Prolific serial killer who targets criminals? — Pedro Rodrigues Filho
“No. I would only kill again if someone came to take my life or the lives of people I love, who are my family.” — Pedro Rodrigues Filho (dailystar.co.uk, Serial killer opens up on how he murdered own dad in prison before eating his heart, 2021)
Pedro Rodrigues Filho was born on July 17, 1954, in a city called Santa Rita do Sapucal, Brazil. Grimly, Filho was born into an environment where temperatures were perfectly set for a young criminal as even before he was born, his abusive father violently beat his mother, leaving the unborn Pedro Filho with a damaged skull. Though extreme abusive behaviours never changed in Filho’s father, (Pedro Rodrigues), Filho continued to possess a strong sense of family loyalty and a form of parental care for his father, the man who abused not only him, but his mother too.
Despite claiming to have murdered more individuals, Filho has been officially charged with 71 murders, 10 of which were committed before he turned 18 years of age. His first murder occurred at the tender age of 14 years, wherein which he murdered Deputy Mayor of Alfenas, as he had wrongfully accused his father of stealing food from the school of which he worked as a security guard. In the face of injustice, the little 14 year old Filho decided to take a shotgun and kill his father’s accuser without remorse, a likely result of a life modelled by paternal violence. Shortly after, the teen shot and killed the reported true thief and causation behind his father’s abrupt dismissal, in an almost identical fashion to his first kill: quick and clean. Following the recent killing, Filho decided to flee to São Paulo in an attempt to evade police capture.
His criminal life did not end with his move to Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo, with the incurrence of theft of people living in slums and even another murder! This murder however, was in fact another criminal targeted kill, as the unnamed man was a drug dealer who resided in the same city as Filho, a fact that he could not comfortably live with, thus the execution of murder. A fact that may be interesting to note is that this specific drug dealer murder occurred in the early 70s which is claimed to be the beginning of the uprise of Brazilian drug and cartel activity, with extreme violence being exchanged between drug traffickers and the police later in the 80s. This may have resulted in lessened police interference with drug cartels, in fear of retaliative violence, much like in Mexico, incentivising Filho to enact personal justice, though this is merely personal speculation. However, Filho was not the only thief in Mogi das Cruzes, as there lived a woman named Maria Aparecida Olympia who took arguably the most valuable possession of a human, Filho’s seemingly guarded heart. The two fell madly in love and lived happily, when Filho asked her to marry him, thus Olympia becoming his newly made fiancé. Unfortunately, due to Filho’s murder of a drug dealer, this unfamiliar happiness was short lived and abruptly torn apart when drug led gangs got word of a fellow dealer’s murder and outrage ensued. In retaliation, the gang decided to murder Olympia, Filho’s innocent fiancé, in order to assert their power and instil fear. This did not prove to be an effective tactic at all, as excluding the fact that Olympia’s murder was incredibly unjustified and truthfully horrific, the only thing it did to Filho is show him more assertions of violence, corrupting his psyche even further. As a result of his beloved fiancé’s death, he divulged into an obsession of revenge, tracking down those he believed to be the culprits of Olympia’s horrific murder, eventually tracking down a wedding organised by the guilty’s gang leader, wherein which he along with a few friends committed mass murder, fatally shooting 7 gang members, and severely injuring 16 other members in attendance.
Not long after his execution of mass murder, Filho became informed that his father had been sentenced to prison for murdering and dismembering his mother with a machete. Though he had a sense of family loyalty even towards his abusive father, Filho loved his mother unconditionally and had to endure the entirety of his childhood not only suffering at the hands of his father, but bare witness to his mother’s victimisation by him, regularly. His love for his mother trumped any form of paternal connection he may have hung onto, as he travelled to the prison his father was held at with the pretence of visitation only to manically stab him 22 times with sharp objects and then proceed to carve his heart out, much like his father mutilated his mother, and eat a chunk out of it. The antithesis to his priorly ‘stolen heart’, though both resulted in death; the eventual death of pure happiness for Filho and physical death for Rodrigues. Filho continued to kill several other criminals following the murder of his father, but was eventually apprehended by local police on the 24th of May, 1973, and taken into a police car alongside 2 other criminals, one being a rapist. In true Filho fashion, whence the car reached the station and officers opened the door, they were shocked to find one of the detained dead and murdered. On the way to the station, Filho had murdered the rapist he had been seated beside, somehow unbeknownst or without interference from the police officer(s) manning the car. He was initially sentenced to 128 years behind bars, though this was later rebuked and increased to 400 years as a result of his misbehaviour in prison (despite this, due to sentencing laws in Brazil, the maximum time in prison granted is only 30 years, thus allowing Filho to eventually be freed). Lest I remind you that at this point, Filho was merely 19 years old.
Rationally speaking, it should have been expected that once in prison, his crimes would not plateau and would in fact spike, as he was now surrounded by potential victims: all criminals from drug dealers to murderers. As mentioned before, his current official total of convicted murder stands at a grand total of 71 individuals, 47 of which, took place in prison, thus 66% of Filho’s murders occurring post sentencing. The only factor that changed whilst being incarcerated is the execution phase of Filhos’s modus operandi, as without a gun, he began using and enjoying the thrill that came with murder via blades.
Writer’s thoughts: Overall, I think that this case truly sparks debate regarding the philosophical question “what makes a monster and what makes a man?”, as none of his victims have objectively been innocent, but it is hard to distinguish whether or not he committed his crimes as a form of embarking upon personal justice, or if it was a convenient outlet for his murderous tendencies. It is also important to note that his first alleged criminal attempt took place when he was 13 years old, in attempting to push his cousin to his death, though this was thankfully unsuccessful, this is the first and only time when his targeted victim was wholly innocent. This being his first murderous urge makes his future criminal activity all the more questionable, though in my opinion, I do believe that Filho has a far greater degree of conceptualising morality and particularly in regards to crimes before his incarceration, killed out of revenge and retaliation and never truly showed any desire to kill innocent people, only those whom he deemed “deserved it”, though that in itself could be scrutinised by some, as what exactly would constitute someone who deserved to be murdered?. Though his beginnings may be questionable, I personally hold the opinion that he is someone who is undeniably redeemable and possesses the ability to rehabilitate gravitation towards revenge or illegal personal justice. I am not whole heartedly convinced that I can deem him a “monster”, more so a “scorned man”, however I am sure that his motivations and criminal makeup is easily explained, perhaps not entirely justifiable, but in many regards understandable. Moreover, I do have great sympathy for his tragic life, as he seems to have lacked any authentic connections and any form of affection and joy in his youth. His criminal life however, is still and probably will remain subjected to individual opinion.
Please feel free to discuss your thoughts and opinions on this case in the response feature and any additional information shared about this case will be appreciated.
