Pedro López

"I am the man of the century. No one will ever forget me."

Pedro Alonso López de Castañeda, a.k.a. "The Monster of the Andes", is a Colombian pedophile, Serial Rapist and Killer believed to have murdered over 100 young girls in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. His murders coincided with those of another Colombian prolific child killer, Daniel Camargo.

Background
López's mother, Benilda López de Castañeda, was a prostitute. His father Midardo Reyes, already married to another woman, was having an affair with Castañeda. López was the seventh of thirteen children. Reyes was shot and killed six months before Lopéz was born, when a rebellious mob attacked the grocery store where he was in, during the period of civil war in Colombia known as La Violencia("The Violence"). López's mother claimed to be loving and caring, but López said that she was cruel and abusive. López also claimed that from a young age, he watched his mother have sex with clients and let them hit her in occasion. When he was eight, Castañeda caught López molesting his younger sister, resulting in him being kicked out of the house. Days later, he was found by a pedophile, who lured him with the promise of a hot meal and a bed but instead took him to an abandoned house and repeatedly sodomized him. Afterwards, he joined a gang of street children for protection. The gang would often fight others with knives and belts, for food and places to sleep in. After four years, López was taken in by an American family and became a student in a school for orphans, but ran away after he was molested by a teacher. Years later, an adult López began to steal cars and sell them to local chop-shops.

Murders, Arrest and Release
"I like the girls in Ecuador. They are more gentle and trusting, more innocent."

López was eventually caught and sent to prison, where he was brutally gang-raped by three other inmates, an event that deeply traumatized him. Following this, López made a shiv for himself and hunted down his rapists, killing all of them (some versions claim that he was also raped by a fourth inmate, who escaped). These killings were ruled to have been committed in self-defense and he was only added two years to his previous sentence. After his release, López became a drifter and began abducting, raping and murdering young girls. On one occasion, in Peru, López attempted to abduct a nine-year-old child from an Indian tribe, but he was caught in the act. As a result, López was beaten, tortured, and buried up to his neck by the natives, who planned to pour syrup on his head and let him be eaten alive by ants. However, he was saved when an American missionary intervened and convinced them to let her deliver him to police. The tribe reluctantly agreed, but the missionary instead drove López to the Colombian border, where she set him free. Afterwards, he began travelling through the countries of Colombia and Ecuador, abducting and murdering more girls along the way. Police initially believed that slavery and prostitution rings were the culprits behind the cases of the missing children. Following a flash flood near Ambato, Ecuador, in 1980, the bodies of four of the missing children were uncovered and found. Days later, López attempted to abduct a twelve-year-old girl from a marketplace but failed when her mother caught him with the help of the townspeople, who held him for police. He was arrested and became a suspect in the disappearances of many children across Ecuador. In custody, López remained silent, which frustrated police officers. A priest was sent to stay with López in a cell, and succeeded in talking with López, hearing many stories about real and imagined crimes from him. Police officers eventually took the priest away and confronted him with the evidence of his own admissions, causing him to break down and confess to all of the murders. This admission shocked the police officers, as they believed that no man could be responsible for so many crimes.

López led police to more than 30 graves containing the bodies of his victims. López's body count is popularly believed to be 110, but some have estimated it to be more than 300. Many police officers and reporters have disagreed with the latter estimate, saying that it was still very low, because he had initially cooperated with police, but then became tired and stopped cooperating with the investigation. López was ultimately charged and convicted of three murders. During incarceration, he met with fellow Colombian serial killer and rapist Daniel Camargo. In August 31, 1994, López was released from prison on good behavior but was arrested again after murdering a twenty-year-old person two hours after his release. Four years later, he was released again from a psychiatric hospital on good behavior after initially being found insane. His whereabouts are currently unknown, but he is sought by Interpol as the prime suspect in a 2002 murder.

Modus Operandi
López targeted young girls aged between eight and twelve, mostly from rural Amerindian communities. He would stalk the girls for an unknown amount of time and then abduct them. He would bring them to a secluded place, where he would rape and strangle them to death. Afterwards, he would bury their bodies in shallow graves, in groups of three or four. Before they decomposed too much, he would return and play "tea parties" with a group of corpses. López only killed in daytime because he wanted to have a clear view of his victims' faces as he killed them.

Known Victims
"I lost my innocence at age of eight. So I decided to do the same to as many girls as I could."


 * Unspecified date: His unnamed sister
 * Unspecified date in 1964: Four unnamed inmates
 * Unspecified dates from 1969 to 1980:
 * Numerous unnamed girls
 * Unnamed child, 9
 * Unspecified date in 1980: Unnamed girl, 12
 * August 31, 1994: Unnamed victim, 20
 * Unspecified date in 2002: Unnamed victim

On Criminal Minds
López is similar to prolific, pedophilic serial killer Shane Wyland. Both were drifters active along a mountain range spanning different jurisdictions; targeted children between the ages of eight and twelve years (though López preyed on girls, while Shane targeted boys), who they stalked, abducted, raped, killed, and buried in shallow graves; and became serial killers after a previous stint in prison. The ending scene with Shane evading capture and walking into the woods while still at large (a very uncommon occurrence in the series) is reminiscent of common retellings of López's story, which end with the claim that he walked into the Colombian jungle after committing a murder and was never seen again. López's history of being abused as a child and propping his victims to play tea parties is also shared with Samantha Malcolm.