Manuel Octavio Bermudez Estrada
Alias: "The monster cane fields"
Rating: Serial Murderer
Features: Rapist
Number of victims: 17 to 21
Activity Period: 1999 - 2003
Detention Date: July 18, 2003
Date of birth: 1971
Profile victims: Children 6 to 12 years
Method of murder: Strangulation with ligation
Location: Colombia
Status: Sentenced to 40 years in prison March 20, 2004
The painful trail of 'The Monster'
By: Ana Maria Saavedra S - BBC Reporter
For four years a man sowed death in the cane fields of the Valley. His victims were children of humble between 9 and 14 years. He acknowledged that killed 21 children, of whom found 17, six of them remain unidentified. The tragedy of families continues.
She saw him in a dark alley. He was still a man surrounded by children, but when she ran watched and yelled, "Mom, this man deceives children. Daniela did not let him go, you can do the same thing to me. "
Nidia Balanta woke up crying. In his chest and sobs drowned body image of his son lying on a steel gurney returned to his mind. He sprang from the bed to the room with their two daughters share. It was relieved to see Daniela, her youngest daughter, sleeping like an angel.
Nidia feels his son Jose Miguel appeared in dreams to prevent it. That and even though at home money is tight and spending increases, hardly goes to work for not letting her three children alone.
Still has not overcome what happened to most of their young men. Nidia, a humble worker who washes clothes, still remembers the 2003 Holy Thursday when his son asked permission to go to a man to glean.
She said it was too dangerous to go out with a stranger. He returned to his job as a housekeeper in a biscuit factory, close to the Basilica de Buga, while José Miguel allegedly told the man who had not let go.
Nidia does not know if the illusion of buying new sneakers made his son disobeyed the unknown promise to pay $ 15,000.
That Holy Thursday, at 5:00 pm, was the last time I saw him alive. Easter Monday heard on the radio that a Yotoco cañaduzal had found a child with the same characteristics of their child.
He went to the morgue and recognized him. José Miguel met that day 13 years.
Two years ago was the last time you dreamed it. It was the nightmare of the dark alley where he saw the man who wore it.
Nidia does not know that the man was surrounded by children Octavio Manuel Bermúdez, 'The Monster of the cane fields'. Nobody told him that his son's murderer was captured on July 18, 2003. Farmers do not think like her revenge. Talk of resignation and the strength that God has given to support his sentence.
The trail in Palmira. María Mercedes Hurtado no longer dreams of his son. So when her husband is not, rebruja their books for the only photo of her son. The notes and cries.
Remember your favorite child. That helped him wash his clothes and lay down on her lap.
A Nahún Candelo everybody loved him. He was cheerful and although he did not like to study at the School of Palmira Maria Luisa Molina teachers lavished much affection. He was 13 and had not gone beyond first grade.
On December 6, 2002, his parents also did not want to let go of Nahum San Pedro market in Palmyra. The father of the child, a cane cutter cane, did not like their children to work. But the boy convinced. Nahum did not return.
It was the first December that would Nahún in Palmira. The family had arrived from Timbiquí, Cauca. The boy asked his mom jeans and a diver to release on Christmas. It was not enough to buy a pint. We found seven days later in a cañaduzal the hacienda La Esperanza.
"The most horrible was the way he was killed. Tied her hands and then I did all that, "says Maria Mercedes. Then, silent, does not support that image. Take a deep breath and added: "May God persone that man because I can not."
When captured Manuel Octavio, who confessed to the rape and murder of 21 children in Palmira, Prairie, Buga and Tuluá, called authorities to tell Maria Mercedes.
"I think if it were in front of me I would throw up so it would take bites out. That never leaves the jail because if he comes out will return to take the kids, "he says.
That same December in Palmira 'The Monster' killed three children. The youngest of his victims was Carlos Alfonso Fajardo Morcillo, 9.
He had blond hair and brown eyes. He is remembered as a very clever child. He escaped to his mother to ask for money or help load markets, compared to supermarket Marden. Sometimes going with carters. Often came home with ten thousand dollars.
On December 26, when Shirley Morcillo rose at 7:30 am, Carlos Alfonso was gone. Had escaped again. They searched for several weeks. He was found 20 days later in a cañaduzal of Palmira. He was in a state of decomposition.
His mother was returned three months after it appeared, after the result of DNA testing. Do not let him see, the bones were in a sealed box that was buried in the vault of the Central Cemetery 1237.
Shirley does not believe that this is his son. The hope that is alive not dead. Still out with her husband to walk the streets in the hope of finding it.
Daydreams in the door screaming, "Mom, I'm home."
The latest victim. All that remains of his son to Omaira Salazar is a photograph taken of him in cap and gown in fifth grade. Last Wednesday I took it from a drawer and looked longingly.
In recent days, the memory of his son huddle Omaira mind. Wounds healed believed opened. On Wednesday, fellow graduate Luis Carlos Galviz school Prairie Bello Horizonte. Today marks the third anniversary of the disappearance and death of the child. At school remember him as a loving child. He spoke like a big man who said he was going to be a policeman to keep his mom.
On July 16, 2003 said goodbye to his grandfather and told him that he was making money by selling the Bon Ice would buy new sneakers.
That night went to bed with an aunt, but failed. The next day his family began searching. From time to ask someone told them that he had seen an ice cream vendor.
So where Manuel Octavio came Bermudez, who for some time was selling Bon Ice. Paradoxically this man lived a few blocks from the child's home.
Luis Carlos was the latest victim of the 'Monster of the cane fields'.
This man stopped his deadly chain three years ago, when he was imprisoned.
But the pain that left families of his 21 victims still very much alive. And maybe never will die, but the 'Monster' no kill again.
The tour of the murderer
- April 6, 1999. In Palmyra was found the body of a 10 year old boy. Although Luz Dary Useche identified him as her son disappeared a month ago, the child remains as NN.
- September 17, 1999. In Palmyra was found another body of a 10 year old boy. NN remains.
- May 5, 2000. At the Hacienda Palmira Cascajal another skeleton was found in a child. Follow unidentified.
- December 30, 2001. In Palmira found Javier Sanchez Fernandez, 11. He had disappeared two days ago.
- February 14, 2002. In Palmira found another dead child. It has not been identified.
- April 1, 2002. In Palmira found Joseph Evert Sinisterra, 13.
- April 9, 2002. In the hacienda Cascajal found the remains of another child. It is as NN.
- July 27, 2002. In Tuluá was found Edwin Andres Perez, 12.
- December 3, 2002. In the village of Palmyra Aguaclara were found the remains of Miguel Angel Arce, 11. She had disappeared a month ago.
- December 13, 2002. In Palmyra was found Nahún Candelo.
- January 15, 2003. In Palmyra was found Carlos Alfonso Fajardo Morcillo.
- January 25, 2003. On the farm they found Cascajal Cristian Fabián Torres, 9. Gone was the December 10, 2002.
- April 19, 2003. In Yotoco was found José Miguel Figueroa, 12.
- May 16, 2003. In Pradera find another child. Listed as NN.
- May 26, 2003. In Meadow was found Jorge Enrique Rodriguez, 13.
- June 11, 2003. On the road to the village of Plank, Meadow, was found Luis Carlos Galvis.
