Pedro Rodrigues Filho

Pedro Rodrigues Filho (born 17 June 1954 in Santa Rita do Sapucaí) is a Brazilian serial killer. Nicknamed Pedrinho Matador (Killer Petey) and arrested in 1973, in 2003 he was convicted of murdering at least 71 people and sentenced to 128 years in prison.

Biography

Pedro Rodrigues Filho was born on a farm in Santa Rita do Sapucaí, southern Minas Gerais state, with an injured skull, the result of beatings his father had inflicted upon his mother's womb during a fight. Filho said his first urge to kill happened at the age of 13. During a fight with an older cousin, he pushed the boy into a sugar cane press. The boy almost died.

At the age of 14, he murdered the vice-Mayor of Alfenas, Minas Gerais, because he fired his father, a school guard, at the time accused of stealing the school kitchen's food. Then he murdered another guard, supposedly the real thief.

He took refuge in Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, where he began a series of burglaries and murdered a drug dealer. There he also met Maria Aparecida Olympia, a woman he then lived with. They lived together until she was killed by some gang members. Filho escaped. In search of revenge for her death, he murdered and tortured several people in an attempt to find out the identity of the gangster who killed Olympia. Before he was 18 years old he had already left a trail of 10 bodies and several injured.

Still in Mogi das Cruzes, he executed his own father at a local prison, after his father butchered his mother with a machete. To get revenge, Filho killed his father, cut out a piece of his heart, chewed it, and threw it away.

Filho was first arrested on May 24, 1973. He was sentenced to prison and killed at least 47 inmates while incarcerated. He later claimed a total of 100 victims. His total confirmed victims are 71, including his father. In 2003, he was sentenced to 128 years in prison, although Brazilian law system prohibits anyone from spending more than 30 years behind bars. But due to the crimes he committed inside the prison, his sentence was changed to over 400 years in prison. However, he was set to be released by the Justice System in 2007, and after 34 years in prison, he was released on April 24, 2007. Information from the Brazilian National Security Force Intel indicates that he went to Brazilian north-east, more precisely, to Fortaleza in Ceará. On September 15, 2011, local media from Santa Catarina published that Filho had been arrested at his home, in the rural area, where he worked as a house-keeper, at Balneário Camboriú, Santa Catarina coastline. According to a news channel, he will serve time for accusations such as riot and false imprisonment.

Besides the number of killings, Filho became notorious in Brazil for promising the murder of other criminals, such as Francisco de Assis Pereira, a.k.a. The Park Maniac, another serial killer.^[1]

References