Título en español.

Abstract

This article is a case study of the only convicted Puerto Rican serial murderer, known as "The Bachelors‘ Angel". This young man followed the typical profile of a serial killer but wasn‘t prosecuted as one. The study demonstrates that Puerto Rico is not exempt from this type of psychopathology. In order to understand the experts‘ advice on this case and the community‘s response, the author conducted a review of the literature available upon that time (the 1980s). Legal files and press articles were also used to study a legal process that culminated in 234 years of imprisonment; and to compare the image created by the media against the facts. Finally, the author analyzed the sociocultural factors that influenced in the decision to prosecute the accused as a delinquent, instead of confronting the situation of serial killers in the community.