Pedro Rodrigues Filho

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Pedro Rodrigues Filho
Rodrigues in 1991
Born	(1954-07-17) 17 July 1954 (age 67) Santa Rita do Sapucaí, Minas Gerais, Brazil
Other names	Pedrinho Matador (Killer Clown)
Occupation	Serial Killer
Criminal status	Released since 2018[1]
Details
Victims	71–100+ [2][3]
Span of crimes	1967–2003
Country	Brazil
Date apprehended	24 May 1973

Pedro Rodrigues Filho (born 17 July 1954), also known as Pedrinho Matador (Killer Petey), is a Brazilian serial killer who pursued and killed other criminals. Officially sentenced for 71 murders but claiming to have killed about a hundred, he served 42 years in prison before his release in 2018.^[1] His victims included 47 people who he murdered inside the prisons in which he was imprisoned.

Early life

Rodrigues was born on a farm in Santa Rita do Sapucaí, south of Minas Gerais. His skull had been bruised as a result of his father kicking his pregnant mother's belly during a fight. He claimed he felt the urge to kill for the first time at age 13—in a fight with an older cousin, he pushed the young man into a sugar cane press, almost killing him.^{[citation needed]}

Early crime

At age 14, he killed the deputy mayor of Santa Rita do Sapucaí by shooting him with a shotgun that belonged to his grandfather. He shot him in front of the city hall for having fired his father, a school guard, who was accused of stealing food from the school kitchen. He then killed a security guard, who he suspected as the actual thief. Rodrigues took refuge in Mogi das Cruzes, Greater São Paulo, where he began robbing drug dens and killing traffickers.^{[citation needed]}

He soon met Maria Aparecida Olympia, nicknamed Botinha, and they began living together. Rodrigues took on the duties of the deceased and was soon "forced" to eliminate some rivals, killing three ex-cronies. Botinha became pregnant, but was killed shortly thereafter by a rival gang leader. Rodrigues escaped.^{[citation needed]}

Later he recruited some soldiers and set up his own business. In search of revenge for the murder of his pregnant companion and unborn child, he tortured and killed several people, trying to find out who was responsible. The gang leader, a rival who had been betrayed by his ex-wife, received a visit from Rodrigues and four friends during a wedding party. They left a trail of seven dead and sixteen wounded. Rodrigues had yet to reach 18 years old.^{[citation needed]}

Still in Mogi, he killed his father with 21 machete blows in a city jail, for killing his mother. His revenge was cruel: in addition to 22 stab wounds, he ripped out his father's heart, chewed a part and spat it out, according to a TV interview with journalist Marcelo Rezende.^{[citation needed]}

Prison

Rodrigues was arrested for the first time on 24 May 1973, and lived in prison most of his adult years. Police records show that he was once transported in a vehicle with another prisoner, both handcuffed. During transport Rodrigues killed the other inmate without the police noticing. When they opened the car door and saw the other prisoner was dead Rodrigues said he did it because the man was a rapist. Although he was sentenced to 126 years' imprisonment, he was to be released in 2003, because Brazilian law at the time prohibited anyone from spending more than 30 years behind bars. The Brazilian penal code has since been revised by Law no. 13.964 in 2019 increasing the maximum time of imprisonment to 40 years ^[4]

Because of further crimes he committed inside the prisons, his sentence increased to almost 400 years. His incarceration was extended by the Justice until 2017. Rodrigues had the freedom to remake his life with his girlfriend, a former prisoner whose name he did not reveal, whom he had met by exchanging letters. After serving 12 years for theft, the woman was released and visited Rodrigues in the Taubaté prison.^{[citation needed]}

Once, he was attacked by five prisoners, killing three of them and chasing away the other two. Recently^[when?] on a podcast Rodrigues admitted he killed a cell mate not because he "snored too much" but because he spied on him having a conjugal visit. To leave no doubt about his willingness to kill, he tattooed on his left arm: "I kill for pleasure", later covered by another tattoo.^{[citation needed]}

Release and reimprisonment

After staying in prison for 34 years, he was released on 24 April 2007.^[5] Information from the National Security Force indicated that he had moved to Fortaleza in Ceará. On 15 September 2011, local media reported that Rodrigues was arrested at his rural home, where he worked as a caretaker in Balneário Camboriú. According to news reports, he would serve eight years on charges such as riot and deprivation of liberty, committed while he was detained in São Paulo.^[6][7]

Rodrigues was recaptured on 14 September 2011, in Balneário Camboriú. The civil police officer who located him said: "I received anonymous information that Pedrinho Matador was hiding in a place in the city of Camboriú. This information was taken to locate with more precision the location where Pedrinho would be and if it was really true. We confirmed the information, moved to the region and made the arrest."^{[citation needed]}

Rodrigues was convicted again in August 2018 for participating in six riots and for deprivation of liberty, according to delegate Luana Backes, of the Division of Criminal Investigations.^{[citation needed]}

Rodrigues was imprisoned for further crimes within the prison. He was released in 2018.^{[citation needed]}

Popular culture

Because of the list of crimes and his behavior in jail, he joined the list of killers quoted by writer Ilana Casoy in the book Serial Killers – Made in Brazil. The publication tells stories of murderers like Marcelo Costa de Andrade and Francisco da Costa Rocha.^[8]

See also

• List of serial killers by country
• List of serial killers by number of victims

References