Diego Alcazar

Diego Alcazar is a fictional character from General Hospital, an American soap opera on the ABC network. Diego is the son of Lorenzo Alcazar and Maria Sanchez. Ignacio Serricchio originated the role of Diego in October 2004 and portrayed him until the character's supposed death in November 2006. Serricchio returned briefly in 2008, when it is revealed Diego is alive and terrorizing the citizens of Port Charles as the Text Message Killer.

Ignacio Serricchio joined the cast in 2004, and remained on contract until November 2006, despite being off-screen from December 2005 until March 2006. In 2006 he amicably left the show, telling Soap Opera Digest, "I was not fired and I didn't quit. [...] It's a win-win for everybody." Despite the character being killed off the series, Serricchio briefly reprised the role of Diego in 2008 as the Text Message Killer villain, before the character died again.

After being taken in as a foster child by Courtney Matthews, 17-year-old Diego began acting out with Brook Lynn Ashton. Eventually he finds out his father is crime boss and arms dealer Lorenzo Alcazar, and Maria Sanchez, who Diego grew up believing was his sister, is actually his mother. Diego begins living with his father and following in his criminal footsteps.

In May 2005 Diego takes a liking to Maxie Jones and breaks up with his current girlfriend, Brook Lynn. It eventually turns out Diego is the Port Charles University stalker who had been drugging girls and taking pictures of them, including Maxie and Brook. He claims he was getting revenge for the death of his cousin, Sage Alcazar, who was locked in a freezer by Brook and Georgie Jones leading up to her stabbing by Mary Bishop. Lorenzo turns Diego in to the police for his crimes, but Diego runs out of the police station, holding Georgie hostage. He is ultimately caught and sent to prison, but returns to Port Charles a few months later. Serricchio spoke to Soap Opera Digest about the turn of his character, saying, "I think everybody has that [dark] side. I don’t know if it’s because he’s a bad person. I think it’s the teenage hormones that really got to him. You hear of kids that are wonderful human beings and all of a sudden they snap — and it comes out of nowhere. So, it’s more of a psychological thing. It doesn’t matter if he comes back or not. I’m good to go both ways."

In March 2006, Diego develops a relationship with Georgie, who was fighting with her husband Dillon Quartermaine, especially after he found out she had been writing to Diego while he was in prison. Diego teamed up with Lulu Spencer, who had a crush on Dillon, to break up Dillon and Georgie. The plan works and Diego and Georgie start dating until they realize what Diego and Lulu had done. Diego told Georgie he accepted her for who she was and loved her and refused to give up on them which touched Georgie.

In November 2006, Diego works with Lorenzo to try to frame Sam McCall, Jason Morgan, and Damian Spinelli. In a shootout, Sam shoots Diego in self-defense, and everyone is led to believe he is dead.

In September 2007, Jason Morgan and Carly Corinthos Jacks find her nanny Leticia's body on the floor with a telephone cord wrapped around her neck. Sonny Corinthos believes that Leticia's death is a message sent by the Zaccharas, a new crime family in town. He begins receiving text messages, explaining that the killing will not stop at Leticia: "Nanny got the phone cord. Who comes next?"

Carly finds out that her cousin, Lulu Spencer, is texting Johnny Zacchara. Worried, Carly begins texting him, pretending to be Lulu. Then Carly receives a text message from an unknown number including photos of her and Jax that had been taken through her phone without her knowledge. After receiving an invitation to the Black and White Ball thrown by Nikolas Cassadine and Emily Quartermaine, Carly receives the text message, "See U at the ball".