Confession. The 'monster cane fields' Total accepted responsibility
Bermudez also killed the other nine children
July 23, 2003
The murderer, captured Saturday in Prairie, told the CTI in a second confession of their crimes the number reaches 16. Investigation continues.
Just one day after confessing his responsibility in the deaths of seven children, who brutally raped and strangled and then threw the cane fields, agreed that the remaining nine cases are also part of his criminal saga.
The 'monster cane fields', Manuel Bermúdez Octavio Estrada, 42 years old and a native of Trujillo, had agreed to be the man they sought, but only took responsibility for some of the crimes reported by researchers as the Interagency Group a serial murderer.
All bodies, rape, how they were killed, the places were abandoned and the items that were used in each and every one of the cases were identical.
This circumstance police, technical and scientific researchers kept working at top speed in the last hours to try to establish its connection with the confessed rapist.
"The confession of Bermúdez Estrada left us a huge hole, a criminal space unfilled, some disjointed streak of the story he told us, but with the certainty that everything pointed to the fact that these deaths also belonged," revealed one CTI agents who worked in the pursuit of 'monster' for four years.
Yesterday, however, the ice cream vendor, who at first had told the police that he was captured he was responsible for all the deaths of children in Palmira, Prairie, Florida and Yotoco, and then said to be only seven cases expanded its statement and returned to its original version.
Octavio Manuel Bermúdez said, then indeed he killed sixteen children between April 1999 and July 2003.
SAD STORY.
For research organizations Bermudez Estrada and wrote his name on the sad story of serial murderers, ranking number two at the box top ten most dangerous violators of Colombia and the world.
Ahead of him is just another Colombian Luis Alfredo Garavito, responsible for over 160 murders in minors.
His final confession, however, only marks the beginning of a second phase of the giant inquest: recognition and identification, with the help of the criminal, at least five children are still reported as NN, and delivery boy's body Useche Andres Felipe Serna, the first victim of Bermúdez Estrada.
Although her mother, Luz Dary Useche singled him a month after his abduction, the April 6, 1999, it has been unable to give him a Christian burial because the child's body remains in the ICU as a key evidence research.
The 'monster cane fields', then, would be responsible for the deaths of children Useche Andres Felipe Serna, 10, Daniel Joy Valencia, 10, Jose Ever Sinisterra, 11, Miguel Angel Arce, 9; Nahún Candelo Hurtado, 12, Carlos Alberto Fajardo, 9; Cristian Fabián Torres, 9, Edwin Andres Perez, 12, Jose Miguel Figueroa, 12, Luis Carlos Galvis, 12, and five NN between 11 and 14 years.
The multiple murder is still under interrogation and testing by the CTI and the prosecution, and under tight security in an undisclosed location.
Rapist insured
July 24, 2003
Source: SNAIL
CALI. --- The "Monster of the cane fields," Bermudez Manuel Octavio Estrada, confessed rapist and murderer of at least 34 children, was sheltered with security measures for the prosecution.
The events would have been recorded since 1998 in Palmyra, where he was captured, Florida, El Cerrito, in the Valley Tuluá Caua and Pereira.
The subject is under investigation for the alleged crimes of aggravated homicide, violent sexual intercourse and will undergo psychiatric evaluation.
Serial killer. Prosecutor confirmed in 21 the number of victims of psychopathic
Deadly Trail 'Monster' gets the Shaft
July 26, 2003
Colprensa
Bogotá. Even the provinces of the coffee spread investigations in search of more victims of Manuel Bermudez Octavio Estrada, the mass murderer captured in Pradera, Valle, confirmed yesterday the national director of the Technical Research, CTI, and the Attorney Guillermo Anibal Ortega .
He said that from the moment of his capture on July 18, to date, have confirmed 21 children raped and killed by this man. Also it was found that 13 children were accessed more carnally by Bermúdez Estrada and escaped death, while 15 others managed to evade their attacks.
"We believe this man has committed more crimes in Risaralda and Valle. Currently a research team from the branches of these departments verifies reports of missing children to establish possible matches with cases admitted by the accused," said Ortega.
So far, the 21 confirmed cases occurred in Pradera, Palmira, Yotoco and Tulua, all municipalities of Valle del Cauca. The victims were children between 9 and 12 years who contacted in crowded places such as marketplaces and transport terminals, seduced them with money and then raped and murdered to avoid identification.
Although medical examiners still have not issued a final decision, it is certain that the serial murderer captured on July 18 suffers from psychopathy (delusions). In addition, for items found in the room where he lived, suggest researchers who became impersonator Luis Alfredo Garavito, another serial murderer who is attributed the death of 192 children between 1991 and 1999 in the same region the country.
The researchers are based on similarities found between cases and homicides Garavito Bermudez Estrada. Both cane fields chosen as the scene of their crimes and murdered children similarly.
Serial killer. The 'Monster of the cane fields' knew what he was doing
Bermudez is not a psychopath: Legal Medicine
July 31, 2003
Like a perfectly normal person and aware of what was happening and did, was the result of psychiatric assessment by Legal Medicine Manuel Bermúdez Octavio Estrada, the 'Monster of the cane fields'.
According to legal procedure, and taking into account the results of the valuation, the Office will continue the investigation process against Bermudez Estrada, accused of raping and murdering 17 children in the Valle del Cauca.
That is, it will continue in the practice test and verify and analyze the information provided by the accused during the inquiry.
The see it as a normal person would allow the Attorney prosecute as a syndicated to which he is being investigated for a criminal offense, taking into account their actions in procedural parts.
Bermudez Estrada, now known as the 'Monster of the cane fields', confessed to assaulting 34 minors, events which had occurred between 1997 and 2003, according to his version.
His capture was made last July 18 in the town of Pradera, Valle, for CTI members of this branch.
The CTI Group Identification of skeletal remains recovered 17 Prosecution for children, which were found in different cane fields, between 1999 and 2003, with signs of having been raped, gagged and strangled.
At present five children are still as NN, graphic reconstructions for the identification process.
A prosecutor of the National Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law imposed security measure Bermudez Estrada on July 23 last.
Cae rapist murderer who claims to be the cane fields
Octavio Manuel Bermudez, 32, a native of Trujillo, separately and father of at least two children, is the person who has confessed his crimes to agents captured him in Pradera, on Saturday, by the death of a 10 years missing since Wednesday.
A man who, after raping and murdering a child in a Prairie cañaduzal was captured by police, confessed to raping and murdering several children whose bodies were then found between cane plantations in Palmira, Florida and Pradera in spooky episodes that began in 1999 and who remember the infamous Luis Fernando Garavito, the "Monster of the Andes'.
Although the prosecution and the Technical Research, CTI, chose to remain silent on the matter until experts coming from Bogotá overtake rigorous testing fingerprint and DNA material, especially, the country learned that have strong evidence about that Man arrested on Saturday in the streets of Pradera is actually the murderer of at least fifteen children between 6 and 12, whose bodies were later found in an advanced state of decomposition between cane fields of these locations. (See Annexes background).
