Morbid - Episode 107: The Covina Christmas Eve Massacre

Episode Date: December 22, 2019

Let's get completely out of any kind of holiday spirit by diving into a senseless and tragic murder of a family on Christmas Eve in 2008. Bruce Jeffrey Pardon was a true piece of human garbage and when he found himself divorced and unemployed, he took it out on those closest to him, in the most horrific way imaginable. EDIT: I mistakenly referred to Pardo's ex wife as Delilah, when in fact her name is Delia.  Sources: https://www.ocregister.com/2018/03/14/survivor-of-covina-christmas-massacre-to-join-protesting-students-in-pasadena/ https://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-santa-shooting31-2008dec31-story.html https://www.cbsnews.com/news/santa-slayer-planned-more-murders/ https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-jul-11-me-santa11-story.html Visit our sponsors! Upstart See why Upstart is ranked #1 in their category with over 300 businesses on Trustpilot and hurry to Upstart.com/Morbid to find out HOW LOW your Upstart rate is. Audible Right now, for a limited time, you can get 3 months of Audible for just $6.95 a month. That’s more than half off the regular price Visit audible.com/morbid or text morbid to 500-500. Casper Get $100 toward select mattresses by visiting Casper.com/MORBID and using MORBID at checkout. Terms and conditions apply. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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That's W-O-N-D-E-R-Y-P-O-D. Audible.com slash wundery pod or text wundery pod to 500-500 to try audible for free for 30 days. You can host the best backyard barbecue. When you find a professional on Angie to make your backyard the best around. Connect with skilled professionals to get all your home projects done well. Inside to outside, repairs to renovations. Get started on the Angie app or visit Angie.com today. You can do this when you Angie that. Hey weirdo's my name is Ash and I am I feel like I'm still stuck in Margie's voice.

I know what I'm going to kind of stop. You're a Stella. It's hard to get out of. It is. And you know what guys? This is a special holiday edition. It's the holiday season. But it's gonna get real shitty in here.

It's the shitty season. It's a massacre up in here. Not funny at all. So before we start with the real brutal shit, yay! Let's talk about really quick, I, and we're not getting sponsored by this by the way, I just really love this movie and I want everyone to watch it. Guys, on Netflix, their original holiday movie class, go watch it. If you have kids, go watch it with kids. If you don't have kids, go watch it. Because it's great. I love

recording, but I was just watching the beginning of it with your children, and I was kind of bummed that I couldn't finish the rest. It's so good. It looks cute. And the end will have you like cry and happy tears. It's just, it's a nice movie. And I feel like we're gonna add it to our arsenal

of like Christmas vacation, elf, the Santa Claus. Cloths. Those are every year that we have to watch them in no classes on top of it. And I just want to spread the word because it's real cute. I'll let that. We're not getting anything out of this. I just want to be clear.

This is not an ad. I just wanted to tell you. Netflix? Yeah. Netflix sponsor us. But yeah. So yeah, I just wanted to tell you guys that because this is going to be a real bummer of a case.

And you might as well have something to look forward to. Maybe go watch a class after this. To get yourself back in the holiday spirit because this is definitely going to take you out of it. The other thing I just wanted to mention was we are going to keep you guys updated on that crazy case that everybody's been sharing. Right now that Heidi Broussard, it's an awful tragic case. She went missing in Texas. They just found her. Yeah, this is really sad. Yeah, in the trunk of her quote unquote best friend car. They were supposedly best friends for like 20 years. This woman Megan Fira Muska, I think it is, was in the delivery room when she gave birth to her daughter Margo.

Margo, that's the key. I know it's not adorable. Yeah. And such a cute baby, such a pretty girl, like brand new mom. Yeah. At a six-year-old boy, too, went missing when she dropped him off. And yeah, so this Megan bitch is charged with murdering her and then taking Margo and pretending she was her baby. So she had some kind of psychotic thing going on. Yeah, there's some shit there. And the worst part about it is she was telling everybody

that this is her new baby Luna. Oh, I know. I know that part. I know it gave me the heaps. And everybody was like, but wait, when were you pregnant? Well, and she pretended she was pregnant right alongside Heidi.

