Released after 16 years, the “Monster of the Andes” simply disappeared

No one knows where he is

The “Monster of the Andes”: the world’s worst serial killer vanished

Pedro Alonso López — dubbed the “Monster of the Andes” — remains one of history’s most prolific and chilling serial killers. Convicted of murdering dozens of girls across Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru, López claimed to have taken the lives of more than 300 victims.

Yet, despite his crimes, he was released decades ago — and his whereabouts remain a disturbing mystery.

A brutal childhood shaped by violence and neglect

Born in 1948 in Colombia’s Tolima region, López’s early years were marked by poverty and abuse. His father was killed before his birth, and his mother, a sex worker, struggled to raise 13 children.

Expelled from home at age eight for molesting a sibling, López lived on the streets of Bogotá, surviving through theft and enduring frequent assaults. This cycle of violence and abandonment would later manifest in horrific ways, The Express reports.

From prison violence to a reign of terror

After being jailed at 18 for car theft, López killed three inmates who had attacked him, serving only two extra years for the murders. Released in 1978, he began targeting young girls across South America, luring them with gifts or false promises before sexually assaulting and strangling them.

When asked why, he chillingly replied, “I lost my innocence at eight — so I decided to do the same to as many girls as I could,” notes The Express.

Discovery of mass graves and shocking confessions

According to The Express, by 1979, disappearances around Ambato, Ecuador, had reached alarming levels. Floodwaters soon exposed the remains of four young victims. When López was caught trying to abduct another child, he eventually confessed to hundreds of murders, even guiding police to several burial sites.

Investigators unearthed dozens of graves — 53 bodies in Ecuador alone.

A short sentence — and a vanishing act

According to The Express, despite confessing to unimaginable crimes, López received only 16 years in prison — Ecuador’s maximum sentence at the time.

Released in 1994 for “good behavior,” he was briefly detained in Colombia for another murder but declared insane and sent to a psychiatric hospital — only to be freed again in 1998. By 1999, he had vanished completely.

The chilling legacy of a killer who disappeared

Decades later, no one knows where Pedro Alonso López is. Some reports claim he died; others allege sightings across Colombia and Ecuador. If alive, he would now be in his late seventies.

As one Ecuadorian investigator told local media in 2002, “We still ask ourselves if he’s alive. Because if he is, there’s no reason he wouldn’t kill again,” The Express reports.

This article is made and published by August M, who may have used AI in the preparation