Daniel Camargo Barbosa

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Daniel Camargo Barbosa (1930–1994) was a Colombian serial killer and rapist who terrorized Colombia and Ecuador in the 1970s and 1980s. He is believed to have raped and murdered at least 72 young girls in those countries.

Early life
Camargo was born on January 22, 1930, in Anolaima, Colombia. His mother died before he was one, and his father was harsh and distant. His stepmother treated him badly, and he faced humiliation as a child. Despite difficulties, he was a good student with a high IQ, but he had to quit school to help his family. He was first jailed in 1958 for petty theft.

Crimes in Colombia
Camargo had a relationship with a woman named Esperanza, with whom he planned to marry. Esperanza helped him lure young girls to an apartment under false pretenses and then drug them so Camargo could rape them. They committed several rapes together. He was convicted of sexual assault in 1964, receiving an initial three-year sentence, which later became eight years. He served his full sentence and was released.

In 1973, Camargo was arrested in Brazil for being undocumented. Because his Colombian criminal records were not immediately sent, he was deported to Colombia under a false identity. While returning to Colombia, he kidnapped and killed a 9-year-old girl in Barranquilla. He was arrested on May 3, 1974, at the crime scene. He was convicted of raping and killing the girl, initially sentenced to 30 years, later reduced to 25. He was imprisoned on Gorgona Island.

Escape and life in Ecuador
In November 1984, Camargo escaped from Gorgona by building a primitive boat. Authorities assumed he died at sea, and the press said he had been eaten by sharks. He reached Ecuador and, by December, began a new wave of crimes in Guayaquil. From 1984 to 1986, he attacked many young, low‑income girls, often posing as a foreigner offering help or a job. He would lure them into the forest, rape them, and then kill them, sometimes with a machete. He lived by panhandling and selling belongings to support himself between crimes.

Arrest and conviction in Ecuador
Camargo was arrested on February 26, 1986, in Quito, just after he had murdered a 9-year-old girl. He was found with bloody clothes and the victim’s remains, and he gave a false name — Manuel Bulgarin Solis — but he was identified by a survivor. He confessed to killing 72 girls in Ecuador and guided authorities to the bodies of many victims. He said he chose virgins because they cried, which gave him satisfaction, and that he wanted revenge on women for infidelity.

In 1989, Camargo was sentenced to 16 years in prison, the maximum penalty in Ecuador at that time. While imprisoned in Quito, he claimed to have become a Christian and shared a cell with Pedro Alonso López, another infamous serial killer.

Death
Daniel Camargo Barbosa was stabbed to death in prison on November 13, 1994, by the nephew of one of his victims. He was 64 years old.