Talk:Pedro López (serial killer)

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[edit] Some Publication Dates Found Over the Years.

Ron Laytner's Interview. Chicago Tribune, Sunday July 13, 1980. The Toronto Sun, Monday July 21, 1980. The Sacramento Bee, Monday July 21, 1980. Sonntags Blick Germany, August 24, 1980. The Miami Herald, Sunday September 7, 1980. The Desert News, Sunday March 22, 1992. Seura Magazine Finland, March 1992. The Sun, May 19, 1992. And Laytner’s interviews of Lopez have appeared in 42 publications around the world since the year 2000. I counted. Mark of Chivalry (talk) 05:48, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

It seems with the facts in evidence that Ron Laytner was the first journalist to interview and bring Lopez's story to Public attention in mainstream media, long before any other source mentioned in the article, any question of the legitimacy of his interview should be put to rest. Lopez was indeed a 'monster' a mad man; the exact number of girls he murdered will most likely never be known, that fact that he did murder many is indisputable. Mark of Chivalry (talk) 05:48, 14 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Source

What is the source for this article?

http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/notorious/pedro_lopez/1.html?sect=1 seems to be the master web article.

I have looked at the reference, its own bibliography refers to two web-sites that appear to be defunct, and one that has only a tiny article (apparently derived from the Book Of Lists - '90's Edition), which differs in the number of rapists in prison.

I have searched the BBC site to no avail.

The many other references I found on the web are either re-hashes of David Lohr's article (e.g. http://horrorthirst.com/pedroalonzolopez1.php or is one of them the original?), just references or one even a rehash of this (wikipedia) article.

One states "Considering that it is in fact confirmed that Lopez killed as many as he claimed, it's incredible that there have yet to be any books written about his case. We can only find mention of him in random serial killer "encyclopedias"." (Note that it was never confirmed according to any of the sources I have yet seen that he killed anyone, only that he lead the police to a mass grave of about 50 presumed victims.)

There is a reference to http://www.serialhomicide.com/cases.htm which I could not follow up since this rotates daily, but the extensive quote indicates it's the same old text.

This site gives a different MO, http://www.fortunecity.com/roswell/streiber/273/lopez_mo.htm

There appears to have been an interview with Ron Laytner of the National Examiner Lohr gives the date as Jan 1999 (after the publication of another of his sources The Encyclopedia of Serial Killers, by Michael Newton December 1999, Facts on File; ISBN: 081603978X )

Interestingly this (odd) page gives a more accurate date.

http://www.fortunecity.com/meltingpot/nicaragua/510/serlopez.html

[...] (The following was taken from the National Examiner/ Jan 12 1999/ Page 6-7) [...] "Now, 1998 the 47 year-old madman has been released from prison even when he has declared that: "He will be happy to kill again"."

and attempts to include a photo from the article.

One may think it irrelevant but (if that date is corect) the same issue and page contains the article mentioned at http://www.parascope.com/nb/uforoundup/uforoundup990118.htm "Loch Ness turtle terrorizes Vietnam".

A to Z Encyclopedia of Serial Killers (Pub 1997) (Pocket Books True Crime) states that he "killed scores of Ecudorean Women" (note: not young girls)

According to the 1992-5 edition of The Encyclopedia Lopez was captured after being followed by the mother of an abducted girl form a market to the edge of town, where native Indians intervened. (According to Lohr et al, market traders persued him.) The reference given is to The Worlds Most Infamous Murders by Boar and Blundell - Octopus London 1983 (I am trying to get a copy)

In summary, shortly after the publication of an edition of The Encyclopedia a somewhat sensational journal publishes a purported interview with Lopez and we have a load of details appearing. There is no guarantee that Lopez, if interviewed, was actually telling the truth, or indeed that he told the truth to the police earlier. This may have been a tale that grew in the telling. Rich Farmbrough 23:48, 20 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I have acquired a copy of Boar and Blundell (unfortunately 1990 edition, not the earlier one). It appears to be a better article than the succeding compilations. However four of the proper names quoted turn up zero google hits apart from derivaties of the article. Rich Farmbrough 11:51, 26 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I've turned up a ref on the BBC to his alleged deportation to Columbia. However according to Butler and Boar he should have been released (or deported) in 1996 at the latest - 16 years being the maximum life sentence in Ecuador. Rich Farmbrough 11:56, 26 Aug 2004 (UTC)

I've put a request up at the refernce desk, no joy so far.

