Terror as monster serial killer butchered 110 women and now no one knows where he is
Pedro Alonso López, known as the "Monster of the Andes", is one of the most prolific serial killers in history - but he was released from prison in 1998 and has since vanished
He ranks among the most notorious serial killers in documented history - a man who once boasted of strangling hundreds of young girls across Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Yet Pedro Alonso López, dubbed menacingly as the "Monster of the Andes", has roamed free for decades - and his whereabouts remain unknown.
Born in October 1948 in Colombia's Tolima region, López's existence started amid turmoil and brutality. His father was killed before his birth, and his mother, a prostitute, brought up 13 children in destitution.
From his earliest years, López witnessed and endured savagery. He subsequently alleged he was thrown out of his home at justeight after his mother discovered him touching one of his sisters - a consequence that rendered him destitute on Bogotá's streets.
There, he became part of gangs of homeless youngsters, bedding down beneath bridges and foraging for sustenance. Based on López's own testimonies, he suffered repeated attacks from both grown-ups and older youngsters.
By 12 he had been temporarily taken in by an American missionary household, only to flee after stealing money - a cycle of deceit and escape that would characterise his remaining years, reports the Mirror.
At 18, López was imprisoned for vehicle theft and dispatched to Bogotá's infamously brutal La Modelo jail. Two days following his arrival, he was allegedly gang-raped by three prisoners.
His retaliation was immediate and savage - he crafted a makeshift blade and murdered them all. Officials classified the slayings as self-defence and merely extended his sentence by two years.
When he was freed in 1978, he embarked on a journey across the Andes - launching a reign of terror that would establish him as one of South America's most chilling killers.
López wandered through Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, preying on young girls from impoverished or indigenous communities - frequently street sellers or children walking unaccompanied. He would entice them with offers of cash or small presents, occasionally pretending he needed assistance locating a bus stop.
Once isolated with his victims, he would sexually assault and throttle them, subsequently interring their remains in makeshift graves.
During later interrogations, López claimed he selected his targets because "they were easy to take."
When questioned about his reasoning, he coldly 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 tally of vanished children surrounding the Ecuadorian city of Ambato had reached deeply concerning proportions. Families distributed leaflets and regional publications carried frantic pleas, yet officials brushed aside the vanishings as instances of human trafficking or domestic conflicts.
Subsequently, a bizarre mishap revealed the horrifying reality. When torrential floods swept through Ambato's periphery, they exposed the skeletal remains of four girls.
The macabre find revealed a sequence too harrowing to dismiss.
Simultaneously, López tried to abduct another youngster, 12 year old Maria Poveda, but her mother stepped in and sounded the alert. Residents apprehended him and delivered him to authorities.
Initially, López remained silent about his crimes.
However, after several days of refusing to talk whilst in custody, he made a shocking confession to what he believed was a fellow prisoner - who was actually an undercover police officer - admitting he had slaughtered hundreds of victims.
He then volunteered to guide officers to where his victims were buried.
Detectives accompanied him to remote rural locations, and what they discovered defied belief.
Scores of makeshift graves were unearthed, each holding the skeletal remains of a young girl.
López spoke matter-of-factly as he indicated each burial spot, recalling every location in vivid detail.
"I like the girls because they are pure," he told one detective. I killed them with love."
Police ultimately retrieved 53 corpses in Ecuador and accepted his admission to at least 110 murders throughout the nation.
López also owned up to countless additional killings in Colombia and Peru - potentially exceeding 300 deaths altogether.
His 1981 court case in Ambato attracted worldwide media coverage.
Relatives of vanished children packed the courtroom, desperately seeking answers and demanding justice.
But Ecuador's legal system at that time capped the maximum jail term at merely 16 years - even for the nation's most deadly serial killer.
López was found guilty on 57 murder charges and dispatched to the maximum-security García Moreno prison in Quito.
During his imprisonment, López participated in numerous media interviews, frequently providing conflicting accounts.
He boasted about his "power over life and death," whilst sometimes insisting he had been set up or was simply an accomplice.
Prison warders reported that fellow inmates regularly attempted to murder him and he endured multiple stabbing incidents. Despite desperate appeals from victims' families and prosecutors for a lengthier sentence, López walked free in 1994 - two years ahead of schedule, for "good behaviour."
He even branded himself at the time as "the man of the century."
Ecuador expelled him to Colombia, where he faced fresh charges for murdering 12-year-old Flor Alba Sánchez, one of the few Colombian victims officially linked to him. He was convicted but declared mentally unfit, and transferred to a psychiatric facility in Bogotá.
Three years on, in 1998, medics deemed him mentally stable and freed him - on bail worth roughly £55. Officials demanded he check in with police monthly, but he never showed up.
From that point, López disappeared without trace.
His final confirmed appearance was in September 1999, when he turned up at a government office in Bogotá to update his ID documents using a fake identity. Three years afterwards, Interpol issued an arrest warrant over another suspected murder in Colombia, but no sign of him was ever discovered.
In 2005, authorities temporarily cancelled the warrant following claims that remains found in Colombia belonged to him - but forensic analysis proved inconclusive, and many suspect he remains at large.
There have been reported sightings in Ecuador and southern Colombia throughout the years, but none have been confirmed. Accounts suggest he once went back to see his mother, only to steal her mattress and chair before vanishing once more.
Today, the "Monster of the Andes" would be in his late seventies. If he is still alive, he remains one of the world's most prolific killers who has never been recaptured - a man who may still walk freely despite confessing to over 300 murders.
In 2002, Ecuadorian police investigators informed 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."