Disclaimer: This article contains mentions of murder and violence. Readers’ discretion is advised.
Pedro Lopez, popularly known as the Monster of the Andes, is a Columbian serial killer who was convicted for the murders of at least 110 people and was sentenced in 1980. However, he claimed to have murdered more than 240 people, which never came to be proved in court. Before that, in 1969, Lopez was found guilty of auto theft and was sentenced to seven years in prison. Those years are widely believed to have turned him into the Monster of the Andes.
At the age of 12, Pedro Lopez was taken in by an American family who enrolled him in a school for orphans, according to Latin Post. Two years after the enrollment, he reportedly ran away from school following a molestation from a male teacher. By the time he turned 18, he began stealing cars and selling them off to sustain himself. It was during one such act that authorities caught and imprisoned him.
During his time in prison, Pedro Lopez was allegedly raped multiple times by his three inmates, whom he killed later on. However, authorities saw this as an act of self-defense and only extended his sentence by two years, according to The Sun. In 1978, when Lopez was released, he began killing young women between the ages of 8 and 12 across Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru.
In 1979, Pedro Lopez was arrested after a flash flood revealed four of his victims. Moreover, he reportedly attempted to abduct a 12-year-old girl when a group of women, including her mother, resisted and started beating him up.
What was Pedro Lopez convicted of?
After his conviction, he was sentenced to 16 years in prison in Colombia. Following this, he was released from prison in 1994 for good behavior. The next year, he was tried again for murder and was declared unfit to stand trial after he was declared insane. He was sent off to a mental institution until 1998 when he was reportedly found sane upon a second evaluation.
The same year, authorities offered him a bail of just $50, an amount that he managed to pay almost immediately. After his release, authorities have reportedly attempted to track him down, but Pedro Lopez’s whereabouts remain unknown even today. According to the Daily Star, Lopez claimed he was killing three girls every week during the peak of his killing spree. He claimed to have killed over 240 women. However, authorities refused to believe him until a deadly mass grave was discovered.
According to History Daily, a local Peruvian tribe discovered the crimes of Pedro Lopez and ordered immediate execution. However, an American missionary who was living among them suggested that they hand Lopez over to the police. The elders of the tribe were reluctant. However, he managed to leave with the missionary, who turned him to the authorities, but the police let him go.
In popular culture, Lopez’s case has gained significant traction. The Monster of the Andes: Pedro Lopez is a documentary that is currently streaming on Prime Video and Apple TV+. It explores the gruesome details of Pedro Lopez’s crimes and how he repeatedly evaded authorities. In addition to that, the documentary explores how he was set free after confessing to hundreds of crimes.
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