Jairo Humberto Giraldo

Jairo Humberto Giraldo Marín (born 1987), known as The Gay Strangler, is a Colombian serial killer who killed five homosexual men in Quito, Ecuador between April and October 2002. For his crimes, he was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment.

Early life Giraldo was born in 1984 in Bogotá, Colombia, but was abandoned at an early age by both parents, with his father completely disappearing and his mother moving to Medellín. With nobody to look after him, he took to the streets, where he survived by begging and stealing from passers-by, sometimes using the money to buy drugs. At the age of 8, he was raped by a man in the streets, leaving him traumatized by the event afterwards. On April 6, he was hired by a local bank manager, Fidel Assad Buenaño Carriel, and brought to the latter's apartment. There, Buenaño wanted to engage in intercourse with Giraldo, but insisted that he take on the role of the "woman", to which Giraldo vehemently refused. After Buenaño insisted, Giraldo, blinded by sudden rage, proceeded to strangle his client. Three days later, Giraldo himself was arrested, still wearing a leather sweater that belonged to his final victim. After searching through his apartment, officers found physical evidence, including perfumes and backpacks, that linked him to the killings. Soon after, the Chief of the Pichincha Judicial Police, Col. Mario Albarracín, announced that the suspect has willingly confessed to five of the recent murders plaguing the city. For his crimes, he was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment, the highest penalty available in the country, and remains in prison to this very day.

During his subsequent interviews with psychologists from the National Police, Giraldo claimed that he had developed strong homophobic sentiments after being raped at a young age, and this, coupled with his horrible experiences and depression, led to him to murder gay men who unconsciously reminded him of that painful memory. According to Francisco Guayasamín, a prominent member of Quito's gay community who had denounced the suspected killer online, Giraldo was a remorseless psychopath who blamed other homosexuals for his woes, and subsequently killed them without a second thought to vent out his frustrations. He also noted that at least five other murders against gays committed in that year had remained unsolved, although he did note that it was unlikely Giraldo to have committed them as he wasn't in Ecuador at the time, instead suggesting the possibility of another killer on the loose. To this day, it remains unclear whether all of the other murders remain unsolved.