Within mere days of Pedro's unbelievable confession to 300+ murders, police were on a mission to prove his claims. He led authorities to an area near Ambato, where 53 girls' bodies were uncovered. All of the girls were between the ages of eight and twelve years.
Following this horrifying discovery, Lopez brought police to 28 other sites, but the lack of human remains led the authorities to believe that animals had carried away what was left.
One investigator, Victor Lascano, believed that the actual number of Pedro's kills was much higher than even the 300 he ultimately claimed for himself. Between the three countries he murdered in, Lopez could have been charged with 350 counts, but holding additional trials in Peru and Colombia was seen as prohibitive because of cost and length of time.
Pedro Alonso Lopez pleaded guilty to 110 counts of murder in Ecuador. Unfortunately, not only does Ecuador not impose the death penalty, their maximum sentence for murder is 16 years. The penal code prohibits consecutive sentences as well.
So, in late 1998, the government of Ecuador quietly released Pedro Lopez and secretly deported him to Colombia because he had no visa to be in Ecuador. When asked about Pedro's release, prisons minister Pablo Faguero responded, "Yes, it does sound strange, but that is our law. A week later, Lopez was back in Ecuador and was again deported to Colombia. He has not been heard from since then. Perhaps the citizens of South America made good on their promise to guarantee he would never harm another child.
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