Brazil’s worst serial killer died yesterday after being shot. This has been announced by the Brazilian authorities. Pedro Rodrigues Filho said he had about a hundred murders to his credit and was behind bars for 42 years. It is striking that he himself only targeted serious criminals. It is no coincidence that this earned him the nickname ‘the Brazilian Dexter’.
Pedro Rodrigues Filho – also known as ‘Pedrinho Matador’ or ‘Killer Petey’ – was murdered near a relative’s home in Mogi das Cruzes, close to Sao Paulo. “The victim was hit by gunfire and the suspects fled,” the State Secretariat for Public Security said. An investigation has now been launched into the murder.
‘Pedrinho Matador’ was officially convicted of 71 murders. However, he claims to have killed more than a hundred drug dealers, rapists and murderers. After his release in 2018, the 68-year-old killer became known to the general public by telling his life story to various media and in documentaries. He also became a star on the video platforms YouTube and Kwai.
According to criminologist Ilana Casoy, who wrote the book ‘Serial Killers: Made in Brazil’, Pedrinho wanted above all to improve society. He would only have eliminated people whom he considered “undesirable”. “He appealed to the imagination,” Casoy wrote in the daily newspaper “Folha”. “His popularity is a reflection of the society we have in Brazil. Only ten percent of murders are solved here.”
Read also: Fan of true crime? Psychologist on the impact: “There is a difference between curiosity and obsession” (+)
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