The disappearance of a child under 12 years, last Wednesday, and his subsequent discovery between planks cañaduzal sector in Palmira-Meadow road last Saturday, were crucial to capture the man who, according to sources close to the revealed research, agreed to be the rapist and murderer sought.
Luis Carlos disappears. On Wednesday July 16 Prairie Police learned of the child's disappearance Luis Carlos Galvez, 12, and immediately the interagency group comprised Dijin of Police, the Institute of Legal Medicine, CTI and a prosecutor Subunit of Human Rights, took charge of the investigation of this new act in which a child was involved in the area in question.
Between Thursday and Friday, the distraught mother of Luis Carlos was informed by a seller of ice cream paddles and the day before had seen the child in the company of another vendor who had just joined the company.
She did not wait and immediately alerted the authorities, which were put on alert in several brigades deployed Meadow streets in pursuit of said vane seller. That was how they found him, hours later, wandering the streets.
Once caught the murderer, the research agencies raided a house in the neighborhood in Cairo, where he had rented a few days ago a small piece.
In this place the researchers found several surprises: after thorough search, found in a corner with newspaper clippings reporting on the deaths of other children whose bodies were found in similar circumstances, as well as syringes and some substances that are being investigated . They also found the wristwatch that belonged to Luis Carlos, the last missing child.
With this information the alleged killer confessed to killing him and said cañaduzal place where he had left the lifeless body.
Confession.
The captured man, identified as Manuel Octavio Bermudez, 32, a native of Trujillo, separately and father of at least two children, was carefully conducted from Prairie to Cali, where over the past weekend was subjected to various tests In order to have greater certainty about their guilt.
According to intelligence reports and CTI agents involved in the lengthy investigation of the serial murderer, this man would have decided to confess that he killed fifteen children and then tossed the bodies to the cane fields.
"Yes, I raped and killed children," would have revealed this man coolly special agents in the previous interrogation.
However, the ITC, which has borne the brunt of this research already completed four long years, decided to maintain prudence and initiate a series of scientific evidence such as DNA, blood samples, and cotejación psychiatric analysis of the alleged confession evidence to determine if indeed this is the 'monster cane fields'.
A CTI scientist revealed to the country that it is likely that Manuel Octavio Bermudez is actually the pedophile murderer who sowed death and terror in the Valle del Cauca, but admitted that the man had managed to deceive them with false trails and tracks that generated a profile with many police and scientific errors.
Even this man had thrown several times to confuse false responsible action and delay justice.
It is known that a delegation of prosecutors, scientists and CTI agents, as well as the director of the Human Rights Unit of the Attorney General's Office came in the final hours from Bogota to Cali to follow closely the process of clarification and then give the great news to the country.
Relatives of the murdered children, already alerted to this important capture, hope amid prayers and prayers that the time for justice has arrived.
The children killed
1.
Andres Felipe Serna
Age: 10 years
Missing: March 6, 1999
Found: April 6, 1999
2.
Daniel Joy Valencia
Age: 10 years
Missing: August 21, 1999
Found: 20 September 1999
3.
NN
Age: 11 years
Found: May 5, 1999
4.
NN
Age: 12 years
Found: 14 February 2002
5.
José Ever Sinisterra
Age: 11 years
Missing: January 12, 2002
Found: April 1, 2002.
6.
NN
Age: 12 years
Found: April 9, 2002
7.
Miguel Angel Arce
Age: 9 years
Missing: November 20, 2002
Found: December 3, 2002
8.
Candelo Nahún Hurtado
Age: 12 years
Missing: December 6, 2002
Found: December 13, 2002
9.
Carlos Alberto Fajardo
Age: 9 years
Missing: December 26, 2002
Found: January 15, 2003
10.
Cristian Fabián Torres
Age: 9 years
Missing: December 10, 2002
Found: January 25, 2003
11.
Edwin Andres Perez
Age: 12 years
Missing: No official data
Found: No official data
12.
Name: José Miguel Figueroa
Age: 12 years
Missing: April 17, 2003
Found: 19 April 2003
13.
NN
Age: 14 years
Missing: no official data
Found: May 28, 2003
14.
NN
Age: 12 years
Found: May 28, 2003
Yes, it is the 'monster cane fields'
"I was forced to kill them, so they do not recognize me later, but I'm sorry," said Octavio Bermudez Manuel Estrada, the ice cream man who confessed to killing seven of the 16 children found in the cane fields of the Valley.
While Luis Alfredo Garavito was treated at a hospital for burns Pereira suffered after falling asleep on the corpse of a boy who raped a cañaduzal of Palmira, another psychopath began his macabre work.
Therefore, at first there was confusion among researchers, but later it was found that it was not the same: Garavito, rapist and child murderer world's most wanted, was captured in Villavicencio March 22, 1999, fifteen days before she was found the first of the 16 victims of the deadly new rear cane crops Palmira, Prairie, Tulua, Buga and Yotoco.
The child was Useche Andres Felipe Serna, 10, who had been missing since March 6, 99 of the Central Gallery of Palmyra, whose body was found on April 6 of that year in a cañaduzal of Palmyra in a sack, tied hand and foot with signs of having been raped, strangled and his head smashed.
The crime shocked the region, much as in May and September of that year were killed in similar circumstances two other children. Suddenly, when the authorities began to gather information on the second serial murderer in the history of crime in the country, this ceased their actions.
But his silence murderer seemed only to catch her breath: as a killing machine, the demented man began to leave traces of his bloody footprint among the cane fields of the stocks mentioned.
Thus appeared more children raped and killed in February, April and December 2002, and January, April, May and July this year. However, one managed to escape, in June last year, after seeing how the fellow was undressing in front of you in a place covered with cane ... He fled his own death.
Given this crazy vertigo, created an interagency group comprised of members of the Police Sijin Valley, the Institute of Legal Medicine and the Body Ténico Research, CTI, coordinated by an attorney Subunit of Human Rights. Several of them had been part of the investigation that led to the capture of Luis Alfredo Garavito.
The experts then developed the profile and modus operandi would be called the 'monster cane fields': a man between 20 and 40 years, between 1.55 and 1.60 in height, medium build, caucasian appearance with a physical defect in one of his feet, possibly recycler or indigent and transient anyway, too, with a low educational level, a fragmented family picture and a traumatic childhood.
But the subject continued raping and murdering children humble with a macabre feature: always kept a piece of each of his victims and the press clippings which published their killings.
Meanwhile, authorities had fully identified the bodies of nine children, killed in similar circumstances, three and four more by signs remain as NN.
However, the child survivor and quick police response in the case of the last of his victims were crucial to capture the 'monster'. The first allowed to establish the sketch, the other to give with his capture.
The small ice cream vendor, Luis Carlos Galvis, 12 years old, had disappeared from his home in Prairie on Wednesday of last week.
Between Thursday and Friday, the distraught mother of Luis Carlos was told by a salesman that the pallets had seen the day before in the company of another child who had just joined the company.
Without hesitation, he notified the authorities immediately deployed an operation tracking towards the stranger and when they found him wandering the streets of Pradera selling pallets and seducing children.
IS IT OR NOT?