All ElComercio (on line) has to say is

  • PEDRO ALONSO LOPEZ, Colombia. Apodado el "Monstruo de los Andes", sospechoso de haber asesinado al menos a 300 personas en Colombia, Ecuador y Perú. En 1980 fue convicto por 57 cargos.

In an article about Shipman datelined London. Rich Farmbrough 15:54, 28 Aug 2004 (UTC)

My suspicions of non-canonicity grow. I missed this in the Lohr article "No information is readily available on Pedro’s brief trial, however it is known that sometime in late1980, Pedro Alonso Lopez was convicted on multiple counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison." Rich Farmbrough 16:03, 28 Aug 2004 (UTC)



DOCUMENTARY FROM HISTORY CHANNEL ABOUT LOPEZ SEEMS TO CONFIRM HIS STORY
K Eriksen - 10 Aug 2007
History channel has released a documentary about Pedro Lopez with first hand accounts from Lopez himself, the police and families of the victims. This documentary confirms Lopes existence that is unless you believe this is a very well made hoax which I personally don't believe the History Channel would take part in. I have inserted links to the documentary here and under external links on the main page. *Links to History Channel Documentary on youTube Part 1-5. This documentary includes many first hand accounts

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRHprJUV6-Q 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuoIS-DIbUw 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KSLVOZpje0 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4yiEYBGL-s 
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh2rHllyOBs

[edit] South American newspaper

I've recently been doing a little research online looking at South American newspapers, and came across this article below (in Spanish) about Pedro Lopez. It cites the same major facts as other sources and suggests he was provisionally released in 1993. Other papers had nothing in their archives and one editor responded to my queries by saying he'd turned up no articles. You decide.

J U S T I C I A El regreso del ?monstruo? Hay alarma en Colombia por la posible presencia del mayor asesino de niñas de la historia. A la mayoria de los colombianos el nombre de Pedro Alonso López no les dice nada. Sin embargo hoy tiene en máxima alerta a la Interpol, a la Policía, a la Fiscalía y a los organismos de seguridad colombianos. Y no es para menos. Más conocido con el nombre de ?Monstruo de los Andes?, este tolimense nacido en 1949 sembró el terror en Colombia, Perú y especialmente en Ecuador pues asesinó en estos tres países a cerca de 300 niñas entre los 8 y los 13 años durante la década de los 70. La aterradora cifra de víctimas tiene a López, aún hoy, 20 años después de descubrirse sus crímenes, encabezando el macabro listado internacional de los mayores asesinos en serie de la historia del cual hace parte otro colombiano, Luis Alfredo Garavito, quien fue capturado por la Fiscalía General a finales de 1999 sindicado de asesinar a 140 niños en diferentes regiones del país

La historia de López estremece hasta al más curtido detective de homicidios. Escudado por la fachada de ser un humilde vendedor ambulante llegó a Ecuador en 1973. Desde ese año y hasta 1980 la policía de ese país, así como sus colegas en Colombia y Perú, estuvieron desconcertados por las numerosas y misteriosas denuncias por desapariciones de niñas entre 8 y 13 años que se presentaban en las tres naciones. Las hipótesis que en ese momento manejaron las autoridades de los tres países señalaban como posibles responsables de las desapariciones a una red de tráfico de menores de edad con destino a las casas de prostitución que estarían operando en la zona andina. Sin embargo fue una casualidad la que terminó descubriendo los crímenes de López.

