Luiz Baú

Luiz Baú (born June 21, 1939), known as The Monster of Erechim, was a Brazilian serial killer who achieved notoriety in the 1970s for committing five murders in Erechim and Itatiba do Sul.

Born in the district of Sete Lagoas, in Itatiba do Sul, Baú was a farm worker who engaged primarily in agricultural activities, but also posed as a medicine man. After divorcing his wife, possibly due to contracting mumps and becoming sterile, Baú moved to Linha Jubaré, in the home of a widowed woman with seventeen children. He developed a close relationship with one of these children, and after discovering that the boy planned to move to Garibaldi to study at the Seminary, Baú murdered him in a particularly cruel fashion. He was diagnosed as a schizophrenic by doctors at the Forensic Psychiatric Institute Maurício Cardoso and imprisoned in the Erechim State Prison.

Considered an exemplary prisoner, Baú surprised police and prison officers when he escaped in January 1980, a fact which didn't catch the media's attention due to his calm temperament. Between February 12 and 16, Baú committed four murders, killing three boys in the Rio Toldo and Rio Tigre communities, and a farm owner in the Aeroporto district. In all of the cases, his modus operandi was to repeatedly stab the victims to death. The deaths caused a shockwave throughout the community, which mobilized to arrest Luiz Baú.

He was finally arrested on February 21, on the BR-153 Highway, after getting into a struggle with the city's chief police officer. Fearing that he would be lynched by the locals, Baú was transferred to the IPF again and remained there for five months, until he managed to escape again on June 30. Following this, no concrete information is available about his whereabouts.

Biography Luiz Baú was born on June 21, 1939, to farmers Florindo and Vitória, in the district of Sete Lagoas, Itatiba do Sul, where he lived until he was 28 years of age. Coming from a poor family, he stood out as a working man in the field with great physical strength, who also held the occupation of a medicine man who gave blessings with herbs and teas.

After the deaths of his parents, Baú began arguing with his brother João, due to the fact that the latter would be taking over the family property. Eventually, it resulted in a brawl during which João hit him with a hammer, with Luiz retaliating by shooting his brother in the eye, arm and leg with a shotgun, leaving him with permanent scars for the rest of his life. After one of the other brothers returned from the military, suspicions that Baú and Francisco were in a homosexual relationship grew. The family were questioning why the pair were in the woods for most of the time, and returned only at dusk. Translated to English, this reads: [...] On February 26, 1975, in Linha Jubaré, municipality of Aratiba, at 7:00 PM, after affectionately connecting with the victim, [...], at the age of thirteen, due to his homosexuality, the accused, whose homosexual connections with the victim went back a year ago, leading the accused to passive pederasty, he discovered that [the boy] was preparing to move to a Seminar in Garibaldi. Irresigned to the imminence of separation, the accused, on the day mentioned above, sought out the victim and found him returning from a mill. On that occasion, the accused addressed the issue of separation, saying that he should also leave, but that he would leave his crops to the victim. After a quick conversation, they went into the bush, where the accused lent himself to passive pederasty, as often happened between him and the victim. After the homosexual practice, using a pocket knife, the accused produced deep cuts on the victim's neck and left auxiliary region, causing his death. After that, he amputated the minor's penis, and with the help of a wooden stick, he shoved the organ into the victim's anus.

Luiz Baú was arrested while searches were conducted for Francisco's body, with him placing the body near the minister's chapel with intention of incriminating him. Baú was taken to the Forensic Psychiatric Institute Maurício Cardoso in Porto Alegre, with the objective that specialists could determine the state of his sanity for the upcoming criminal process. In the subsequent report, it was determined that Baú was a schizophrenic, and on June 28, 1979, he was sentenced to four years and seven months imprisonment.

Escape from Erechim State Prison While imprisoned, Baú spent most of his time tending to the vegetable garden, and even supported detainees and law enforcement by providing them with produce from it.

On January 20, 1980, Baú was working on the farm when he disappeared around noon. Baú was hunted by the Military Brigade and the Civil Police of Erechim, the Public Security Secretariat of Rio Grande do Sul, the Civil Police of Passo Fundo and the Military Firefighters Corps, who sought after him full-time.

The identity card and electoral title that Baú carried was someone else's, probably stolen so that he could pass himself off as another individual. His arrest was featured in multiple newspapers at the time, such as A Voz da Serra, Correio do Povo and Zero Hora.

Hospitalization in Porto Alegre and alleged death After the criminal's arrest, the Military Brigade was afraid that the locals would lynch Baú. A Voz da Serra reported in its February 23 edition that about 500 people were lined up at the Military Brigade's headquarters, where they demanded that the killer be lynched; in the meantime, Correio do Povo confirmed that on the same day, residents were heard chanting "murderer", "does not deserve to live" and "we want a lynching".

Baú was taken to the Forensic Psychiatric Institute Maurício Cardoso, where he put under heavy guard. It has been claimed that Baú was killed by security agents near Lake Guaíba, given the severity of his crimes. Other theories suggest that he may have fled to Paraná, or the neighboring countries of Uruguay and Paraguay.

His trial was scheduled for March 26, 1984, and when they failed to capture him, he was tried in absentia. The Criminal Court of the District of Erechim put out an arrest warrant on April 3, 1985. According to the current law, the statute of limitations ended in 2005, and the government awarded the victims' families R$3,900.