The Monster of the Andes: No One Knows Were this Serial Killer is Hiding Now
By August 7, 2018
Pedro Lopez, also known as The Monster of the Andes, is a prolific serial killer and rapist who may have murdered as many as 300 little girls in several South American countries. Lopez was caught and tried for his crimes, but was declared insane and sent to a mental hospital. In 1998, he was released on good behavior and no one has seen the Monster of the Andes again. Is it possible that he is still continuing his reign of terror somewhere in the world?
Lopez had a Tumultuous Childhood as the Son of a Prostitute
A member of the Colombian Conservative Party during Colombia’s civil war, Pedro Lopez’ father, Midardo Reyes had a fight with his wife one December night in 1947 and stormed out into the darkness. He hired a prostitute named Belinda Lopez de Casteneda and spent the evening with her. She soon after discovered that she was pregnant with Reyes’ child. She was only three months along when Reyes was murdered by a rebellious mob. When Pedro Lopez was born six months later, he became the seventh of Belinda Lopez’s thirteen children.
Growing up with a Prostitute for a Mom Led to Lopez’s Bizarre Mental Issues
As a child, Lopez was witness to countless acts of prostitution, which he later claimed had damaged his psyche. He was only eight years old when his mother caught him sexually assaulting his younger sister, but Belinda Lopez didn’t let Pedro's young age stop her from kicking him out of the house for good. The youngster made his way to Bogota, Colombia’s capital, where he met a kindly older man. Lopez later recounted that this man took him to an abandoned building and repeatedly sodomized him. When he was 12 years old, an American family took pity on him and helped him to enroll in a school for orphaned children. He only lasted two years at this school before running away. He claimed that a male teacher had sexually assaulted him, but this was never proven. By the time he turned 18, Pedro Lopez supported himself by stealing cars and then selling them to chop-shops. The police caught him and sent him to prison.
Lopez’s Murder Spree began while He was in Jail
Pedro Lopez claimed that he was viciously gang-raped as a new prisoner. He remembered the faces of his attackers and, one by one, he hunted them down and killed each one before he was released from jail. This was Lopez’s first taste of murder.
Once he was released from prison, Pedro Lopez discovered his appetite for young girls. He began abducting, raping and killing little girls in villages across Peru. He later claimed that he had raped and murdered more than 100 girls by 1978 when he was caught in the act by members of a native tribe.