The man resembled the profile of the serial murderer: limping, had medium build, 1.60 tall, 41 years, born in Trujillo, caucasian appearance, passer, married at age 22, father of two children, studied up to fifth elementary, family destroyed: their biological parents were murdered when he was one year old, being adopted by a couple living in Palmyra, and the time of his capture, nervous, denying everything ... until they came with him to a house in the neighborhood of Prairie Cairo, where he resided.
There, some relatives of Manuel Bermudez Octavio Estrada, as identified, investigators confirmed this antedecentes of sexual abuse. But also a big surprise awaited them: after thorough requisition the room they found a bag inside which had a longer cord, similar to that used to tie and strangle their victims, too, magazines anatomy class inner child photographs of children, keychains, clippings and watches, among which was that of Luis Carlos Galvis.
With such evidence could no longer deny. He accepted, initially, his latest crime, giving details of how he did and where he had thrown the body. Saturday was how very early found between planks cañaduzal sector, on the road Palmira-Meadow, the decomposing body of the last child killed.
With this finding, the Attorney General's Office sent experts from Bogotá, headed by the director of the Human Rights Unit, Elba Beatriz Silva Vargas, in order to extend the investigation by doing DNA testing and fingerprint.
Then, overwhelmed by the weight of the evidence, the 'monster cane fields' confessed to being the murderer of seven children found in these places, but for the authorities it is possible that his confession to expand.
"The killing because I had to do to not recognize me, and I regret," explained Manuel Octavio reached Bermudez.
So ran the murderer
Experts managed to collect, over four years, a large number of evidence against the multiple murderer Valley cane fields.
Octavio Manuel Bermúdez, taking advantage of its nomadic, selected his victims, children between 6 and 12 years, of humble origin and therefore street workers, and offered a better job.
After engaging conversation and confidence, was driving towards inhospitable places, between cane estates to the outskirts of urban areas.
Alone and defenseless, were easily put the pedophile, who's tied hand and foot, and then apply a local anesthetic (2% Ridocaína) contributing to numb, immobilize and after abusing them, strangling them with a rope.
"I was a neighbor of the murderer of my son"
Ana Ligia Rodriguez, Miguel Angel Arce's mother, who became a victim of Manuel Estrada Octavio Bermudez says that this man lived in the same tenement city of Palmira, where she lived with her four children.
"When I saw the photo and picture on TV I was amazed.'s When I remembered: it was the same man who lived in the tenement where I was renting a room with my husband and four children, including Miguel Angel, who have killed, "said Dona Ana Ligia Rodriguez, whose gaze is lost in a deep sadness.
Octavio Estrada Manuel Bermúdez, captured last Friday and who accepted responsibility for the deaths of at least 34 children in the Valle del Cauca, Buga, Yotoco Tuluá and rented a room in 2002 in a tenement near the Central Gallery , located at Carrera 25 with Calle 25, where he apparently met the little Michelangelo and where he gained his confidence.
"I never got to deal with it because I left very early, around 4:00 am, for the position he had in the gallery, and returned at 7:00 pm He lived there with his wife, but I never imagined going to kill my child, "said the woman, who recalls that Miguel Angel, 9 years old, disappeared on November 30, 2002 and was found raped, tortured and brutally murdered on December 3 of that year in a cañaduzal of Palmira.
"The day we lost a man told me that Alberto had offered work to go to a farm wash. A gallery of some children also received the same offer from the same man, and now that I think should be I think this gentleman" tells the sorrowful mother.
"In the gallery all tell me that he was the one who killed my son, as he worked as a wheelwright, recycler and vigilant in this sector where many children were lost," says Ms. Rodriguez, who only asked to be sentenced Bermudez " to life "for the death of so many innocent children will not go unpunished.
"Miguel Angel was the least of my children, and Saturday, when he was not studying, he would help me in the gallery. His death left me shattered and I have yet to recover," he notes.
Bermudez, 41 years old, a native of Trujillo Valley, married with at least twelve children, also worked in Palmira on several car washes.
In one such place, a worker said he knew him and had washing cars together in the year 1999, when they started the killings of children in the city.
"All called Manuel. Shot I took with him on the weekends, but I never saw anything unusual. Was here a year and then went to work as a guard in the gallery. Later I learned that he lived in the residences of the place "narrated the scrubber.
"Actually I was very admired when I saw it on TV. Carrying the briefcase itself but things work and was on a bicycle at the time," he added.
In another car washes Palmyra, one of the staff also said that distinguished him and called him a man "and morrongo silent." "He never said anything, so it was that I did not like," he said.
The drama of the families of missing children in Palmira is having a huge impact on the local community.
Crosses on a calendar
Bogotá. Five hours after capture, sitting in the backseat of a van and escorted by two officers of the Technical Investigations Office, (CTI), Manuel Bermúdez Octavio Estrada confessed to 'Monster of the cane fields'.
The vehicle was driving Luis Carlos Clavijo, the prosecutor of the Human Rights Unit of the Cali branch, and who 45 days ago the Attorney-General's Office, Luis Camilo Osorio, had entrusted the mission to clarify the number of murders and disappearances of children since 1999.
"The child is looking dead," Estrada said suddenly Bermudez. Clavijo The prosecutor looked up and tried to see his face in the rearview mirror but had her head down. The two players turned their heads CTI also looked puzzled and did not expect a confession.
At that time, Clavijo and his team faced tons of information. After analyzing the files had selected 500 people suspicious and had ruled them 150.
According to him, many of the murders of Bermúdez Estrada could be established by a bulb Ridocadina 2% found in his wallet and a calendar with dates crossings each month. Traces of that anesthetic syringes containing what the researchers found in several of the cane fields where the bodies of the victims of Bermudez.
The almanac said allowed researchers to establish the dates when he committed the crimes and where the bodies were found. Clavijo The prosecutor's investigation is not over. Still collects information about disappearances in the coffee, which would work Bermudez.
Convicted murderer and rapist of 23 children
Cali, Colombia, March 21 (RCN) - A judge sentenced to 40 years in prison Octavio Manuel Bermúdez, the man who raped and murdered 23 children in Pradera, Center Valley, southwest of the country.
Criminal Judge of Palmyra, Jairo Santaparra, said the sentence was imposed "by the late children he raped and murdered in the town of Pradera and attempted rape of a child who escaped."
It also must pay compensation for 80 million dollars to the families of the children, Carlos and Francisco Javier Salazar Gálvis Orobio, who were the latest victims in the town of Meadow.
Manuel Octavio Bermudez was captured on July 18, 2002 and from September of that year remains in the maximum security prison of San Isidro.
Bermudez was leaked
March 23, 2004
Octavio Estrada Manuel Bermúdez, the 'monster cane fields', was escaped from prison Bolívar, Cauca, when he began his series of rapes and deaths of children in the Valley.
This was revealed by the Third Criminal Court Circuit of Palmyra in Case 014, where he was sentenced to 26 years in prison for the death of a child and attempted rape of another.
The sadist had been sentenced to five years and four months in prison on May 8, 2000 for violent sexual intercourse, absconding from prison in the municipality of Bolivar, where he had been confined, on July 21, 2001, "the date from which has been committing crimes. " He was captured on July 18, 2003 in Prairie and charged with 21 rapes and homicides.
The court asked to investigate by Bermúdez prison escape and order the execution of the sentence.
