Uruguayan serial killer Pablo José García Cejas, better known as "the Maldonado killer", went from being a normal worker to a hitman and then to a multiple murderer after a contract killing in his home country. Born in 1982, García Cejas murdered three people in the Department of Maldonado in 2015 and was sentenced to 30 years in prison for the triple homicide. In January 2015, then 32-year-old man visited a chalet in Punta del Este called "Los Picaflores", where he met Claudia von Graevenitz, 56, who gave him her phone number because she had something important to offer him. García Cejas called her a few days later, and she offered him 90,000 (about 3,100 dollars) and a job in exchange for killing her brother, Alejandro von Graevenitz, 58, who was a criminal with a criminal record, so she could keep the family house. At first, the man flatly refused to accept the deal, but then he told her he would think about it, to which the woman replied that he should contact her in person again. García Cejas finally accepted the deal, and on April 2, he traveled to the Von Graevenitz residence to bring Alejandro some items from a friend. He was invited in, and when the victim turned his back to wash dishes, the criminal grabbed an iron bar he found lying nearby and began to repeatedly hit him on the head until he was seriously injured. The victim died after being taken to Pan de Azúcar Hospital. The murderer discarded the murder weapon at a landfill, but it was later found by the authorities. Days later, Claudia fulfilled her part of the deal and gave García Cejas the agreed-upon sum of money, as well as hired him as an employee at "Los Picaflores". On June 12, 2015, simultaneously, Mariana González called the Maldonado Police because her daughter Koni Silva, a 19-year-old sex worker, had been missing for more than a week. On the same day, the owner of a cabin complex in Punta del Diablo (Department of Rocha) called the police because a foul odor was coming from one of the cabins. When the officers entered the premises, they found the naked, decomposing body of Silva, which had been covered with white sheets. The autopsy confirmed that the cause of death was two blows to the head, delivered with a fireplace stone, probably a week earlier. According to witness accounts, this woman was last seen with García Cejas, who frequently visited her for sexual services and even invited her to stay at "Los Picaflores", where they smoked marijuana together. Apparently, it was later learned that the killer had confessed to Silva about the von Graevenitz murder, and she threatened to tell the authorities if he did not give her money. Fearing arrest, García Cejas grabbed a fireplace stone and struck the young woman twice on the head, killing her instantly. Afterwards, the murderer took Silva's phone and her rented Chevrolet Meriva, while throwing the cabin keys into a trash container. The killer invented many excuses for not returning the keys, but eventually returned to the cabin complex on June 11 to tell the owner that he had lost the original keys and needed copies. Employee Guillermo Martínez later confirmed to the officers that García Cejas was the man last seen with Silva, who left definitively after taking her belongings. After being identified and suspected of the sex worker's murder, the accused was seen driving his truck through the streets of Maldonado, which led to a high-speed chase with police firing shots at the vehicle, causing it to crash. Despite this, García Cejas escaped to the hills and avoided capture. After walking several kilometers, he arrived in front of a distribution company and begged a security guard to call him a taxi, telling him he had been mugged. After giving the taxi driver his phone number to give him the money the next day, he took him back to "Los Picaflores", where he bathed and ate. The next day, Claudia von Graevenitz arrived at the chalet and, after learning that he had sold a piece of furniture without her permission, started arguing with García Cejas. During the verbal altercation, she slapped him, and in response, he grabbed a knife and stabbed her several times, despite the victim trying to defend herself by hitting him with a lamp. After killing her, García Cejas took a car with the intention of driving to Chihuahua (also in the Department of Maldonado), where his parents lived. On June 15, the police raided "Los Picaflores" and saw that everything was locked up, while noticing that Mrs. Von Graevenitz was not answering any calls. In this situation, the officers forced their way in and found the house owner's body in one of the rooms. The investigators realized that the author of the homicide could be García Cejas, so the search intensified until he was finally arrested at his parents' house the next day. The murders caused outrage in Maldonado, and the media described it as one of the most shocking criminal cases in the history of that Uruguayan department. García Cejas was finally found guilty of the three murders and sentenced to 30 years in prison, which he is serving in the Libertad Penitentiary.