'World's worst' serial killer now free and no one knows where he is

Pedro Alonso Lopez: Andes killer dubbed the 'people eater'

Pedro Alonso López killed at least 110 women and girls (Image: Wikipedia)

He stands amongst the most notorious serial killers in documented history - a man who once boasted of strangling hundreds of young girls throughout Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

Yet Pedro Alonso López, ominously dubbed 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 life was surrounded by chaos since birth.

His father was killed before his birth, whilst his mother, a sex worker, struggled to raise 13 children in destitution.

From his earliest years, López witnessed and endured cruelty. He subsequently alleged he was expelled from home at eight years old after his mother discovered him inappropriately touching one of his sisters - a punishment that rendered him homeless on Bogotá's streets.

There, he became part of gangs comprising homeless children, sheltering beneath bridges and scrounging for food.

According to López's own testimonies, he suffered repeated attacks from both adults and older children.

By 12 years of age, he had been temporarily taken in by an American missionary household, only to flee after stealing money - establishing a recurring theme of deceit and escape that would characterise his entire life, reports the Mirror.

At 18, López was imprisoned for vehicle theft and dispatched to Bogotá's infamously brutal La Modelo prison. Two days following his arrival, he was allegedly sexually assaulted by three fellow prisoners.

His retaliation proved swift and merciless - he crafted a makeshift blade and murdered all three. Officials classified the killings as self-defence and merely extended his sentence by two years.

When he gained his freedom 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 predators.

López wandered through Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, preying on young girls from impoverished or indigenous communities - frequently street sellers or children travelling unaccompanied.

He would entice them with offers of cash or small presents, occasionally pretending he required assistance locating a bus station.

Once isolated with his victims, he would sexually assault and strangle them, subsequently interring their remains in makeshift graves.

During later interviews, López said he selected his targets because "they were easy to take."

When questioned about his reasoning, he disturbingly 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 ran frantic pleas, yet officials brushed aside the vanishings as instances as domestic abuse.

Subsequently, an unexpected incident revealed the horrifying reality. When torrential waters swept through Ambato's periphery, they exposed the skeletal remains of four girls.

López then tried to abduct another youngster, 12-year-old Maria Poveda, but her mother stepped in. Residents apprehended him and delivered him to authorities.

Initially, López remained silent. However, following days of refusing to talk whilst in custody, he admitted to a fellow prisoner - who was actually an undercover police officer - that he had murdered hundreds.

He subsequently offered to guide authorities to where his victims were buried.

Detectives accompanied him to remote rural areas, where numerous graves were unearthed, each holding the remains of a young girl.

Pedro Alonso Lopez has vanished (Image: Internet Unknown)

López spoke matter-of-factly as he indicated the locations, recalling each in vivid detail.

"I like the girls because they are pure," he informed one officer. "I killed them with love."

Police ultimately recovered 53 bodies in Ecuador and accepted his admission of at least 110 murders throughout the nation.

López also confessed to numerous additional killings in Colombia and Peru - potentially exceeding 300 in total.

His 1981 trial in Ambato attracted worldwide attention. Relatives of missing children packed the courtroom, demanding explanations and justice.

Yet Ecuador's legislation at that time capped the maximum prison term at merely 16 years - even for the country's most deadly serial killer.

López was found guilty on 57 murder charges and dispatched to the maximum-security García Moreno prison in Quito.

Whilst incarcerated, López gave numerous interviews, frequently contradicting his own statements.

He boasted about his "power over life and death," though sometimes maintained he was set up or simply an accomplice.

Prison warders reported that fellow inmates repeatedly attempted to murder him and he survived multiple stabbing attacks.

Despite desperate pleas from victims' families and prosecutors for a lengthier sentence, López was freed 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 confronted a fresh charge for the murder of 12 year old Flor Alba Sánchez, one of the few Colombian victims officially linked to him. He was found guilty but declared insane, and dispatched to a psychiatric hospital in Bogotá.

Three years later, in 1998, doctors deemed him sane and freed him - on bail equivalent to about £55. Authorities demanded he report to the police each month, but he never did.

Since then, López has disappeared. His final confirmed sighting was in September 1999, when he turned up at a government office in Bogotá to renew his ID card under a false name.

Three years later, Interpol issued a warrant for his arrest over another suspected killing in Colombia, but no trace of him was ever discovered.

In 2005, officials briefly deactivated the warrant after claims that a body found in Colombia was his - but forensic evidence was inconclusive, and many believe he is still alive.

There have been alleged sightings in Ecuador and southern Colombia over the years, but none have been verified. Reports suggest he once returned to visit his mother, only to rob her of her mattress and chair before vanishing again.

Today, the "Monster of the Andes" would be in his late seventies.

In 2002, Ecuadorian police investigators told 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."