Manuel Octavio Bermúdez
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Manuel Octavio Bermúdez Estrada | |
|---|---|
| Born | Manuel Octavio Bermúdez Estrada 15 October 1961 Trujillo, Valle del Cauca, Colombia |
| Died | 17 October 2024 (aged 63) Cauca Department, Colombia |
| Cause of death | Gunshot wounds |
| Other names | The Monster of the Cane Fields |
| Conviction(s) | Murder Rape |
| Criminal penalty | 25 years in prison |
| Details | |
| Victims | 21–50+ |
Span of crimes | 1999–2003 |
| Country | Colombia |
Date apprehended | 18 July 2003 |
Manuel Octavio Bermúdez Estrada (15 October 1961 – 17 October 2024) was a Colombian serial killer and rapist who confessed to killing 21 children in remote areas of Colombia.[1] He was given the nickname "El Monstruo de los Cañaduzales" ("The Monster of the Cane Fields").[2]
Biography
[edit]Manuel Octavio Bermúdez was born in Trujillo, Valle del Cauca, Colombia on 15 October 1961, and was orphaned after birth. He was adopted by an abusive mother who threw him off a balcony, breaking his hand and foot. This gave him a permanent limp. He was given to another family in the city of Palmira. His new parents were alcoholics and his father was described as abusive. Bermúdez later had several children of his own.[3]
Bermúdez raped and killed at least 21 children in several towns of Valle del Cauca from 1999 to 2003. He had worked as an ice cream vendor and would lure his victims to corn fields with offers of money for picking corn. Bermúdez would then rape and strangle them while sometimes injecting them with a syringe.
The mother of 12-year-old Luis Carlos Gálvez reported his disappearance and Bermúdez had been seen with him. He was arrested on 18 July 2003. Investigators inspected a room he had rented in El Cairo and found newspaper clippings of the murders, syringes, Lidocaine, and the wristwatch Luis Carlos Gálvez was wearing the day he disappeared.
Bermúdez confessed to the murders of 21 children, 17 of whom were found and was sentenced to 25 years in prison on 20 March 2004. He is suspected of killing over 50 children.
On 17 October 2024, only two days after his 63rd birthday, Bermúdez was killed during an ambush against a prison vehicle in which he was travelling on the Pan-American Highway in the department of Cauca. The attack was blamed on FARC dissidents.[1] Two prison guards and another inmate were also killed in the shooting.[4]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b Cifuentes Quintero, Santiago (18 October 2024). "El 'Monstruo de los Cañaduzales', violador comparado con Garavito, murió en atentado contra patrulla del Inpec". Infobae. Colombia. Retrieved 17 October 2024.
- ^ Rodríguez-Torres, María Natalia (2019). "Manuel Octavio Bermúdez "el monstruo de los cañaduzales"". Bogotá, Colombia: Universidad Católica de Colombia. Facultad de Derecho. hdl:hdl.handle.net/10983/23196. Retrieved 20 August 2024.
- ^ "La historia de cinco asesinos en serie de Colombia". KienyKe. 20 July 2013. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
- ^ "El "Monstruo de los cañaduzales" murió durante emboscada a carro del Inpec en Cauca". El Colombiano (in Spanish). 18 October 2024.
- 1961 births
- 2024 deaths
- 1999 murders in Colombia
- 2003 murders in Colombia
- 1990s murders in Colombia
- 2000s murders in Colombia
- Colombian murderers of children
- Colombian people convicted of murder
- Colombian rapists
- Colombian serial killers
- Deaths by firearm in Colombia
- People convicted of murder by Colombia
- People from Valle del Cauca Department