A comienzos de marzo de 1980 una inundación en el pequeño pueblo de Tungurahua, Ecuador, desenterró el cadáver de un niña de 10 años dedicada a la venta de periódicos y quien pocos días antes había sido reportada por sus padres como desaparecida. Durante la investigación por este caso el mayor de la policía Telmo Tamayo llevó a López a la sede del Servicio de Investigación Criminal de Tungurahua para efectuar un interrogatorio de rutina ya que algunos testigos lo habían visto conversando con la pequeña vendedora de periódicos. En la declaración oficial de ese lunes 10 de marzo de 1980 López no sólo reconoció y describió detalladamente como violó, ahorcó y sepultó bajo un puente a la niña de 10 años, sino que confesó ser el responsable de asesinar de la misma forma a cerca de 200 niñas más en otras ciudades del Ecuador. Aterrorizados por el cruel relato los policías ecuatorianos inicialmente no le creyeron. Sólo aceptaron la realidad cuando el colombiano llevó a los agentes a 50 lugares diferentes alrededor de Tungurahua, en donde él mismo desenterró los cuerpos de sus pequeñas víctimas.

La confesión permitió a las autoridades ecuatorianas, peruanas y colombianas encontrar otros lugares, en cada uno de esos países, en donde el ?Monstruo de los Andes? había sepultado a sus víctimas. López fue condenado a 30 años de prisión en Ecuador. Sin embargo, gracias a una serie de rebajas en su condena, salió de la cárcel en libertad provisional en 1993. Al poco tiempo de estar de nuevo en las calles en diferentes ciudades de Perú se volvieron a registrar nuevas desapariciones de menores de edad y las autoridades de ese país sindican a López como el responsable ya que los homicidios que se han presentado tienen su sello característico. Según las investigaciones adelantadas por las autoridades colombianas los movimientos migratorios de López y una serie de desapariciones de menores de edad en el país les permiten asegurar que se encuentra en territorio colombiano. La Policía, el DAS, la Fiscalía y la Interpol en Colombia han iniciado una gran ofensiva con el fin de dar con su paradero y esperan que con la colaboración de la ciudadanía puedan poner punto final a esta pesadilla que ha regresado del pasado.

Edición: 1006 Fecha: 2001-08-10 Sección: Nacion Caracteres: 3879

[edit] Report of death.

http://noticias.ya.com/archivo/mundo2002/0630.htm

noticias > hemeroteca > Mundo 2002 > 30/06/2002 [...] World 2002 > 30/06/2002 [...] 04:40 - Europa Press Muere en la cárcel el "monstruo de los Andes", un guerrillero acusado de asesinar a unos 200 insurgentessss

) allegedly.... Rich Farmbrough 19:49, 28 Aug 2004 (UTC)

This is someone else. Jose Fedor King http://www.caracol.com.co/titular.asp?Id=77614 Rich Farmbrough 20:08, 28 Aug 2004 (UTC)

[edit] Guiness Book Of Records/Usenet/New York Times

A usenet article... quotes this extract from the New York Times.


"The Guinness Book of World Records lists another Colombian, Pedro Armando Lopez, known here as the "Monster of the Andes," as the largest-scale serial killer of modern times. He is believed to have killed more than 300 girls and young women in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru before being captured in Ecuador and convicted of 57 counts of murder there in 1980.

Lopez served 16 years in an Ecuadorean prison, but because that country does not have a law that permits consecutive sentences, he was released and deported back to Colombia. His present whereabouts are not known, but it is presumed he is living under an assumed identity. "

And implies that Columbia no longer ha the death penalty

http://64.78.63.75/samples/04CJ103SiegelCriminology8Ch11.pdf

quotes the same info about Pedro "Armando" Lopez derived from the same article their

153. Larry Rohter, "In The Chaos of Columbia, The makings of a Mass Killer" NYT 1st November 1999.

Oh yes, he's not in UK GBR 1980, 2000 or 2002.

Rich Farmbrough 22:07, 28 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Some guy has gathered a few articles about Lopez, also in the course of questioning whether he committed these crimes or exists at all. The final one says he was released a few years ago. All very mysterious: http://users.erols.com/mwhite28/lopez_ap.htm

Yep, I'm pleased to say he was inspired by this article! Rich Farmbrough 21:53, 23 August 2005 (UTC)


[edit] Inconsistencies

There are many inconsistencies in the various accounts, but two that are salient are

  • None of the proper names seem to match up to anything but Lopez articles.
  • Many of the articles (including Butler and Bloor) claim that had Lopez been convicted in Columbia he would have been shot. According to Use_of_death_penalty_worldwide#South_America (and, more importantly it's sources, which I've checked) Columbia outlawed the death penalty in 1909 or 1910.

