The Monster of The Andes
The appalling crimes of Pedro Lopez
Pedro Alonzo Lopez well deserves the title of “Monster of the Andes”, being quite likely the world’s worst ever sex offender, having admitted to the rape and murder of more than 300 young girls. He was active during the 1970s, in Ecuador, Peru and Colombia. During the three years of his peak activity he did away with his victims at the rate of two a week.
After his arrest he took police to the secret graves of the bodies of 53 girls all aged between 8 and 12. At 28 other sites he described to police, bodies could not be found because the graves had been robbed by prowling animals. Some of the girls’ bodies were buried at construction sites, and police have had to assume that they are now encased in concrete, perhaps never to resurface. Others are under roads.
In his confessions, Lopez admitted to killing 110 girls in Ecuador, another 100 in neighbouring Colombia and “many more than 100” in Peru. Retired Major of Police, Victor Hugo Lascano, director of Ambato prison, said: “We may never know exactly how many young girls Lopez killed. I believe his estimate of 300 is very low, because in the beginning he co-operated and took us each day to three or four hidden corpses. But then he tired, changed his mind and stopped helping.”
