Pedro Alonso Lopez he is one of the most prolific serial killers in history, even if in reality the definitive number of victims has not yet been clarified. The official murders are over one hundred, 110 to be precise, but according to many the toll could be much higher, also considering the confessions of the serial murderer himself, known as el Monstruo de los Andes, i.e. the Monster of the Andes, who spoke of 350 victims between Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.
Childhood and adolescence
Pedro Alonso Lopez was born in Venadillo, Tolima, Colombia, on 8 October 1948. He was the seventh child out of thirteen of a penniless prostitute, Benilda Lopez de Castaneda, and from a very young age he had to deal with enormous inconveniences. Without a father figure – the man, Megdardo Reyes, had been murdered six months before his birth – he grows up between the obsession of his mother and the violent environment. The large family lives in a small house with the rooms divided by simple curtains and the child, like his siblings, is forced to hear the mother’s “interactions” with the customers.
In 1957, at the age of nine, Pedro Alonso Lopez was caught by his mother while trying to have sexual intercourse with his younger sister and was kicked out of the house. The boy wanders around Bogota in a state of total destitution and soon becomes a victim of sexual abuse. In particular, he ends up in the network of a middle-aged pedophile, who he sodomizes in an abandoned warehouseleaving a mark on his already fragile psyche.
At the age of twelve Pedro Alonso Lopez was adopted by an American family, but his happy adolescence did not last long. After a new episode of sexual violence by a teacher, he runs away after stealing money from the school fund and returns to wander the streets of Colombia. Over the years he dedicated himself to small criminal activities, from robberies to car thefts, often ending up in prison.
The first murders
In 1969, at the age of twenty-one, Pedro Alonso Lopez was arrested for theft and sentenced to seventeen years in prison. Life behind bars is difficult and he suffers harassment and abuse from other inmates. In particular, he is the victim of physical abuse by four inmates. After months of violence, he decides to react and, with a handmade knife, kills all four. The judges consider the matter as self-defense and an additional sentence of just two years is added to him.
Pedro Alonso Lopez was released in 1978, after having served half his sentence, and decided to go to Peru. And precisely in this nomadic life his murderous fury explodes. As he later admits, Lopez becomes the Monster of the Andes by killing and raping dozens of young women from local tribes. The serial killer seeks out the most innocent-looking girls, all under the age of 12.
During his criminal adventure, Pedro Alonso Lopez is caught in the act by the relatives of a nine-year-old girl and is beaten and tortured. He is saved, after being buried alive in the sand, by an American missionary and expelled from the country, his destination Ecuador. Even in the new country he begins to wander in search of victims to sodomize and strangle to death.
Pedro Alonso Lopez becomes the Monster of the Andes
Pedro Alonso Lopez continues to claim victims, all girls aged eight, nine and ten, twelve at most. He often travels to “his” Colombia, managing to get away with it also because the girls killed are part of indigenous tribes. He rapes them, strangles them and looks them in the eyes, experiencing sadistic pleasure. He often kills during the day to better see the agony of his victims. However, the authorities soon began to notice an exponential increase in cases of missing persons. However, rather than hunting a serial killer, they hypothesize a growth in demand for sex slaves.
In April 1980 a flood floods Ambato, Ecuador, and they surface the remains of four girls. A shocking discovery for the small South American community, which pushes the authorities to return to the files of missing people. Despite the difficulties in ascertaining the exact cause of death, the existence of a serial killer appears clear.
The mystery will be solved a few days later. In Plaza Urbina, also in Ambato, Pedro Alonso Lopez tries to kidnap a twelve-year-old girl by offering her money. Rather than fall into the trap, the very young girl starts screaming at her mother, who immediately alerts the authorities. A passerby manages to immobilize the man and hold him until the police arrive, who arrest for attempted violence.
Confessions, condemnation and mystery
Taken to the barracks, Pedro Alonso Lopez refuses to cooperate with the authorities and remains silent for the entire duration of the interrogation. Even in prison he remains silent, until he comes into contact with a priest, Father Cordoba Gudinowho gains his trust and pushes him to own up to his crimes. When the Monster of the Andes begins to reveal his brutal acts of violence, Father Gudino is so shocked that he asks to be taken out of the cell.
Pedro Alonso Lopez therefore decides di confess to all his murders to the authorities, with even the smallest details. In total, he claims to have killed at least a hundred girls in Ecuador, the same number in Colombia and many more victims in Peru. Three hundred and fifty in all. Furthermore, he says he is happy to have been arrested, because in this way he will become a famous person: “I am the man of the century. No one will ever forget my name”, his words reported in the book “The serial killers” by Ruben De Luca and Vincenzo Maria Mastronardi.
Skeptical about the number of victims confessed by Pedro Alonso Lopez, the police find the remains of fifty-three female victims in an isolated location in Ecuador. The man is therefore condemned tolife sentence for one hundred and ten murders. He is then extradited to Colombia, where he is interned in a psychiatric hospital. In 1998 he was declared healthy and released.
The last sighting dates back to September 22, 1999, when he presented himself at the National Registry Office in Bogota to request his new citizenship card.
It is not clear what happened to Pedro Alonso Lopez. According to the Colombian press, it cannot be ruled out that he was executed by a group of the victims’ parents.