Nonetheless the AP reports indicate that such a person may have existed, and confessed to a large number of murders. I hope all readers of this page will be familiar with the various reasons for such high attributions of victim numbers - if not examine the pages of almost all serial killers with tallies alleged to be in three figures. Rich Farmbrough 22:13 12 June 2006 (GMT).

P.S. IF anyone has access to Ecuadoran newspapers of the time, please look for any more information. Rich Farmbrough 22:13 12 June 2006 (GMT) - thanks to our anon who contributed above.

[edit] Rather Annoying

It's rather annoying to see that this article, which was labelled twice in the past as copyvio is "cleared" with the claim "Re-written possible copyvio". Most people would not check this again and this may be very misleading. The text in the article that needs to be re-written is the following (text copied verbatim is in bold):

Born in Tolima, Colombia, in 1949 Pedro Lopez became notorious as the Monster of the Andes. According to Lopez, his prostitute mother kicked him out of their home at age eight for fondling his younger sister. He was then picked up by a pedophile and was sodomized. He was taken in by an American family and enrolled in a school for orphans. He alledgedly ran away either with a teacher from his school or because he was molested by a teacher. When he was eighteen he was gang-raped in prison and retaliated by killing three of his assailants. Upon his release he started preying on young girls. By 1978 he claimed to have killed more than 100 girls in Peru. After a brush with an angry village mob he moved his activities to Colombia and then Ecuador, where his bloodlust averaged about three kills a week. He found killing Ecuadorian girls enjoyable because they were "more gentle and trusting, more innocent." Authorities attributed the rash of disappearing girls to active slavery or prostitution rings in the area. In 1980 a flash flood uncovered the first of his victims in Ecuador. When he was arrested he told his interrogators the frightening tale of his reign of death. At first authorities were sceptical but all doubts disappeared when he quickly produced more than fifty graves. It is widely believed that three hundred is a low estimate.

Ori Redler 14:00, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

You could have explained this before rather than suppressing the whole article with no explanation. Can you tell us what this has been copied from?--Cúchullain t/c 17:46, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

The source copied is part of the "copyvio" template, so it appears in the article now (it's here. I thought naming the source was enough. Sorry for that. Ori Redler 23:06, 13 June 2006 (UTC)

Sorry, I didn't see the Lopez info on that page. I don't think it's original to there, though. I'll notify Rich, who's been the primary editor here.--Cúchullain t/c 00:42, 14 June 2006 (UTC)
Here's the text I left "Born in Tolima, Colombia, in 1949 Pedro López became notorious as the Monster of the Andes. According to López, his mother, a prostitute with thirteen children, caught him fondling his younger sister in 1957 when he was eight years old, and evicted him from the family home. Living on the streets he was then picked up by a child molester, taken to a deserted house and repeatedly sodomized. He was later taken in by an American family and enrolled in a school for orphans. He allegedly ran away either with a teacher from his school or because he was molested by a teacher. When he was eighteen he was gang-raped in prison and he claimed killed three of the rapists while in prison. After his jail term he started preying on young girls. By 1978 he had killed more than one hundred girls in Peru, he claimed. He was caught by a native tribe, who were preparing to execute him when an American woman passing by intervened, and persuaded them to hand him over to the state police. The police, not being interested in the death of tribal children, soon released him. He relocated to Colombia and later Ecuador, killing about three girls a week. López later said "“I like the girls in Ecuador, they are more gentle and trusting, more innocent." Authorities attributed the rash of disappearing girls to active slavery or prostitution rings in the area. López was arrested when an attempted abduction went wrong and he was trapped by market traders. He confessed to over three hundred murders, part of the confession was tricked out of him by a priest disguised as a convict. The police only believed him when a flash flood uncovered a mass grave of many of his victims." OK there are a few parts in the original text, but not enough to be a copyvio problem. IMHO. Rich Farmbrough 08:42 14 June 2006 (GMT).
Esp as the original said "Gang-banged" and part of the text is adirct quote from Ron Laytner's alleged direct quote of Lopez. Rich Farmbrough 15:54 14 June 2006 (GMT).
These are the originals:
"he was eighteen he was gang banged in prison"
"he started killing young girls with glee and impunity. By 1978 he"
"bagged more than 100 girls in Peru." 
"more gentle and trusting, more innocent." Authorities attributed the rash of disappearing girls to active slavery or prostitution rings in the area."
 Rich Farmbrough 15:59 14  June 2006 (GMT).

