Pedro Lopez: The Monster of the Andes

In January of 1999, Pedro Lopez gave an exclusive, one-time-only interview, to National Examiner correspondent Ron Laytner. The following are excerpts taken from that interview:

"I am the man of the century," Lopez bragged to Laytner while in prison in Ecuador. "No one will ever forget me.

"I went after my victims by walking among the markets searching for a girl with a certain look on her face — a look of innocence and beauty. She would be a good girl, working with her mother. I followed them sometimes for two or three days, waiting for when she was left alone. I would give her a trinket like a hand mirror, then take her to the edge of town where I would promise a trinket for her mother.

"I would take her to a secret hideaway where prepared graves waited. Sometimes there were bodies of earlier victims there. I cuddled them and then raped them at sunrise. At the first sign of light I would get excited. I forced the girl into sex and put my hands around her throat. When the sun rose I would strangle her.

"It was only good if I could see her eyes, it would have been wasted in the dark — I had to watch them by daylight. There is a divine moment when I have my hands around a young girl's throat. I look into her eyes and see a certain light, a spark, suddenly go out. The moment of death is enthralling and exciting. Only those who actually kill know what I mean.

"When I am released I will feel that moment again.

"It took the girls five to 15 minutes to die. I was very considerate. I would spend a long time with them making sure they were dead. I would mirror to check whether they were still breathing. Sometimes I had to kill them all over again," he admitted.

"They never screamed because they didn't expect anything would happen. They were innocent."

"My little friends liked to have company," he said. "I often put three or four into one hole. But after a while I got bored because they couldn't move, so I looked for more girls."

As of this writing, Pedro is still in prison in Ecuador, and may get a chance for parole. However, if released he will be required to stand additional trials in Colombia and Peru.