Raúl Osiel Marroquín

Raúl Osiel Marroquín Reyes (born c. 1981) is a Mexican serial killer.

Crimes

Marroquin confessed to luring gay men from bars in order to kill them. He tortured his four victims by hanging or choking them, but in two cases it is said that he released men he had kidnapped once he had received a ransom. He added that he would continue doing so if he could, claiming that homosexuality harmed society.

Marroquín, known as "El Sádico", was captured on January 23, 2006 and was found guilty of the murder of four victims.

Victims

Murdered

• Elijah Bunders was kidnapped on October 27, 2005 and murdered on November 12, after 16 days. Marroquin requested $5,000 ransom, but the victim's family could not pay.
• Ricardo López Hernández was kidnapped on November 30, 2005. He was held captive for nine days until December 9 when he was murdered by strangulation after Marroquin had taken just over $2,000 ransom.
• Armando Rivas Perez was kidnapped on December 16, 2005. That same day, even though his ransom was paid, he was murdered.
• Victor Ivan Gutierrez Angel Balderas was abducted the same day as Armando Rivas and held hostage for six days. After a ransom of a little over $800, he was killed on December 22.

Kidnapped

• Buddy Leslie: was kidnapped on October 21, 2005. He was held captive for nearly a week in a hotel room, time that inflicted serious physical and psychological harm. Ransomed to relatives who paid as quickly as they could.
• Mr. Choma: the penultimate victim was kidnapped by Marroquin on December 13, 2005. Raul contacted the mother of the kidnapped, who implored him not hurt her son because he had no money to pay the ransom. Marraquin released the victim, threatening to kill him if he reported.

Motive

Explaining himself, Marroquín said, "I snuffed out four homosexuals that in some way were affecting society." He also says he chose gays as his victims because "they're a bad example for kids".

Modus operandi

He lured his victims in gay bars and, to avoid suspicion, always let them make the initial approach. He would later invite them to his apartment, where he strangled them and then asked the victim's family for a ransom. The dead bodies were later put inside suitcases and abandoned in different locations around Mexico City.

Marroquín is said to have a partner, Daniel Yungfleisch, who was presumably an assistant in the process of abducting victims.

On September the 4th, 2008, Mexico's PGJDF sentenced Osiel Marroquin and Madrid Manuel to a total of almost 300 years in prison.

Media

In an interview, Marroquín said he was not ashamed of his crimes, but was sorry for what his family was going through. He declared he had recurring dreams of his criminal career "improving" by selecting richer, more famous victims. He said he would definitely kill again and try to be more careful about his methods, avoiding the mistakes that led to his capture.