Walter Alfredo De Giusti was born in 1962 in the Argentine city of Rosario. Not much is publicly known about his early family life, but by his teenage years, he was already integrated into the local music scene. He studied at the Dante Alighieri high school in Rosario, where he befriended the young musician Fito Páez—who would later become one of Argentina’s most iconic rock artists. De Giusti, unlike his more classically trained friend, gravitated toward heavy metal and played bass in a local band.

Despite their different musical styles, the two formed a bond that would be torn apart in the most horrific way imaginable.

De Giusti’s descent into violence is shrouded in mystery. By his early twenties, he showed signs of restlessness and unpredictability. Around this time, his younger brother Carlos Manuel, five years his junior, began to appear in his orbit more often—eventually becoming an accessory to murder.

Only weeks after committing his brutal crimes, De Giusti took an unexpected turn by joining the Rosario police force, beginning service at the sub-office of Pueblo Esther, roughly 15 kilometers from Rosario. His swift shift from murderer to police officer would later shock the entire nation.

Walter De Giusti’s short but vicious killing spree began on October 31, 1986. Disguised under the pretense of doing plumbing work, 23-year-old Walter and his 18-year-old brother Carlos entered a house on Garay Street 1081 in Rosario. Inside were two women: Ángela Cristofanetti de Barroso, aged 86, and her adopted daughter Noemí, aged 31. Both were brutally beaten and stabbed to death.

Just a week later, on November 7, 1986, the De Giusti brothers carried out another heinous act—this time targeting individuals known personally to them. At 681 Balcarce Street, they murdered Belia Delia Zulema Ramírez, aged 76, the paternal grandmother of Fito Páez; Josefa Páez, aged 80, Fito’s aunt; and Fermina Godoy, a 33-year-old pregnant housekeeper. All three were stabbed and shot. Investigators later determined that Walter had frequented the home before and was well-known to the victims.

Then, in a dark twist, De Giusti managed to enter law enforcement just one month later on December 4, 1986. While Rosario police scrambled to solve the seemingly random acts of violence, the killer walked among them as a uniformed officer.

The case went cold for almost a year—until a key breakthrough came from an unlikely source. A local transvestite, wearing a necklace once owned by one of the murdered Páez women, was overheard by an undercover agent claiming it had been a gift from “her boyfriend Walter.” Acting swiftly, police raided the De Giusti home on Güemes Street. Among the recovered evidence was an engraver that Páez had gifted his grandmother Belia—now back in the hands of her killer.

De Giusti confessed to all five murders during a hearing before Judge Benjamín Ávalos. On August 24, 1987, he was sentenced to life imprisonment and sent to Coronda prison in Santa Fe. His younger brother Carlos received probation but remained under close watch due to his involvement.

Ironically, De Giusti, despite his conviction, continued to receive 70% of his police salary until 1993 due to Argentina’s bureaucratic rules on police pensions.

By 1996, nine years into his life sentence, De Giusti’s legal team pushed to have his punishment reduced. He was granted a sentence reduction to 24 years and 7 months and, citing poor health and near-blindness caused by complications from HIV/AIDS, was placed under house arrest.

However, in 1998, the same judge who had sentenced him years earlier received reports that De Giusti was regularly seen outside his home, boasting about his crimes and even driving a yellow Fiat 600—a blatant violation of his claimed condition. His house arrest was revoked after being caught absent on May 27, 1998.

On June 3, 1998, Judge Efraín Lura ordered his re-incarceration at the Rosario prison. Despite medical reports claiming his condition had stabilized, De Giusti deteriorated rapidly. He was transferred first to a hospital in Granadero Baigorria, and then to the American Sanatorium in Rosario.

On June 12, 1998, he died of AIDS-related complications—just nine days after being reimprisoned.