Pedro Alonso Lopez, also famous as “The Monster of Andes” was a Columbian serial killer and child rapist who killed and raped over 300 young girls. He was a wanted man in three South American countries, including Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador.

He is the second worst serial killer in the world. His crimes showed massive murders and rapes with intense brutality and savagery. He left a long-lasting impact on never-forgetting records of criminal history.

Early Life of Pedro Alonso Lopez

Pedro was born in Santa Isabel, Colombia on October 8, 1948. His father Medardo Reyes was a right-wing party member who died in La Violencia in a devastating war.

When his father passed away, his mother Benilda was three months pregnant with Pedro’s brother. Pedro was the seventh of thirteen siblings. He was an extremely well-behaved youngster who aspired to become a youngster in his initial years.

According to Pedro’s later claims, Benilda was physically abusive and often assaulted by clients while working as a sex worker. However, he escaped his home due to controversial reasons. Some say he ran away, while others say Benilda kicked him out of the family for loving his younger sister. 

Pedro went to Bogota, Colombia’s capital in 1957 at eight years of age. He joined the ranks of the “gamines,” or homeless youngsters there. 

He was regularly sexually assaulted while living on the streets of Bogotá as a homeless child. A stranger on the street offered him a sleeping bed to lure him into his trap as he took him to an abandoned building and sexually molested him. He joined a gang of child protection while seeking safety after the event.

Sexual abuse of Pedro Alonso Lopez 

Pedro Alonso Lopez claimed he was ten years old, when an older American couple found him living on the streets, adopted him, and enrolled him in an orphanage. 

However, when he reached 12 years of age, an orphanage teacher sexually molested him. It caused him to escape once more in 1960.

Hence, Pedro was raised on the streets while committing small crimes like robbery. Police arrested him for car theft at 21(other sources place his age at 18). At least two men raped him shortly after his imprisonment. He killed them with a homemade knife as payback.

Rapes and Murders by Pedro Alonso Lopez 

 It is believed that after being released from prison, Pedro Alonso Lopez began to pursue young females in Colombia. Most of them were from Native backgrounds. 

Pedro targeted mostly young girls in the age range of 8 and 12. He used to lure them by taking advantage of their innocence and vulnerability.

Following this, he traveled to Peru in 1967 where he would lure his victims to isolated locations where he would rape and kill them. He later claimed to have killed hundreds of young girls in the mid-to-late-1970s.

Pedro tried to abduct a nine-year-old, but the Ayachucos village discovered him in 1980. They attempted to bury him alive while submitting him to tribal law. Tribal members were forced by a Western missionary to turn him over to the Peruvian police.

Pedro Alonso López was deported from Peru to Colombia in 1994 after serving 14 years in prison for his crimes in Peru.

Pedro Alonso Lopez Crimes in Ecuador 

After carrying out more killings in Columbia, Pedro traveled to Ecuador in the late 1970s, where a large number of girls started going missing as well. 

Families made independent efforts to locate the children; one mother even placed newspaper advertising on her daughter’s disappearance. 

Arrest and investigations 

Pedro got caught in Ecuador in 1980 when he tried to lure vendor Carlina Ramon’s daughter from a busy market in the Ambato region by a group of her classmates.

After being taken into police custody, Pedro first resisted cooperating with the authorities until Pastor Cordova Gudino, the investigator, pretended to be a fellow prisoner.

Investigator Pastor was able to obtain information regarding the victims’ burial locations as well as a confession from Pedro by earning his trust.

Following this information, police found 57 bodies, though some reports say 53. However, Pedro admitted to killing 110 people, and he was charged with those crimes.

In some cases, Pedro Alonso López may not have been charged with rape because of legal restrictions, a lack of proof, or problems with prosecuting cases that happened in remote or little-reported areas.

Confession and Trial

Pedro Alonso Lopez explained that his strategy involved using a trinket to convince the victim to leave public areas before raping and strangling them with his bare hands. He further stated that he would regularly remove the victims’ remains from their graves and throw “tea parties” for them.

When questioned about his motivation for the murders, Pedro reportedly stated:

He lost his innocence at the age of eight. So he determined to do the same with as many girls as he might do.

Pedro Alonso Lopez, the Colombian Serial Killer

Pedro, who was 33 years old at the time, confessed to killing 57 girls on July 31, 1981 in Ecuador. He said he was behind about 200 more deaths in nearby two countries, Peru and Colombia.

He was sent to Ambato Prison, where law enforcement officials declared him a psycho. Pedro received only 16 years of imprisonment following Ecaudor’s legal limitations. This decision made a lot of people very angry. Hence, Ecuador officials raised his longest sentence to 25 years in jail.

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Release and Deportation 

Pedro served 14 years at Garcia Moreno jail in Ecuador before being released two years early for good behavior on August 31, 1994. He was quickly deported to Colombia, where the local government tried to find him guilty of a murder that occurred two decades prior.

Instead, Pedro was found to be mad and placed in a psychiatric hospital in 1995. Law enforcement officials declared him sane in February 1998 and was given a $50 bond along with several conditions.

Then, he went to see his old mother and requested his inheritance. He sold her mother’s only left chair and bed to strangers on the street after learning about her mother’s lack of resources.

After that, Pedro Alonso Lopez disappeared which raised questions about his potential involvement in a murder that occurred in 2002. His current location is unknown.

Conclusion

The case of Pedro Alonso Lopez is a disturbing reminder of the significant impact that early trauma, psychological disorder, and societal neglect can have on an individual’s journey to a terrible crime. 

His upbringing, which included violence, abuse, and an abnormal home environment, most likely contributed to his notorious image of relationships and strong disregard for women.

His actions, which are cruel and large in scale, emphasize the devastation caused by uncontrolled predatory behavior.