Oh, it's one of those cases. Yeah. And yeah, so she basically, and she like assisted in the, like she was there for it. That's always so fucked up when they assisted it You watched this woman give birth to their her child You know she's a mother of two children and you took her away from your those children. You're just hate that And then I feel even worse because

Everybody was thinking that it was the fiance. Oh, yeah, because he gave like you know the typical interview where you're kind of like side-eyeing. I'm like yeah really. And I feel bad because I mean again we nobody has been officially cleared or anything. We don't know the whole story. We don't know if anybody else they did say someone else might have been involved. So I'm not blaming him by any means. Right now he's innocent and so proving guilty. But I will say I feel bad that like I initially was like, oh, he did it like immediately. So jokes on me. You know, like I'll

eat my hat on that one if it turns out you're what? You've never heard that before. Did you say hard or hat? Oh, I thought you said I'll eat my hat if that's not the thing. No, I've heard that. But I thought you said heart and I was like, okay, Boston. No, I won't eat my heart. It sounded like you were like, I'll eat my hat out. I'll eat my hat I'll do that too if I'm wrong, you know, I'll do I'll have a face if I'm wrong But yeah, we'll keep you guys updated on that because I'm curious to see what happens and it's just such a tragic story And I feel so awful for her kids

From Margot and her son and for her family. So that's just a real bummer and RIP Heidi and a fucking Megan. And yeah, so moving on from that, the one other thing we have before we dive into this case is some happy news. A little more uplifting news. We are going to be at the Grammar Sea Theater in New York on January 30. Can't wait to see you there. That show is sold to the fuck out. So we can't wait to see everybody who bought tickets. It's gonna be Liddy. Then April 14th at the

Pan-Fline Comedy Club in Philadelphia. We'll see you there. Coming out you, Philly. I'm pretty sure there's still tickets available for Philly. I believe there is. So go get them. Then on the 15th, we will be at the DC Improv in Washington DC. I'm also pretty sure there's still tickets for that. Yep, go get those tickets. We'll see your faces. We do. Then, we are playing an early show on May 7th at Zany's Nashville, which is sold out.

Which I can't believe. Like shocked. Guess what? Oh yeah, that's fucking insane. But we added another fucking show because we love Nashville baby. We sure did. We've never been. We love you. But we love you anyway. So we're gonna be playing a late show there. So there are two shows that there are still tickets available for the second show. So go get it. Because the more shows we sell out, more we can add let's do this. We're already working on some others. Hi yo! Let's see! The link is in our bio on Instagram. I'm also going to be posting it on our

website so that it can be in one central location and we'll be sharing other updates on that. But without further ado let's jump into this case shall we? What beautiful Christmas story are you going to tell me today? So this is the Kovina, the Kovina, excuse me, Kovina, Christmas Eve Massacre. That's so horrible. Like it's already shitty to kill people, but you really got to do it on Christmas Eve Yeah, and this is a real bummer of a case. So everybody get ready because it sucks. So excited I'm going to a Christmas party after this. Am I gonna want to go to a Christmas party after this? It's the holiday season.

I'm so getting ready. This centers around 45 year old Bruce Jeffrey Pardo. Bruce was the son of an engineer. When he grew up, he immediately showed that he was pretty adept at mathematics and he really liked it. So he himself became an engineer of sorts. With sounds like a nice story, it's not. Don't be fooled. He graduated from John H. Francis, Polytechnic High School in Sun Valley, California, and then he went on to Cal State Northridge and there he got a degree in computer science.

So so far so good, he's on the right path, right? Oh, it starts out that way. Always does. He was a super-like center of attention guy. He was big, he was goofy, he was loud. He was a bunty. Yeah, exactly. Like he wasn't like a super withdrawn guy like Jeffrey Dahmer or anything like that,

or like an edcumpery kind of guy. He was out there, he liked being the center of attention. And in fact at his Cal State graduation, according to a Los Angeles Times article that I wrote, I wrote for the Los Angeles Times. Whoa, whoa crazy. Surprise. No, I've read it. He carried a life size inflatable doll at his graduation. Why? Because he just thought it would be funny. Like, he was one of those guys. No, a jokester. Just the big old jokester.