Manuel Octavio Bermúdez
Alias: "The monster cane fields"
Rating: Serial Murderer
Features: Rapist
Number of victims: 17 to 21
Activity Period: 1999 - 2003
Detention Date: July 18, 2003
Date of birth: 1971
Profile victims: Children 6 to 12 years
Method of murder: Strangulation with ligation
Location: Colombia
Status: Sentenced to 40 years in prison March 20, 2004
The painful trail of 'The Monster'
By: Ana Maria Saavedra S - BBC Reporter
For four years a man sowed death in the cane fields of the Valley. His victims were children of humble between 9 and 14 years. He acknowledged that killed 21 children, of whom found 17, six of them remain unidentified. The tragedy of families continues.
She saw him in a dark alley. He was still a man surrounded by children, but when she ran watched and yelled, "Mom, this man deceives children. Daniela did not let him go, you can do the same thing to me. "
Nidia Balanta woke up crying. In his chest and sobs drowned body image of his son lying on a steel gurney returned to his mind. He sprang from the bed to the room with their two daughters share. It was relieved to see Daniela, her youngest daughter, sleeping like an angel.
Nidia feels his son Jose Miguel appeared in dreams to prevent it. That and even though at home money is tight and spending increases, hardly goes to work for not letting her three children alone.
Still has not overcome what happened to most of their young men. Nidia, a humble worker who washes clothes, still remembers the 2003 Holy Thursday when his son asked permission to go to a man to glean.
She said it was too dangerous to go out with a stranger. He returned to his job as a housekeeper in a biscuit factory, close to the Basilica de Buga, while José Miguel allegedly told the man who had not let go.
Nidia does not know if the illusion of buying new sneakers made his son disobeyed the unknown promise to pay $ 15,000.
That Holy Thursday, at 5:00 pm, was the last time I saw him alive. Easter Monday heard on the radio that a Yotoco cañaduzal had found a child with the same characteristics of their child.
He went to the morgue and recognized him. José Miguel met that day 13 years.
Two years ago was the last time you dreamed it. It was the nightmare of the dark alley where he saw the man who wore it.
Nidia does not know that the man was surrounded by children Octavio Manuel Bermúdez, 'The Monster of the cane fields'. Nobody told him that his son's murderer was captured on July 18, 2003. Farmers do not think like her revenge. Talk of resignation and the strength that God has given to support his sentence.
The trail in Palmira. María Mercedes Hurtado no longer dreams of his son. So when her husband is not, rebruja their books for the only photo of her son. The notes and cries.
Remember your favorite child. That helped him wash his clothes and lay down on her lap.
A Nahún Candelo everybody loved him. He was cheerful and although he did not like to study at the School of Palmira Maria Luisa Molina teachers lavished much affection. He was 13 and had not gone beyond first grade.
On December 6, 2002, his parents also did not want to let go of Nahum San Pedro market in Palmyra. The father of the child, a cane cutter cane, did not like their children to work. But the boy convinced. Nahum did not return.
It was the first December that would Nahún in Palmira. The family had arrived from Timbiquí, Cauca. The boy asked his mom jeans and a diver to release on Christmas. It was not enough to buy a pint. We found seven days later in a cañaduzal the hacienda La Esperanza.
"The most horrible was the way he was killed. Tied her hands and then I did all that, "says Maria Mercedes. Then, silent, does not support that image. Take a deep breath and added: "May God persone that man because I can not."
When captured Manuel Octavio, who confessed to the rape and murder of 21 children in Palmira, Prairie, Buga and Tuluá, called authorities to tell Maria Mercedes.
"I think if it were in front of me I would throw up so it would take bites out. That never leaves the jail because if he comes out will return to take the kids, "he says.
That same December in Palmira 'The Monster' killed three children. The youngest of his victims was Carlos Alfonso Fajardo Morcillo, 9.
He had blond hair and brown eyes. He is remembered as a very clever child. He escaped to his mother to ask for money or help load markets, compared to supermarket Marden. Sometimes going with carters. Often came home with ten thousand dollars.
On December 26, when Shirley Morcillo rose at 7:30 am, Carlos Alfonso was gone. Had escaped again. They searched for several weeks. He was found 20 days later in a cañaduzal of Palmira. He was in a state of decomposition.
His mother was returned three months after it appeared, after the result of DNA testing. Do not let him see, the bones were in a sealed box that was buried in the vault of the Central Cemetery 1237.
Shirley does not believe that this is his son. The hope that is alive not dead. Still out with her husband to walk the streets in the hope of finding it.
Daydreams in the door screaming, "Mom, I'm home."
The latest victim. All that remains of his son to Omaira Salazar is a photograph taken of him in cap and gown in fifth grade. Last Wednesday I took it from a drawer and looked longingly.
In recent days, the memory of his son huddle Omaira mind. Wounds healed believed opened. On Wednesday, fellow graduate Luis Carlos Galviz school Prairie Bello Horizonte. Today marks the third anniversary of the disappearance and death of the child. At school remember him as a loving child. He spoke like a big man who said he was going to be a policeman to keep his mom.
On July 16, 2003 said goodbye to his grandfather and told him that he was making money by selling the Bon Ice would buy new sneakers.
That night went to bed with an aunt, but failed. The next day his family began searching. From time to ask someone told them that he had seen an ice cream vendor.
So where Manuel Octavio came Bermudez, who for some time was selling Bon Ice. Paradoxically this man lived a few blocks from the child's home.
Luis Carlos was the latest victim of the 'Monster of the cane fields'.
This man stopped his deadly chain three years ago, when he was imprisoned.
But the pain that left families of his 21 victims still very much alive. And maybe never will die, but the 'Monster' no kill again.
The tour of the murderer
- April 6, 1999. In Palmyra was found the body of a 10 year old boy. Although Luz Dary Useche identified him as her son disappeared a month ago, the child remains as NN.
- September 17, 1999. In Palmyra was found another body of a 10 year old boy. NN remains.
- May 5, 2000. At the Hacienda Palmira Cascajal another skeleton was found in a child. Follow unidentified.
- December 30, 2001. In Palmira found Javier Sanchez Fernandez, 11. He had disappeared two days ago.
- February 14, 2002. In Palmira found another dead child. It has not been identified.
- April 1, 2002. In Palmira found Joseph Evert Sinisterra, 13.
- April 9, 2002. In the hacienda Cascajal found the remains of another child. It is as NN.
- July 27, 2002. In Tuluá was found Edwin Andres Perez, 12.
- December 3, 2002. In the village of Palmyra Aguaclara were found the remains of Miguel Angel Arce, 11. She had disappeared a month ago.
- December 13, 2002. In Palmyra was found Nahún Candelo.
- January 15, 2003. In Palmyra was found Carlos Alfonso Fajardo Morcillo.
- January 25, 2003. On the farm they found Cascajal Cristian Fabián Torres, 9. Gone was the December 10, 2002.
- April 19, 2003. In Yotoco was found José Miguel Figueroa, 12.
- May 16, 2003. In Pradera find another child. Listed as NN.
- May 26, 2003. In Meadow was found Jorge Enrique Rodriguez, 13.
- June 11, 2003. On the road to the village of Plank, Meadow, was found Luis Carlos Galvis.
