Ruiz Cataño, known as The Predator and The Black Widow, is a Colombian serial killer. She collected millions of financial proceeds through life insurances of her husbands.
Rubén Villalobos Herrera, known as The Black Canes Monster, is a Colombian serial killer and rapist.
John Jairo Moreno Torres, known as Johnny the Leper, was a Colombian serial killer.
Fredy Armando Valencia Vargas, known as The Monster of Monserrate, is a Colombian rapist and serial killer. He was connected to the deaths of between 8 and 9 women, however, he confessed to killing approximately 100 women. According to his own confessions, he sexually abused his victims before and after he killed them.
Tomás Maldonado Cera, known as The Satanist, is a Colombian rapist and serial killer. His nickname originates from the fact that after killing his victims, he marked them with satanic symbols.
Jaime Iván Martínez Betancur, known as The Guarne Killer and The Monster of the East, is a Colombian serial killer. He was responsible for the murder of several people, including the killings of his wife and children. The bodies of the victims were exhumed by specialized personnel of the Attorney General's Office, in cooperation with the Technical Investigation Body (CTI), the Unified Action Groups for Personal Liberty (GAULA) and police dogs, who conducted on-site investigations as part of the procedures.
Andrés Leonardo Achipiz is a Colombian serial killer and paid assassin. He is known by the alias The Fish, referring to his childhood where he sold fish in his neighborhood. He has claimed to have killed between 30 and 35 people in Bogotá, more specifically in Kennedy and Bosa, where he was paid on a scale ranging from $600,000 to $4,000,000 worth of pesos for each murder. He was convicted of 12 murders, but is suspected of several more.
María Concepción Ladino, known as The Killer Witch, is a Colombian fraudster and serial killer. She murdered 6 people, both men and women, in the 1990s.
Cristopher Chávez Cuellar, known as The Soulless, is a Colombian serial killer responsible for killing a taxi driver, a woman in Ibagué and 4 minors in 2015. The police believe that he has killed at least 15 people in total.
Diego Alexánder Ruiz Restrepo is a Colombian serial killer in Chile. Known as the Psychopath of Meiggs, he is confirmed to have committed at least 7 murders in the Meiggs neighborhood of Estación Central, between March and November 2020, where he had been living as an undocumented immigrant since 2013. The Chilean Prosecutor's Office also linked him to the murder of 20 other people.
Efraín Sarmiento Cuero, known as The Beast, is a Colombian serial killer and rapist who murdered at least three women across various regions from 2017 to 2023. He achieved notoriety in 2023, after murdering his girlfriend during a prison visit, where he was serving prison sentences for two separate murders.
Serial murder is the killing of three or more people over a period of more than 30 days, with a significant cooling-off period between the murders [...] The baseline number of three victims appears to be most common among those who are the academic authorities in the field. The time frame also appears to be an agreed-upon component of the definition.
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