Pedro Alonso López, the “Monster of the Andes,” confessed to killing hundreds of young girls across South America – yet decades later, his exact whereabouts remain unknown.
Monster serial killer who butchered 110 women and girls now free and no one knows where he is
He is one of the most prolific serial killers in recorded history – a man who once claimed to have strangled hundreds of young girls across Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Yet Pedro Alonso López, known chillingly as the “Monster of the Andes”, has been free for decades – and no one knows where he is.
Born in October 1948 in Colombia’s Tolima region, López’s life began in chaos and violence. His father was murdered before he was born, and his mother, a sex worker, raised 13 children in poverty.
From an early age, López was both witness and victim to brutality. He later claimed he was kicked out of home at the age of eight after his mother caught him touching one of his sisters – a punishment that left him homeless on the streets of Bogotá.
There, he joined gangs of street children, sleeping under bridges and scavenging food. According to López’s own accounts, he was repeatedly assaulted, both by adults and older children.
By the age of 12, he had been briefly adopted by an American missionary family, only to run away after stealing money – a pattern of manipulation and flight that would define the rest of his life.
At 18, López was jailed for car theft and sent to Bogotá’s notoriously violent La Modelo prison. Two days after arriving, he was reportedly gang-raped by three inmates. His revenge was swift and brutal – he fashioned a crude knife and killed them all. Authorities labelled the killings self-defence and added only two years to his sentence.
When he was released in 1978, he set out across the Andes – and began a spree of horror that would make him one of the most terrifying figures in South American history.
López drifted through Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, targeting young girls from poor or indigenous backgrounds – often street vendors or children walking alone. He would lure them with the promise of money or small gifts, sometimes claiming to need help finding a bus stop. Once alone with them, he would assault and strangle them, later burying their bodies in shallow graves.
In interviews years later, López claimed he chose his victims because “they were easy to take.” When asked about his motives, he chillingly said: “I lost my innocence at the age of eight. So I decided to do the same to as many girls as I could.”
By 1979, the number of missing children around the Ecuadorian city of Ambato had reached alarming levels. Parents posted flyers and local newspapers ran desperate appeals but authorities dismissed the disappearances as cases of child trafficking or family disputes.
Then, a freak accident uncovered the chilling truth. When floodwaters tore through the outskirts of Ambato, they unearthed the remains of four girls. The grim discovery exposed a pattern too disturbing to ignore.
Around the same time, López attempted to kidnap another child, 12-year-old Maria Poveda, but her mother intervened and raised the alarm. Locals caught him and turned him over to police.
At first, López refused to speak. But after days of silence in custody, he confessed to a fellow inmate – who turned out to be an undercover officer – that he had killed hundreds. He then offered to lead police to the burial sites of his victims.
Investigators followed him into the countryside, and what they found was beyond comprehension. Dozens of graves were uncovered, each containing the remains of a young girl. López spoke casually as he pointed out the spots, remembering each by detail. “I like the girls because they are pure,” he told one officer. “I killed them with love.”
In total, police recovered 53 bodies in Ecuador and accepted his claim of at least 110 murders across the country. López also confessed to many more killings in Colombia and Peru – possibly more than 300 in total.
His 1981 trial in Ambato drew global attention. Families of missing children filled the courtroom, demanding answers and justice. But Ecuador’s laws at the time limited the maximum prison sentence to just 16 years – even for the country’s most prolific killer. López was convicted on 57 counts of murder and sent to the high-security García Moreno prison in Quito.
While behind bars, López granted several interviews, often contradicting himself. He bragged about his “power over life and death,” yet occasionally claimed he was framed or merely an accomplice. Guards reported other inmates repeatedly tried to kill him and he survived several knife attacks.
Despite pleas from victims’ families and prosecutors for a longer sentence, López was released in 1994 – two years early, for “good behaviour.” He even described himself at the time as “the man of the century.”
Ecuador deported him to Colombia, where he faced a new charge for the murder of 12-year-old Flor Alba Sánchez, one of the few Colombian victims officially tied to him. He was found guilty but declared insane, and sent to a psychiatric hospital in Bogotá.
Three years later, in 1998, doctors ruled him sane and released him – on a bail equivalent to about £55. Authorities required him to report to the police each month, but he never did. Since then, López has vanished.
His last confirmed sighting was in September 1999, when he appeared at a government office in Bogotá to renew his ID card under a false name. Three years later, Interpol issued a warrant for his arrest over another suspected killing in Colombia, but no trace of him was ever found. In 2005, officials briefly deactivated the warrant after claims that a body found in Colombia was his – but forensic evidence was inconclusive, and many believe he is still alive.
There have been alleged sightings in Ecuador and southern Colombia over the years, but none have been verified. Reports suggest he once returned to visit his mother, only to rob her of her mattress and chair before disappearing again.
Today, the “Monster of the Andes” would be in his late seventies. If alive, he remains one of the world’s most prolific murderers never recaptured – a man who may still walk freely despite admitting to more than 300 killings.
In 2002, Ecuadorian police investigators told local media that López’s name still “hung over” every new case of a missing child. “We still ask ourselves if he’s alive,” one officer said. “Because if he is, there is no reason he wouldn’t kill again.”