October 16, 1821 - Juan Díaz de Garayo
Operating in rural Álava across two distinct periods, Garayo is considered one of Spain's earliest documented serial killers, and his case drew enough contemporary attention to produce a dedicated monograph before he was even executed. His crimes followed a pattern of escalation — beginning with the killing of women he had hired, then broadening to attacks on strangers encountered in the countryside. The written record left by Ricardo Becerro de Bengoa, based on prison visits, gives the case an unusually direct documentary quality for its era.
From Wikipedia
Juan Díaz de Garayo y Ruiz de Argandoña, also known as "The Sacamantecas" ("The fat extractor" in Spanish) (17 October 1821 – 11 May 1881), was a Spanish serial killer active near Vitoria, Álava, who strangled five women and a 13-year-old girl, and attacked four other women during two different periods, 1870 to 1874 and 1878 to 1879. A lust-motivated serial killer, Garayo first killed prostitutes after hiring and sleeping with them consensually but grew more disorganized and violent as time went on, attacking, raping and murdering women that he saw walking alone in the country. His last two victims, murdered in consecutive days, were also stabbed, and the second was disembowelled.
Garayo's persona and crimes were the subject of El Sacamantecas, an 1881 monograph written by Ricardo Becerro de Bengoa, who visited Garayo while he was in prison awaiting execution.
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