Confession. The 'monster cane fields' Total accepted responsibility
Bermudez also killed the other nine children
July 23, 2003
The murderer, captured Saturday in Prairie, told the CTI in a second confession of their crimes the number reaches 16. Investigation continues.
Just one day after confessing his responsibility in the deaths of seven children, who brutally raped and strangled and then threw the cane fields, agreed that the remaining nine cases are also part of his criminal saga.
The 'monster cane fields', Manuel Bermúdez Octavio Estrada, 42 years old and a native of Trujillo, had agreed to be the man they sought, but only took responsibility for some of the crimes reported by researchers as the Interagency Group a serial murderer.
All bodies, rape, how they were killed, the places were abandoned and the items that were used in each and every one of the cases were identical.
This circumstance police, technical and scientific researchers kept working at top speed in the last hours to try to establish its connection with the confessed rapist.
"The confession of Bermúdez Estrada left us a huge hole, a criminal space unfilled, some disjointed streak of the story he told us, but with the certainty that everything pointed to the fact that these deaths also belonged," revealed one CTI agents who worked in the pursuit of 'monster' for four years.
Yesterday, however, the ice cream vendor, who at first had told the police that he was captured he was responsible for all the deaths of children in Palmira, Prairie, Florida and Yotoco, and then said to be only seven cases expanded its statement and returned to its original version.
Octavio Manuel Bermúdez said, then indeed he killed sixteen children between April 1999 and July 2003.
SAD STORY.
For research organizations Bermudez Estrada and wrote his name on the sad story of serial murderers, ranking number two at the box top ten most dangerous violators of Colombia and the world.
Ahead of him is just another Colombian Luis Alfredo Garavito, responsible for over 160 murders in minors.
His final confession, however, only marks the beginning of a second phase of the giant inquest: recognition and identification, with the help of the criminal, at least five children are still reported as NN, and delivery boy's body Useche Andres Felipe Serna, the first victim of Bermúdez Estrada.
Although her mother, Luz Dary Useche singled him a month after his abduction, the April 6, 1999, it has been unable to give him a Christian burial because the child's body remains in the ICU as a key evidence research.
The 'monster cane fields', then, would be responsible for the deaths of children Useche Andres Felipe Serna, 10, Daniel Joy Valencia, 10, Jose Ever Sinisterra, 11, Miguel Angel Arce, 9; Nahún Candelo Hurtado, 12, Carlos Alberto Fajardo, 9; Cristian Fabián Torres, 9, Edwin Andres Perez, 12, Jose Miguel Figueroa, 12, Luis Carlos Galvis, 12, and five NN between 11 and 14 years.
The multiple murder is still under interrogation and testing by the CTI and the prosecution, and under tight security in an undisclosed location.
Rapist insured
July 24, 2003
Source: SNAIL
CALI. --- The "Monster of the cane fields," Bermudez Manuel Octavio Estrada, confessed rapist and murderer of at least 34 children, was sheltered with security measures for the prosecution.
The events would have been recorded since 1998 in Palmyra, where he was captured, Florida, El Cerrito, in the Valley Tuluá Caua and Pereira.
The subject is under investigation for the alleged crimes of aggravated homicide, violent sexual intercourse and will undergo psychiatric evaluation.
Serial killer. Prosecutor confirmed in 21 the number of victims of psychopathic
Deadly Trail 'Monster' gets the Shaft
July 26, 2003
Colprensa
Bogotá. Even the provinces of the coffee spread investigations in search of more victims of Manuel Bermudez Octavio Estrada, the mass murderer captured in Pradera, Valle, confirmed yesterday the national director of the Technical Research, CTI, and the Attorney Guillermo Anibal Ortega .
He said that from the moment of his capture on July 18, to date, have confirmed 21 children raped and killed by this man. Also it was found that 13 children were accessed more carnally by Bermúdez Estrada and escaped death, while 15 others managed to evade their attacks.
"We believe this man has committed more crimes in Risaralda and Valle. Currently a research team from the branches of these departments verifies reports of missing children to establish possible matches with cases admitted by the accused," said Ortega.
So far, the 21 confirmed cases occurred in Pradera, Palmira, Yotoco and Tulua, all municipalities of Valle del Cauca. The victims were children between 9 and 12 years who contacted in crowded places such as marketplaces and transport terminals, seduced them with money and then raped and murdered to avoid identification.
Although medical examiners still have not issued a final decision, it is certain that the serial murderer captured on July 18 suffers from psychopathy (delusions). In addition, for items found in the room where he lived, suggest researchers who became impersonator Luis Alfredo Garavito, another serial murderer who is attributed the death of 192 children between 1991 and 1999 in the same region the country.
The researchers are based on similarities found between cases and homicides Garavito Bermudez Estrada. Both cane fields chosen as the scene of their crimes and murdered children similarly.
Serial killer. The 'Monster of the cane fields' knew what he was doing
Bermudez is not a psychopath: Legal Medicine
July 31, 2003
Like a perfectly normal person and aware of what was happening and did, was the result of psychiatric assessment by Legal Medicine Manuel Bermúdez Octavio Estrada, the 'Monster of the cane fields'.
According to legal procedure, and taking into account the results of the valuation, the Office will continue the investigation process against Bermudez Estrada, accused of raping and murdering 17 children in the Valle del Cauca.
That is, it will continue in the practice test and verify and analyze the information provided by the accused during the inquiry.
The see it as a normal person would allow the Attorney prosecute as a syndicated to which he is being investigated for a criminal offense, taking into account their actions in procedural parts.
Bermudez Estrada, now known as the 'Monster of the cane fields', confessed to assaulting 34 minors, events which had occurred between 1997 and 2003, according to his version.
His capture was made last July 18 in the town of Pradera, Valle, for CTI members of this branch.
The CTI Group Identification of skeletal remains recovered 17 Prosecution for children, which were found in different cane fields, between 1999 and 2003, with signs of having been raped, gagged and strangled.
At present five children are still as NN, graphic reconstructions for the identification process.
A prosecutor of the National Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law imposed security measure Bermudez Estrada on July 23 last.
Cae rapist murderer who claims to be the cane fields
Octavio Manuel Bermudez, 32, a native of Trujillo, separately and father of at least two children, is the person who has confessed his crimes to agents captured him in Pradera, on Saturday, by the death of a 10 years missing since Wednesday.
A man who, after raping and murdering a child in a Prairie cañaduzal was captured by police, confessed to raping and murdering several children whose bodies were then found between cane plantations in Palmira, Florida and Pradera in spooky episodes that began in 1999 and who remember the infamous Luis Fernando Garavito, the "Monster of the Andes'.
Although the prosecution and the Technical Research, CTI, chose to remain silent on the matter until experts coming from Bogotá overtake rigorous testing fingerprint and DNA material, especially, the country learned that have strong evidence about that Man arrested on Saturday in the streets of Pradera is actually the murderer of at least fifteen children between 6 and 12, whose bodies were later found in an advanced state of decomposition between cane fields of these locations. (See Annexes background).
The disappearance of a child under 12 years, last Wednesday, and his subsequent discovery between planks cañaduzal sector in Palmira-Meadow road last Saturday, were crucial to capture the man who, according to sources close to the revealed research, agreed to be the rapist and murderer sought.
