Élver James Melchor Bañol (born 1976) is a Colombian rapist and

serial killer A serial killer (also called a serial murderer) is a person who murders three or more people,An offender can be anyone: * * * * * (This source only requires two people) with the killings taking place over a significant period of time in separat ...

. He was convicted of 7 rapes and 4 murders, one of them being that of Rosmery Castellón, a minor.'The devil entered in me': atrocious story of a man who raped, tortured and killer a minor in Tolima
Diario del Cauca. Accessed April 2, 2020. (in Spanish) Nicknamed The Predator of Picaleña, he was compared to the infamous

Luis Garavito Luis Alfredo Garavito Cubillos (25 January 1957 – 12 October 2023), also known as ("The Beast") or ("Goofy"), was a Colombian serial killer, sex offender, pedophile, and necrophile who sexually assaulted 200 victims before sexually assau ...

for the way he acted and approached his victims, all of whom were underage children. Melchor Bañol was initially sentenced to 40 years' imprisonment for three unrelated crimes, but after his last murder, he was given 60 years' imprisonment, the highest-available sentence in Colombian law.

Profile

According to authorities and specialized investigators, Elver acted in the same way as his renowned Colombian counterpart Luis Garavito: he had a habit of stalking minors and adolescents he had picked out, before eventually raping and murdering them.

Rosmery Castellón case

Melchor Bañol confessed to having kidnapped, raped, tortured and murdered 16-year-old Rosmery Castellón in the

Tolima Department Tolima () is one of the 32 departments of Colombia, located in the Andean region, in the center-west of the country. It is bordered on the north and the west by the department of Caldas; on the east by the department of Cundinamarca; on the ...

on February 26, 2019. In his own words, he told the authorities that he had strong sexual urges at that moment, so he decided to kidnap young Rosmery: "The devil entered me and there was nothing else to do." Policemen later found her body in the Vereda Aparco sector, with obvious signs of rape and torture. Melchor was prosecuted for kidnapping, torture, violation of a corpse and femicide, for which he was convicted and sentenced to 60 years' imprisonment, the harshest sentence in the country.Maximum sentence for an inmate who raped and killed a minor on parole
''Pulzo''. Accessed on April 2, 2020. (in Spanish)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Melchor Bañol, Élver James 1976 births 21st-century Colombian criminals Colombian murderers of children Colombian people convicted of murder Colombian people convicted of rape Colombian rapists Colombian serial killers Living people People convicted of child sexual abuse People convicted of murder by Colombia Prisoners and detainees of Colombia

Profile

Rosmery Castellón case

See also

References