Sounds like like a frat guy. He kind of, yeah, he seems like the typical frat guy. I'm not hating on frat guys. I think you're funny. Don't add up. Sometimes. But he was like the typical frat guy, but then add on like that he also was a murderer. So there's that

differentiates him from the typical frat guy. Yeah I don't know typical murderous frat man. No. He was also, and I'm not saying this differentiates him, I'm just adding this, he was very brilliant. He was very brilliant. Many frat guys are brilliant. Let's be clear. Yeah. I'm not saying that different. She's in So he ended up getting a job at the jet propulsion laboratory in Flint Ridge, I believe it is. Sorry if I'm saying it all wrong, but he became a software engineer obviously That makes sense after you get a job degree in computer science He basically just kind of like fucked around it worked. Like he was not a good employee. He used his brilliance and knowledge to hack the

system there to look at his co-worker salaries. Oh that's not allowed. That's not allowed and that's not cool dude. Why do you care at everybody else's making? Oh it's like fuck you. You don't need to see what I'm making like damn. Just ask me I'll tell ya. Yeah like what what a dick When he was there he met a woman named Delilah I could not find her last name because apparently now she is off Living her life. She's married. She's she doesn't want to be associated with this. You know what I'm gonna say Hey there Delilah. No You know that radio station at night and she's like oh my god. It's like this lady You know that radio station at night and she's like, oh my god, it's like this lady.

People are already fucking hate us, but I'm gonna explain. Delilah is like a radio show around here and she's like, it's the normally like late night and you like right into her and she's like, tell me all your love woes. Oh, I love that. Oh, I love that. If you want to send somebody a song, call in and it's Delilah. Oh, I love it. I also loved what you just did there. She got like, really, like, saucy body roll. Ash closed her eyes. She got all into that.

Because I love that. It's so comforting. I appreciate it. Anyways. Well, this is not the same Delilah. What makes a person a murderer? Are they born to kill? Or are they made to kill? I'm Candace DeLong and on my podcast, Killer Psychie Daily, which you can find exclusively on Amazon Music, I share a quick 10-minute rundown every weekday on the motivations and

behaviors of the criminal masterminds you read about in the news. I have decades of experience as a psychiatric nurse, FBI agent and a criminal profiler. On Killer Psychie Daily, I'll give you my expert perspective on cases like the mysterious New York City drugings, breaking down Lori Valow, a.k.a. Mommy Doom stays motives and what drove Caitlin Armstrong to murder. I'll also bring on expert guests who add even more insight into these criminal minds. I promise you won't regret adding these 10 minutes to your morning routine.

Hey, Prime members, listen to the Amazon Music exclusive podcast Killer Psychie Daily in the Amazon Music app. Download the app today. Hey there, fellow podcast listener, it's Elena. And Ash, and we're taking you back to the days before streaming services. Whoa. You know when you would come home from high school,

and it was only a few hours until that TV show, everyone was watching was about to come on. Well, in 1999, that show was Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In our podcast with Wondery, the re-watcher Buffy the Vampire Slayer, we take it back to 1999. So get out your knee-high boots and paste that poster of Angel on the wall.

It's time to enter the Buffyverse. Some of you avid morbid listeners already know what we've gotten store. Hey, Lyrnose. Join us as we sway our way through Buffy's drama, action, and romance. Episode by episodes. Slacy, follow the rewatcher,

Buffy the Vampire Slayer, wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen early and add free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app. Damn, eirin, eirin, eirin, eirin. Whale! Wondery app. Dar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar-nar person yeah but he was kind of just like a bum and an asshole so he just didn't pay for anything and he was like yeah you can just empty your savings to pay for this and she was like I'd be like I don't want to marry you. Yeah parent you know love is love love is blind. So June 17th 1989 was the

wedding day they all waited and he never showed. Wait he stood her up at the Walter. No. After she emptied her savings to pay for this, oh it gets better. Weeks went by, no one heard from him until he showed up one day and it came out that he withdrew the last $3,000 from Delilah's bank account. He took her money? Yup. And he went on a Palm Springs vacation and just blew it all. What a fucking asshole no wonder she's like by like right? There's a lot more that she would want to disassociate from the student that we'll hear about it I leave him like right then. Well, they never got married He never showed up to the wedding

So that was sad. So that was that So this is just to show what a fucking asshole the student is In 2001 he met a woman named Alena Lucano. Shut up, Alena. Yeah. It's not spelled the same. It's like Alena. No, Alena.

