The Monster of the Andes: The Chilling Tale of Pedro Lopez–world history and facts
The Monster of the Andes: The Chilling Tale of Pedro Lopez–world history and facts
In1980, the world was shocked to learn about the brutal crimes committed by Pedro Lopez, who had earned the chilling moniker “Monster of the Andes.”
Pedro Alonso Lopez, the ‘Monster of Andes’, who raped and strangled at least 350 young girls in Ecuador, Peru and Columbia, is shown in this world exclusive photograph, in the prison in Ambato, Ecuador, during the twenty years he stayed in solitary confinement.
He was secretly to Columbia and released because there is no death penalty in Ecuador. Now Police are using these only pictures ever taken of him, to track him down again. (Photo by Ron Laytner, Edit International).
Lopez was found guilty of killing a staggering 110 girls in Ecuador alone. But that was just the tip of the iceberg. In a shocking confession, he admitted to taking the lives of an additional 240 missing girls in neighboring countries Peru and Colombia.
Pedro Alonso Lopez, the ‘Monster of Andes’.
Early Life
Pedro Lopez was born into poverty as the seventh of thirteen children to a prostitute mother in the village of Tolima, Colombia. At the young age of eight, he was expelled from his family home after being caught molesting his younger sister.
He was then taken in by a pedophile who offered food, a place to stay. Instead, the boy was taken into a deserted building and there sodomized, a trauma that apparently did lethal damage to his already-twisted psyche.
From then on, Homeless, terrified of strangers, Lopez lived a life on the streets, sleeping in alleyways and empty village market stalls.
Lopez was later caught and sentenced to prison for automobile theft. Tragically, he was gang-raped by four older inmates within his first two days in prison.
retaliation, he fashioned a crude knife from prison utensils and killed three of his attackers, a story that authorities described as self-defense and resulted in an added two years to his sentence. In Pedro’s mind, his mother was to blame for all of his life’s suffering and heartaches.
This traumatic upbringing would ultimately contribute to the twisted and lethal psyche of the future “Monster of the Andes.”
The Monster’s Atrocities
Lopez targeted young girls, usually between the ages of 8 and 12, who he would lure into the countryside with promises of gifts or money. He would then rape, murder, and often bury his victims in shallow graves.
He was eventually caught in 1980 after being caught trying to kidnap a young girl in Ecuador. After his release from prison, Pedro Lopez went on a killing spree, targeting young girls with a vengeance.
By 1978, he claimed to have killed at least 100 girls in Peru. His MO was to abduct children from Indian tribes, but this backfired when he was caught by a group of Ayachucos while trying to kidnap a 9-year-old girl.
He was beaten and tortured, but was saved by a female American missionary who convinced his captors to turn him over to the police. However, he was quickly deported and continued his killing spree in Colombia and Ecuador, abducting girls with ease.
For 20 years three-man shifts of guards nervously watched the women’s section of Ambato prison, empty except fot one prisoner, Pedro Alonzo Lopez, the worst serial killer in modern history. (Photo by Ron Laytner, Edit International).
The disappearance of young girls in three countries was initially thought to be the result of slavery or prostitution rings, but a flash flood near Ambato, Ecuador in 1980 uncovered the bodies of four missing children.
Days later, Carvina Poveda observed Lopez leaving the marketplace with her 12-year-old daughter, Maria, and managed to catch him with the help of others.
Heroine Maria Poveda, chosen by the Monster to die because she had a woman’s face, has a look of absolute dread and fear on it after she and her mother, behind, helped by a mob of angry indians, captured the Monster of the Andes in Ecuador.
In Bogota, an American family took Lopez in, providing him with free room and board, enrolling him in a day school for orphans, However, this newfound stability was short-lived.
In 1963, at the age of 12, a male teacher sexually molested him at his day school. All of Pedro’s previous fears were reborn and anger grew within him. He fled the family after stealing money from school and being subjected to sexual advances by a teacher.
Pedro refused to cooperate with authorities and remained silent throughout their lines of questioning. Investigators soon realized that they would have to employ a different strategy in order to get their suspect to talk.
One of the officers soon suggested that they dress up a local priest, Father Cordoba Gudino, in prison garb and place him in a cell with Pedro. The plan was for Father Gudino to win the suspect’s confidence and get him to discuss his crime.
Lopez eventually broke down and confessed to killing at least 110 girls in Ecuador, 100 in Colombia, and “many more than 100” in Peru.
Detective Pastor Gonzales stayed in a cell with the serial killer, posing as a prisoner. He told me : “For 27 days I hardly slept, afraid I’d be strangled in my sleep. But I tricked Lopez into confessing by pretending I was a rapist too.
He boasted to me of murder after murder in Ecuador, Columbia and Peru. It was beyond my wildest nightmares. He told me everything.” (Photo World Copyright by Ron Laytner, Edit International.)
Lopez would allow my interview on one condition. He wanted the Director’s pretty young daughter to come into his cell because he ‘hadn’t touched a woman in years’.
While nervous guards aimed their cocked pistols, the mass serial killer carefully and gently put his powerful hands around the brave girl’s wrists.
(Photo by Ron Laytner, Edit International).
“I like the girls in Ecuador, they are more gentle and trusting, more innocent. They are not as suspicious of strangers as Colombian girls.”- Lopez confession to the police.
When Lopez first made his shocking claims, the authorities were skeptical and thought he was just trying to get attention. However, their doubts were quickly erased when Lopez took them to 53 graves near Ambato, where they found the bodies of young girls, ranging in age from eight to twelve.
Although searches at 28 other sites proved fruitless, as the remains had likely been consumed by wild animals, the police were now fully convinced of Lopez’s guilt. He claimed that he killed because he had a “hatred for the world,” and that the young girls were a way for him to exact his revenge.
Despite his confessions, some have questioned the accuracy of his claims, and some estimate that his actual number of victims could be as high as 500.
Dead Cristina was one of 350 young girls murdered by The Monster of Andes. An ecuadorian policeman points to where she was found.
Dozens of young women were reported missing. Shown here are two of the Monster’s 350 victims. Lopez may have killed many more. A number of grave sites where he dumped bodies were paved over or emptied by animals.
“I lost my innocence at age eight,” he told interrogators, “so I decided to do the same to as many young girls as I could.” Trolling village markets for selected targets with “a certain look of innocence,”- he told interrogators,
After serving nearly 20 years in prison in Ecuador, Lopez was extradited to Colombia in 1998, where he was sentenced to life in prison.
He has been behind bars ever since, and is considered one of the most dangerous and depraved serial killers of all time.
Pedro Alonzo Lopez during only interview he ever gave, tries to charm Roy Laytner into coming into his cell.
His motivations and the exact number of his victims are still unknown, and his case continues to be a source of fascination and terror. It serves as a reminder that even the most seemingly normal person can be capable of monstrous acts.
Major of Police (now retired) Victor Hugol Lascano, Director of the prison which held Lopez for nearly 20 years, said on his release, “God help young women — Lopez is being freed unrepentent and may soon start killing again.”
The case of Pedro Lopez has been the subject of numerous books and documentaries, and has been the source of much public fascination such as:
Colombian Killers: The True Stories of the Three Most Prolific Serial Killers on Earth (True Crime)-( https://amzn.to/40PnmvW)
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