Thekabarnews.com—Never before in Latin American history has a criminal case so shocked the public as that of Juan Fernando Hermosa Suárez. People throughout Ecuador knew him as El Niño del Terror (the Child of Terror), a teenage serial killer.

Hermosa, who was 15 years old, killed 22 people in and around Quito in November 1991 and January 1992. His actions terrified and horrified the nation.

Among the victims were cab drivers, gay men, a trucker, and even a police officer. The murders were random and violent. Additionally, the public became more frightened as officials scrambled to stop the violence from continuing.

In January 1992, police arrested Hermosa after months of terror gripped Ecuador’s capital. During the questioning, he confessed to the murders, confirming the theory that they were the work of one offender.

The number of victims and Hermosa’s youth made the case one of the most controversial criminal trials in Ecuador.

At that time, Ecuadorian juvenile law did not allow authorities to try anyone under the age of 16 as an adult or impose adult penalties on them. This rule applied no matter how serious the crime.

In November 1993, the juvenile court sentenced Hermosa to four years in detention, the maximum penalty allowed by law.

Rather than sending him to an adult prison, authorities opted to transfer him to the Virgilio Guerrero Rehabilitation Center, which is a juvenile detention facility.

Public reaction to the sentence was intense. Many felt that 22 murders was too much for four years.

The controversy heightened in June 1993 when Hermosa and 10 other juveniles escaped from detention. He fled to Bogota, and four months later, the authorities arrested him.

Colombian authorities deported him to Ecuador, where he was sent back to jail to serve his sentence.

Hermosa was released in January 1996 after serving her full sentence. But his freedom was not to last long.

Authorities found Hermosa dead on the banks of the Aguarico River in Nueva Loja, Sucumbíos Province, on February 27, 1996. This was one day before his 20th birthday.

Investigators say the victim was bound with wire, tortured with machete wounds, and shot multiple times.

Police said five masked assailants were responsible for the killing but never identified any suspects.

The brutal killing has sparked speculation that the attack was in revenge by victims’ relatives or vigilantes seeking justice.

But there was no official ruling. The murder of Juan Fernando Hermosa remains unsolved to this day.

His story is one of the darkest chapters of the criminal history of Ecuador. It is a case that, decades later, continues to haunt the collective memory of the country with fear, justice, and many unanswered questions.

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