For better or worse, serial killers continue to fascinate us. You can find their stories in a variety of media, from books to television to podcasts. We’ve all seen or heard the horror stories of Bundy, Dahmer and Ridgeway. Yet a name stands out not only because of the scale of his crimes, but also because he has been all but forgotten.
Pedro Lopez, known as the “Monster of the Andes,” went on a killing spree in the late 1970s and eventually confessed to murdering more than 350 girls between the ages of 7 and 13 in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. Guinness World Records lists him as the most prolific serial killer of modern times. Check out the history of one of the world’s most ruthless killers you’ve never heard of.
At the age of 10, an American couple found him on the streets and took him in. He was even enrolled in a school for orphans. This happiness was short lived, however, and at the age of 12 Lopez was molested by a teacher. He ran away back to the streets, the only home he’d known.
Years later, Lopez himself would address his feelings on his molestations with the quote, “I decided then to do the same to as many young girls as possible.”
