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.
Three days after the bodies washed ashore, Lopez attempted to abduct 10 year old Maria Poveda from a market. This time however, the girl’s mother, Carlina, saw him walking away with her daughter and screamed. Lopez found himself surrounded by an angry mob, who held him to the ground until police arrived.
He was an immediate suspect in the murder of the river bank children. Unfortunalty for the police, Lopez was uncooperative and refused to answer questions. This led to a creative idea from Investigator Pastor Gonzales. Gonzales posed as a fellow prisoner, and won Lopez’s trust by claiming to be in jail for rape. Soon police got their confession, and a lot more.