But kind of the same. They moved in together. They had a 13 month old boy together. On New Year's, the child fell into the backyard swimming pool, while Bruce was supposed to be watching him. And he wasn't watching him. Bruce was watching TV. Makes sense. First of all, I mean shout out to all the parents out there or really anybody who's watched a child, especially a 13-month-old. First of all, they're probably just starting to walk, so they're totalling around, falling into

shit, and picking stuff up off the floor, putting it into their mouth. You literally have to follow that kid everywhere they go. Yeah, you need like eyes like a hawk. For him to think that he can watch any television is absurd. Elena's kids are like three and a half and we can't get through like a quarter of a show. I have not, Jon and I literally took, I think two years to get through stranger things. We have yet to watch the second season of Mind Hunter because when the hell are we gonna sit down and watch it?

Right. And it's like for him to sit there and watch TV long enough for this kid to wander outside, first of all. Now how did you get even get outside? The fact that that happened is insane. And then for him to fall into the swimming pool and you're just sitting there watching TV What are you doing? Right? Like you have one job, dude, right? Like I'm sorry. We have is the kid. Okay. Well he lived He so he's watching television

He was apparently when they got home He was a fucking mess and he was like cradling the child in his arms like he was a mess He ended up sitting by his bedside in the hospital for like a week or two. Like, yeah, good. He sat vigil with him, like really, like, stayed by his side. But then when it was revealed that he would have brain damage and be a paraplegic.

Oh, no. Bruce split. Are you kidding me? Nope. So you did that and then you're gonna abandon your kid and leave it up to the mother to take care. Obviously the mother, I mean, your mother of a child, that would not be like, we'll leave this for you, you know what I mean?

But you know, you did this. And also it's like you are his father. Great. This is supposed to be no matter what, you are here. You would take care of your child and especially when you're responsible for it never more than that so again I mean not cool piece of shit absolute piece of shit that poor little babe I know I know I mean I guess he's thriving with his mother you know you know you mean like it but that sucks still that sucks because your dad's fucking negligence yeah and that kid is like suffering because of him. It sucks.

In 2008, Sylvia Pardo was 43 years old. She lived in Covino, California just outside of Los Angeles and worked as an administrative assistant. She was one of five children. And her siblings were James, Charles, Alicia, and Latisha. She ended up meeting Bruce and marrying him. Unfortunately. Now Sylvia around 1988 she was married to her first husband and he was killed in a car accident. The couple did share two children together and a few years later she met a man named George Orza

and they eventually were married as well and in 2002 they had a daughter together so she had three kids. They divorced soon after and he moved to Oklahoma. So she lost one husband to a car accident and then divorced. In 2004 is when Sylvia met Bruce Pardo. Which was just shitty. He was an aerospace software technician at the time. They met through one of her brother-in-laws. I'm not sure which one. They married on January 29th, 2006, and almost immediately shit went bad. Of course, because he was a deadbeat.

Shit went real bad, oh, he's a deadbeat. DeGenerate. He was super shifty. He was just an asshole. They fought about money a lot, because he wanted to separate like secret bank account away from her I'll go fuck yourself. Yeah, so money became a real source of contention for them like right away and the straw that broke the Camels back however was when Sylvia found out he was cheating

Nope that Bruce had fathered a son from a previous relationship and abandoned him and that the son had brained image and Bruce had abandoned the poor child but what she found out was that he was still claiming this child as a tax write-off. Are you kidding me? No he had not seen spoken or paid for this child at all. But he was claiming him on his taxes. But he was claiming him as a tax write-off and when she found this out she was like your gross. Yeah that's horrific. And from what I saw, she found out from his own mother. Oh. Because Bruce Pardo's own mother was on Sylvia's side through all of this.

Yeah, good. Yeah. So she was like, you're a fucking monster. And she was right. They separated on March 7, 2008. Sylvia apparently asked, can I stay in the house for a little longer because she had a kindergartener, like a four-year-old, and she was like, can she finish kindergarten here and then I'll move out. But I don't want to rip her out of kindergarten. Well, when she was out one day,

he threw all her shit onto the driveway and was like, get out. Yeah, douchebag. Like cool. Typical for his fashion. Yeah, typical fucking Bruce Bruce you know what I'm saying Bruce fucking Bruce rest in distress because spoiler alert he's fucking dead by Bruce she was like don't break my down don't break my down Bruce so yeah so he's a piece of shit June 2008 he was ordered to pay Sylvia $1,785 a month in spousa support. His first payment didn't go through like the check bounced. Makes sense. Cool.