Luis Carlos disappears. On Wednesday July 16 Prairie Police learned of the child's disappearance Luis Carlos Galvez, 12, and immediately the interagency group comprised Dijin of Police, the Institute of Legal Medicine, CTI and a prosecutor Subunit of Human Rights, took charge of the investigation of this new act in which a child was involved in the area in question.
Between Thursday and Friday, the distraught mother of Luis Carlos was informed by a seller of ice cream paddles and the day before had seen the child in the company of another vendor who had just joined the company.
She did not wait and immediately alerted the authorities, which were put on alert in several brigades deployed Meadow streets in pursuit of said vane seller. That was how they found him, hours later, wandering the streets.
Once caught the murderer, the research agencies raided a house in the neighborhood in Cairo, where he had rented a few days ago a small piece.
In this place the researchers found several surprises: after thorough search, found in a corner with newspaper clippings reporting on the deaths of other children whose bodies were found in similar circumstances, as well as syringes and some substances that are being investigated . They also found the wristwatch that belonged to Luis Carlos, the last missing child.
With this information the alleged killer confessed to killing him and said cañaduzal place where he had left the lifeless body.
Confession.
The captured man, identified as Manuel Octavio Bermudez, 32, a native of Trujillo, separately and father of at least two children, was carefully conducted from Prairie to Cali, where over the past weekend was subjected to various tests In order to have greater certainty about their guilt.
According to intelligence reports and CTI agents involved in the lengthy investigation of the serial murderer, this man would have decided to confess that he killed fifteen children and then tossed the bodies to the cane fields.
"Yes, I raped and killed children," would have revealed this man coolly special agents in the previous interrogation.
However, the ITC, which has borne the brunt of this research already completed four long years, decided to maintain prudence and initiate a series of scientific evidence such as DNA, blood samples, and cotejación psychiatric analysis of the alleged confession evidence to determine if indeed this is the 'monster cane fields'.
A CTI scientist revealed to the country that it is likely that Manuel Octavio Bermudez is actually the pedophile murderer who sowed death and terror in the Valle del Cauca, but admitted that the man had managed to deceive them with false trails and tracks that generated a profile with many police and scientific errors.
Even this man had thrown several times to confuse false responsible action and delay justice.
It is known that a delegation of prosecutors, scientists and CTI agents, as well as the director of the Human Rights Unit of the Attorney General's Office came in the final hours from Bogota to Cali to follow closely the process of clarification and then give the great news to the country.
Relatives of the murdered children, already alerted to this important capture, hope amid prayers and prayers that the time for justice has arrived.
The children killed
1.
Andres Felipe Serna
Age: 10 years
Missing: March 6, 1999
Found: April 6, 1999
2.
Daniel Joy Valencia
Age: 10 years
Missing: August 21, 1999
Found: 20 September 1999
3.
NN
Age: 11 years
Found: May 5, 1999
4.
NN
Age: 12 years
Found: 14 February 2002
5.
José Ever Sinisterra
Age: 11 years
Missing: January 12, 2002
Found: April 1, 2002.
6.
NN
Age: 12 years
Found: April 9, 2002
7.
Miguel Angel Arce
Age: 9 years
Missing: November 20, 2002
Found: December 3, 2002
8.
Candelo Nahún Hurtado
Age: 12 years
Missing: December 6, 2002
Found: December 13, 2002
9.
Carlos Alberto Fajardo
Age: 9 years
Missing: December 26, 2002
Found: January 15, 2003
10.
Cristian Fabián Torres
Age: 9 years
Missing: December 10, 2002
Found: January 25, 2003
11.
Edwin Andres Perez
Age: 12 years
Missing: No official data
Found: No official data
12.
Name: José Miguel Figueroa
Age: 12 years
Missing: April 17, 2003
Found: 19 April 2003
13.
NN
Age: 14 years
Missing: no official data
Found: May 28, 2003
14.
NN
Age: 12 years
Found: May 28, 2003
Yes, it is the 'monster cane fields'
"I was forced to kill them, so they do not recognize me later, but I'm sorry," said Octavio Bermudez Manuel Estrada, the ice cream man who confessed to killing seven of the 16 children found in the cane fields of the Valley.
While Luis Alfredo Garavito was treated at a hospital for burns Pereira suffered after falling asleep on the corpse of a boy who raped a cañaduzal of Palmira, another psychopath began his macabre work.
Therefore, at first there was confusion among researchers, but later it was found that it was not the same: Garavito, rapist and child murderer world's most wanted, was captured in Villavicencio March 22, 1999, fifteen days before she was found the first of the 16 victims of the deadly new rear cane crops Palmira, Prairie, Tulua, Buga and Yotoco.
The child was Useche Andres Felipe Serna, 10, who had been missing since March 6, 99 of the Central Gallery of Palmyra, whose body was found on April 6 of that year in a cañaduzal of Palmyra in a sack, tied hand and foot with signs of having been raped, strangled and his head smashed.
The crime shocked the region, much as in May and September of that year were killed in similar circumstances two other children. Suddenly, when the authorities began to gather information on the second serial murderer in the history of crime in the country, this ceased their actions.
But his silence murderer seemed only to catch her breath: as a killing machine, the demented man began to leave traces of his bloody footprint among the cane fields of the stocks mentioned.
Thus appeared more children raped and killed in February, April and December 2002, and January, April, May and July this year. However, one managed to escape, in June last year, after seeing how the fellow was undressing in front of you in a place covered with cane ... He fled his own death.
Given this crazy vertigo, created an interagency group comprised of members of the Police Sijin Valley, the Institute of Legal Medicine and the Body Ténico Research, CTI, coordinated by an attorney Subunit of Human Rights. Several of them had been part of the investigation that led to the capture of Luis Alfredo Garavito.
The experts then developed the profile and modus operandi would be called the 'monster cane fields': a man between 20 and 40 years, between 1.55 and 1.60 in height, medium build, caucasian appearance with a physical defect in one of his feet, possibly recycler or indigent and transient anyway, too, with a low educational level, a fragmented family picture and a traumatic childhood.
But the subject continued raping and murdering children humble with a macabre feature: always kept a piece of each of his victims and the press clippings which published their killings.
Meanwhile, authorities had fully identified the bodies of nine children, killed in similar circumstances, three and four more by signs remain as NN.
However, the child survivor and quick police response in the case of the last of his victims were crucial to capture the 'monster'. The first allowed to establish the sketch, the other to give with his capture.
The small ice cream vendor, Luis Carlos Galvis, 12 years old, had disappeared from his home in Prairie on Wednesday of last week.
Between Thursday and Friday, the distraught mother of Luis Carlos was told by a salesman that the pallets had seen the day before in the company of another child who had just joined the company.
Without hesitation, he notified the authorities immediately deployed an operation tracking towards the stranger and when they found him wandering the streets of Pradera selling pallets and seducing children.
IS IT OR NOT?