HEre is a re-revised version

Born in Tolima, Colombia, in 1949 Pedro López became notorious as the Monster of the Andes. According to López, his mother, a prostitute with thirteen children, caught him fondling his younger sister in 1957 when he was eight years old, and evicted him from the family home. Living on the streets he was then picked up by a child molester, taken to a deserted house and repeatedly sodomized. He was later taken in by an American family and enrolled in a school for orphans. He allegedly ran away either with a teacher from his school or because he was molested by a teacher. At eighteen he was gang-raped in prison and, he claimed, killed three of the rapists while still in prison. After his jail term he started preying on young girls in Peru. By 1978 he had killed over than one hundred in, he claimed. He had been caught by a native tribe, who were preparing to execute him when an American woman missionary passing by intervened, and peresuaded them to hand him over to the state police. The police, not being interested in the death of tribal children, soon released him. He relocated to Colombia and later Ecuador, killing about three girls a week. López later said "“I like the girls in Ecuador, they are more gentle and trusting, more innocent." The authorities had previously believed the disappearance of so many girls ws due to white slavery or prostitution. López was arrested when an attempted abuduction went wrong and he was trapped by market traders. He confessed to over three hundred murders, part of the confession was tricked out of him by a priest disguised as a convict. The police only believed him when a flash flood uncovered a mass grave of many of his victims.

Rich Farmbrough 16:10 14 June 2006 (GMT).

Whole page at Pedro López/temp

[edit] Holy hell

You guys figured out the writers Most Infamous. I've been using that as a source for years with no idea about the authors. Good job! Thanos6 14:45, 4 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Fact or fiction?

I came to this article from the Wikipedia list of "Fictitious People," yet I don't see that Pedro Lopez is clearly identified as fictitious. This article makes him sound like a real person. Yopienso 16:21, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

I came to the same conclusion. If there is disbelief about Pedro Lopez being a real person, more information should be provided. Given that the article includes significant biographical information, it appears at first glance to be undoubtedly a real person. GCD1 18:33, 13 July 2007 (UTC)
It's very hard to tell (for me at least). I think it's safe to say that a lot of the information going around about him isn't true, but there have been video and pictures of a man identified as Lopez, and a number of reliable sources have reported on him. What to make of all this, I don't know. It's probably best to withhold judgement and just report what the sources say, making note where they contradict or reference spurious material.--Cúchullain t/c 19:49, 13 July 2007 (UTC)

[edit] WikiProject class rating

This article was automatically assessed because at least one project was rated and this bot brought all the other ratings up to at least that level. BetacommandBot 00:27, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Pedro Lopez is real!!

I just watched a Notorious episode on him. Perhaps I'll upload to Google video. It featured interviews with relatives of the victims, people involved in the investigation, and videos of Pedro Lopez talking about his crimes. ۝ ۞ ░ 02:54, 2 October 2007 (UTC)

According to the "Notorious" web site "Lopez is today in prison in Ecuador." This does not even agree with the widespread version of the story, which has him release in 1998 - as would apparently have been required by Ecuadorian law. Rich Farmbrough, 12:32 8 February 2008 (GMT).
Incidentally the text is identical to the "history channel" & Biography channel blurbs, this Bio has been kicking around for a while. I can't find it on Utube etc, where it would, of course be a copyvio. However I would like to see the credits for the program, and indeed the program itself. It is a shame that the work that went into this article has been undone again, and that it is being used widely to support the story. Rich Farmbrough, 13:25 8 February 2008 (GMT).