A to Z Challenge: P (serial killers)

Pedro Lopez — Monster of Andes

Fast Facts:

  • Born in 1948 in Colombia
  • Killed over 300, mostly women and girls
  • He was caught twice trying to kidnap young girls
  • He was charged with 57 murders in Ecuador
  • While found guilty, the maximum sentence at the time in Ecuador was only 16 years in prison

Lopez’s father was killed during the armed conflict of the era. His mother was pregnant with him at the time. He was the 7th child of 13 children and was a polite boy who wanted to be a teacher, however his mother was an abusive sex worker. He ran away from home to Peru, joined a gang and started smoking basuco (an impure form of cocaine). While on the streets he was raped.

He was first arrested for stealing a car and was raped in prison by two men. He killed his attackers with a knife. After he was released he started to prey on poor, young, native girls, raping and murdering them. He was caught by the Ayachucos community when trying to kidnap a 9 year old. Following tribal law the community attempted to bury him alive, but a missionary convinced them to hand him to the police. The police deported him back to Colombia without consideration for what he’d done.

Lopez continued to murder and travelled to Ecuador. He was caught when he tried to lure a vendor’s daughter from a busy market. Refusing to cooperate with police, a local Pastor went undercover as an inmate and was able to gain Lopez’s trust and obtain a confession and the site of the burial grounds.

57 bodies were found by police and along with his confessions, he was charged with 110 murders, although he claimed to have killed more than 200 in Peru and Colombia.

Diagnosed as a sociopath, Lopez pled guilty to 57 murders and was jailed in Ambato. Because of Ecuador’s laws he received the maximum sentence of 16 years. Public outrage meant Ecuador later changed its maximum sentence to 25 years.

After his release he was deported to Colombia. Authorities tried to convict him of a 20 year old murder but instead he was declared insane and sent to a psychiatric facility. He was released after being declared sane and vanished, his whereabouts unknown.

16 comments on “A to Z Challenge: P (serial killers)

  1. This one truly earned his name of “monster”. Sad childhood tho. “A polite boy who wanted to be a teacher.” Very sad.

    Dena
    https://denapawling.blogspot.com/

    • He’s the only serial killer I’ve profiled in the A-Z who was a nice child who wanted to grow up and have a regular job. I can understand running away from an abusive situation like that, but I wonder if he’d had a normal childhood if he would have ended up as teacher or killer?

  2. Oh my goodness, so much for having faith in the justice system… That guy is 70 now, and I’m not sure I want to know what he’s up to these days.

    https://thethreegerbers.blogspot.ch/2018/04/p-is-for-paris.html

    • I’d like to think he straightened himself out, but can’t imagine, after that high a kill count, that he did. Monster indeed.

  3. It’s very unsettling to know that he might still be out there somewhere. Hopefully the justice system has tougher sentences now, should he ever offend again.

    POV by McFly

    • At 70 years old I would say he’s probably got away with any crimes he’s committed since his release. But hopefully there haven’t been any!

  4. This one’s really sad. All of that lost potential, the light tormented and abused out of him from the sounds of it.
    While there have been systemic failures for many of the serial killers you’ve talked about, this one seems to have been one failure after another. The most recent – allowing him his freedom without any monitoring at all – is terrifying.

    • His desire to be a teacher when he was young is rather heartbreaking. If he’d been able to channel his energy into that career who knows what he may have achieved.

  5. I want to blame his upbringing but really? Where does a dose of personal responsibility kick in? He’s simply a monster.

  6. Good lord – the laws are clearing inadequate for the crimes! I remember seeing something about Lopez on a TV show about serial killers. He is one dangerous individual.
    Tasha
    Tasha’s Thinkings – Movie Monsters

    • Can you imagine what the families of his victims thought when they found out what his punishment was? No wonder they changed the laws.

  7. I can’t even conceive of how he could have killed so many. And I certainly wouldn’t have felt safe with him only behind bars that short a time!

    • It does make you wonder what he has done with himself in the years following his release. Not sure I really want to know.

  8. Oh, dear, if I had been a member of the family of one of his victims,
    I’d be terrified to hear he had been released, even after 25 years! He really should have been monitored.

    • If they had such low sentences for such heinous crimes, there would have been no chance of post-release monitoring, but I agree that would have made sense!

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