Juan Fernando Hermosa

Juan Fernando Hermosa Suarez (born February 28, 1976 in Clemente Baquerizo, Los Rios Province –
February 28, 1996 in Nueva Loja, Sucumbíos Province), known as Nino del Terror, was the youngest
serial killer in the history of Ecuador.

First years

Hermosa was born on February 28, 1976, in the city of Clemente Baquerizo, Los Rios Province. He
was adopted by Olivo Hermosa Fonseca and Zoila Amada Suarez Mejia, who took him to live in a
populous neighbourhood north of Quito. Juan was often looked after by his deaf adoptive mother,
who also suffered from arthritis, while his adoptive father travelled around the Sucumbíos Province,
where he owned properties.

Crimes

At 15 years of age, he began leading a gang of ten youngsters of the same age, frequenting the
videogame shops in the La Marin sector, in downtown Quito. He often went to bars and clubs in the
area known as Puente del Guambra, near the Central University.

Murders

While leaving a discotheque with friends on November 22, 1991, the group took a taxi from the San
Remo brand, and after reaching 10 de Agosto Avenue, Hermosa pulled out a 9mm pistol obtained
through a guard, shooting the driver in the head and killing him instantly. One of his friends then
drove the vehicle to the southeast of the city and dispose of the body in a guardaya, in the Los
Chillos Valley, where the body was found by police the next day. A week later, Hermosa went with
other members of his gang to a hairdresser where he usually fixed his hair, operated by a
transvestite named Charlie, south of the city. Charlie invited them to drink at home, where they
started an argument which ended in Hermosa shooting Charlie five times before she could ask for
help.

Hermosa’s crimes totalled 22 murders, occurring in only four months, claiming the lives of 8 taxi
drivers, 11 homosexuals, a truck driver and his acquaintance, as well as two others, earning him the
nickname “Nino del Terror”. The victims were shot to death with the 9mm pistol, the crimes
occurring during the weekends, which caused a panic among the taxi drivers and homosexuals who
lived in northern Quito.

Capture
The mayor Fausto Teran Bustillos was put in command of a squad formed by the Grupo de
Intervencion y Rescate (GIR) of the National Police, which was in charge of investigating Nino del
Terror’s crimes. Police managed to catch a group of young criminals in the city centre who tried to
rob a place, revealing information about the identity of whoever was behind the killings. On January
9, 1992, they located the Hermosa residence, located between America and Diguja Streets, and
through an operation which begun on January 16 at 3am. The contingent was located on the exterior
of the presumed murderer’s house, and the police entered the home through a skylight that
determined that it was facing the suspect’s room, who was sleeping in his mother’s room. The
mistake of the police alerted Hermosa, who began shooting at close range with his 9mm pistol,
starting a shootout between him and the police. A group of gendarmes who were on the street
began throwing grenades, causing an explosion that ended up knocking down the wall of the house
on top of two policemen. Hermosa’s mother died during the confrontation, shot 11 times, while
Juan himself was captured 15 minutes later without receiving a scratch, while trying to escape
through the back window.

A contingent of 10 agents transferred Hermosa to the Garcia Moreno prison that same morning,
where they were surprised to learn that the suspect was a minor, declared by his own words: “I
want to make it clear that my name is Juan Fernando Hermosa Suarez and that on February 28, I will
be 16 years old”. He claimed in his statements that he had no intent of killing, as he had asked his
victims to be quiet and that nothing would happen to them, but by ignoring that warning, they
ended their lives. Hermosa said that on one occasion he was threatened with a .22 calibre revolver,
and on another occasion a taxi driver had tried to attack him with a wheel wrench, so he had to kill
them with his gun.

Condemnation, escape and recapture

He was sentenced to the maximum penalty that the law allowed for a minor, which is 4 years
imprisonment at the Virgilio Guerrero Rehabilitation Centre, after confessing to his crimes. However,
he became a juvenile leader in prison in the first 16 months, even managing to obtain a pistol
through his girlfriend Yadira, with which he killed a policeman attempting to stop him by shooting
him five times, before escaping from prison with ten young boys in 1993. He fled to Colombia, where
he contracted tonsillitis. He was recaptured and released after serving his sentence in 1996.

Death

After his release, he went to live with his father in Nueva Loja, Sucumbíos. On the day of his 20th
birthday, he was found dead on the banks of the Aguarico River. It was revealed by police that 5
hooded individuals were responsible for the murder, managing to identify Hermosa through
documents in his wallet, as his face was disfigured and with signs of torture, cut with machetes and
riddled with bullets.