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 this encounter, Luiz Baú moved to Chapecó, in Santa Catarina, where he began working on his uncle Júlio's farm, marrying one of the female farmhands, Nilde Pinto de Quadros, on October 7, 1967. No public information about his family life exists until 1972, when it became known that the pair's relationship had grown unstable, as Baú had repeatedly been accused of assault and thefts. There were claims that Baú had contracted mumps during this period and had become sterile, which had made his wife divorce him.
Crimes
Murder in Linha Jubaré
During the winter of 1974, Baú moved to Linha Jubaré in Itatiba do Sul, where he was welcomed into the family of Maria Zarpelon, a widow and mother of seventeen children, who had invited him for work as he was known for his skills in the fields. His work in curandory led him to maintain a close relationship with Francisco, the couple's twelfth child, who suffered from asthma and had been receiving treatment since he was twelve years old.
Their relationship became very close, leading to discussions between Baú, the school teacher, and the local parish's minister, during which Baú demonstrated a feeling of possessiveness over Francisco. 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. Because of this, the family decided to send off Francisco to a Catholic Church Seminary in Garibaldi. This angered Baú, who blamed the teacher and minister for his decision.
On February 26, 1975, Francisco was asked by his mother to fetch some cornmeal from a mill near his home, going on horseback and passing by some relatives. That same day, Maria told Baú about the decision to send Francisco to the seminary. In response, Baú said that he would be leaving the residence, and wished to leave some money from his wage for Francisco to use at his leisure. However, the boy had gone missing, and when the family started looking for Baú, he was nowhere to be found.