Hugo Ernesto Osorio Chávez was born in 1970 in El Salvador. He spent much of his adult life residing in Chalchuapa, where he worked as a police officer. Reports suggest he was also affiliated with organized criminal groups. While outwardly leading a seemingly normal professional life, Osorio secretly perpetrated horrific crimes. He used social media to lure victims—mostly women—with false promises of employment, including offers to help them immigrate to the United States or invitations for romantic encounters. Once they arrived at his home, Osorio would overpower them, rape them, and brutally murder them. In an especially chilling detail, his final two victims, a 57-year-old woman and her 26-year-old daughter, were beaten to death with a pipe. Osorio then hid the bodies by burying them in his own property. His double façade as a law enforcement officer and brutal murderer shocked the community deeply.

Osorio’s crimes came to light on May 7, 2021, when authorities responding to suspicious activity at his home in Chalchuapa uncovered the burials of fourteen individuals on his property. While exact timelines for each murder remain unverified, investigators determined that Osorio systematically entrapped women through deceitful online ads. He would promise them jobs or even opportunities to travel abroad as bait. Once victims arrived, he enacted a depraved pattern of assault and murder, disposing of their bodies by burial on-site. His arrest that day not only ended his reign of terror, but also sentenced shockwaves through Salvadoran society due to his position in law enforcement and the scale of his atrocities. More than a year later, on June 10, 2022, Osorio was found guilty of all 14 murders and sentenced to 70 years in prison. His conviction brought some closure to families but left an enduring legacy of betrayal and horror.