The man resembled the profile of the serial murderer: limping, had medium build, 1.60 tall, 41 years, born in Trujillo, caucasian appearance, passer, married at age 22, father of two children, studied up to fifth elementary, family destroyed: their biological parents were murdered when he was one year old, being adopted by a couple living in Palmyra, and the time of his capture, nervous, denying everything ... until they came with him to a house in the neighborhood of Prairie Cairo, where he resided.
There, some relatives of Manuel Bermudez Octavio Estrada, as identified, investigators confirmed this antedecentes of sexual abuse. But also a big surprise awaited them: after thorough requisition the room they found a bag inside which had a longer cord, similar to that used to tie and strangle their victims, too, magazines anatomy class inner child photographs of children, keychains, clippings and watches, among which was that of Luis Carlos Galvis.
With such evidence could no longer deny. He accepted, initially, his latest crime, giving details of how he did and where he had thrown the body. Saturday was how very early found between planks cañaduzal sector, on the road Palmira-Meadow, the decomposing body of the last child killed.
With this finding, the Attorney General's Office sent experts from Bogotá, headed by the director of the Human Rights Unit, Elba Beatriz Silva Vargas, in order to extend the investigation by doing DNA testing and fingerprint.
Then, overwhelmed by the weight of the evidence, the 'monster cane fields' confessed to being the murderer of seven children found in these places, but for the authorities it is possible that his confession to expand.
"The killing because I had to do to not recognize me, and I regret," explained Manuel Octavio reached Bermudez.
So ran the murderer
Experts managed to collect, over four years, a large number of evidence against the multiple murderer Valley cane fields.
Octavio Manuel Bermúdez, taking advantage of its nomadic, selected his victims, children between 6 and 12 years, of humble origin and therefore street workers, and offered a better job.
After engaging conversation and confidence, was driving towards inhospitable places, between cane estates to the outskirts of urban areas.
Alone and defenseless, were easily put the pedophile, who's tied hand and foot, and then apply a local anesthetic (2% Ridocaína) contributing to numb, immobilize and after abusing them, strangling them with a rope.
"I was a neighbor of the murderer of my son"
Ana Ligia Rodriguez, Miguel Angel Arce's mother, who became a victim of Manuel Estrada Octavio Bermudez says that this man lived in the same tenement city of Palmira, where she lived with her four children.
"When I saw the photo and picture on TV I was amazed.'s When I remembered: it was the same man who lived in the tenement where I was renting a room with my husband and four children, including Miguel Angel, who have killed, "said Dona Ana Ligia Rodriguez, whose gaze is lost in a deep sadness.
Octavio Estrada Manuel Bermúdez, captured last Friday and who accepted responsibility for the deaths of at least 34 children in the Valle del Cauca, Buga, Yotoco Tuluá and rented a room in 2002 in a tenement near the Central Gallery , located at Carrera 25 with Calle 25, where he apparently met the little Michelangelo and where he gained his confidence.
"I never got to deal with it because I left very early, around 4:00 am, for the position he had in the gallery, and returned at 7:00 pm He lived there with his wife, but I never imagined going to kill my child, "said the woman, who recalls that Miguel Angel, 9 years old, disappeared on November 30, 2002 and was found raped, tortured and brutally murdered on December 3 of that year in a cañaduzal of Palmira.
"The day we lost a man told me that Alberto had offered work to go to a farm wash. A gallery of some children also received the same offer from the same man, and now that I think should be I think this gentleman" tells the sorrowful mother.
"In the gallery all tell me that he was the one who killed my son, as he worked as a wheelwright, recycler and vigilant in this sector where many children were lost," says Ms. Rodriguez, who only asked to be sentenced Bermudez " to life "for the death of so many innocent children will not go unpunished.
"Miguel Angel was the least of my children, and Saturday, when he was not studying, he would help me in the gallery. His death left me shattered and I have yet to recover," he notes.
Bermudez, 41 years old, a native of Trujillo Valley, married with at least twelve children, also worked in Palmira on several car washes.
In one such place, a worker said he knew him and had washing cars together in the year 1999, when they started the killings of children in the city.
"All called Manuel. Shot I took with him on the weekends, but I never saw anything unusual. Was here a year and then went to work as a guard in the gallery. Later I learned that he lived in the residences of the place "narrated the scrubber.
"Actually I was very admired when I saw it on TV. Carrying the briefcase itself but things work and was on a bicycle at the time," he added.
In another car washes Palmyra, one of the staff also said that distinguished him and called him a man "and morrongo silent." "He never said anything, so it was that I did not like," he said.
The drama of the families of missing children in Palmira is having a huge impact on the local community.
Crosses on a calendar
Bogotá. Five hours after capture, sitting in the backseat of a van and escorted by two officers of the Technical Investigations Office, (CTI), Manuel Bermúdez Octavio Estrada confessed to 'Monster of the cane fields'.
The vehicle was driving Luis Carlos Clavijo, the prosecutor of the Human Rights Unit of the Cali branch, and who 45 days ago the Attorney-General's Office, Luis Camilo Osorio, had entrusted the mission to clarify the number of murders and disappearances of children since 1999.
"The child is looking dead," Estrada said suddenly Bermudez. Clavijo The prosecutor looked up and tried to see his face in the rearview mirror but had her head down. The two players turned their heads CTI also looked puzzled and did not expect a confession.
At that time, Clavijo and his team faced tons of information. After analyzing the files had selected 500 people suspicious and had ruled them 150.
According to him, many of the murders of Bermúdez Estrada could be established by a bulb Ridocadina 2% found in his wallet and a calendar with dates crossings each month. Traces of that anesthetic syringes containing what the researchers found in several of the cane fields where the bodies of the victims of Bermudez.
The almanac said allowed researchers to establish the dates when he committed the crimes and where the bodies were found. Clavijo The prosecutor's investigation is not over. Still collects information about disappearances in the coffee, which would work Bermudez.
Convicted murderer and rapist of 23 children
Cali, Colombia, March 21 (RCN) - A judge sentenced to 40 years in prison Octavio Manuel Bermúdez, the man who raped and murdered 23 children in Pradera, Center Valley, southwest of the country.
Criminal Judge of Palmyra, Jairo Santaparra, said the sentence was imposed "by the late children he raped and murdered in the town of Pradera and attempted rape of a child who escaped."
It also must pay compensation for 80 million dollars to the families of the children, Carlos and Francisco Javier Salazar Gálvis Orobio, who were the latest victims in the town of Meadow.
Manuel Octavio Bermudez was captured on July 18, 2002 and from September of that year remains in the maximum security prison of San Isidro.
Bermudez was leaked
March 23, 2004
Octavio Estrada Manuel Bermúdez, the 'monster cane fields', was escaped from prison Bolívar, Cauca, when he began his series of rapes and deaths of children in the Valley.
This was revealed by the Third Criminal Court Circuit of Palmyra in Case 014, where he was sentenced to 26 years in prison for the death of a child and attempted rape of another.
The sadist had been sentenced to five years and four months in prison on May 8, 2000 for violent sexual intercourse, absconding from prison in the municipality of Bolivar, where he had been confined, on July 21, 2001, "the date from which has been committing crimes. " He was captured on July 18, 2003 in Prairie and charged with 21 rapes and homicides.
The court asked to investigate by Bermúdez prison escape and order the execution of the sentence.
Manuel Octavio Bermúdez