Not shocked. And then the second one, he just stopped payment on it. So he just never paid her any money. Not shocked. Now, one month after that, he was fired from his job at ITT electronic systems for billing fraudulent hours, according to another article. Yeah, he's just an asshole in every sense of the word.

In June, he bought a SIG Sauer, I don't know if I'm saying this right, SIG Sauer 9mm handgun. I have absolutely no idea. I apologize if I'm saying that wrong. You know what? Anybody who knows guns, let me know. You tried. And you know what, every time I've been like, I don't Anybody who knows guns, let me know. You tried. And you know what?

Every time I've been like, I don't know this about guns, someone helped me. We always get like really helpful people that are like, I like guns and let me tell you about it. Yeah. And I appreciate that. Thank you. Because I don't know a lot about them, so thanks guys.

Um, in August, September, October, and November, he bought four more of those guns. So he really liked them. And he only spaced them out like that because the law says you need to wait 30 days between purchasing this kind of gun. On September 8th he ordered the Santa Claus outfit that will come up soon. Uh-huh. Yup, he ordered a Santa Claus outfit.

Okay. He rented it from Jerry's costumes and it was a a Santa Claus outfit. Okay. He rented it from Jerry's costumes, and it was a custom Santa Claus outfit, and he asked for extra space in it. Okay. You're gonna see why. Oh, I don't wanna. Yeah, it's not awesome.

And when I say I don't wanna, that doesn't mean stop telling the story because everybody gets upset, and they say that they're like, Ashtaz, I wanna know the details. Why does she have a true crime podcast? I do wanna know the details. It's a figure of speech.

Damn it. God damn it. Galopsis. Sorry guys, we've had a pretty salty week. We've got a lot of shit this week. I don't know why. It must be like the moon or something. I don't know.

It's Mercury and retrograde. Oh wait, I know what the moon was fucking straight up orange the other night, and I meant to text you. Oh, maybe that's why. Yeah, that orange mood is casting a salty light on us. So when so then he ended up visiting his friend. I believe in September or October. He visited a friend in Iowa. Mm-hmm. I was a friend from high school and he used their different laws in Iowa.

They have different laws on like how many bullets you can purchase at a time or how many bullets in a magazine you can have. He used the difference in those laws from California to buy 16 handgun magazines that held 18 bullets each. So on December 18th, one week before Christmas, Sylvia and Bruce appeared in court before a judge, the divorce was finalized. Okay, so this was a week before Christmas. Okay, that's sad. What a shitty time to get the divorce. It is really shitty and it's really shitty because this is really just awful timing altogether.

Um, he ended up getting to keep the house. She got the couple's dog, which was a brown Akita named Saki. Saki? Um, he was ordered to pay her an additional $10,000. She is. Yeah. I mean, she deserved it, man. I mean, they like order you to do that ship,

but then like, I feel like, no, no, 10 times you never see it. I know that shit is always like, it always gets held up and like, it sounds good, but then you're like, yeah, one like, I got $10,000 from Bruce. Ex- when is Bruce gonna pay that up?

So Sylvia moved in with her parents for the time being at 1129 East Noelcrest Drive in West Covina. Oh Sylvia, you're having a time girl. I guess I'm sorry. This gets bad guys, just so let you know. December 24th, 2008 is where shit goes down. Christmas Eve.

Christmas Eve. Sylvia's family gathered at the home of her parents. They did this every single year. 80-year-old Joseph and 70-year-old Alicia Ortega. Stop. The couple was married 53 years. Stop! They moved here from Mexico and they started an industrial painting company together called Industrial Powered or Coding Inc. Oh my God, cuties. They had amassed a pretty great life together through just hard work. Yeah. Like they were like the American dream. Yes. When Joseph and they said I read this in an article that when Joseph spotted Alicia in their hometown in Mexico

He was 23 years old and she was 17. He said he saw her and told his sister. I'm gonna marry that girl I'm gonna leave because I have to go cry. Isn't it just like that's so beautiful? I love love. 53 years together. I hate to tell you this is not gonna end well. Well just 53 I'm assuming. Yeah just 53 and it like hurts my heart because they seem like said this family like the Ortega family I was reading about them like they this some articles

I'll post to that go through like each family member and just like go through The life and stuff and it's like shit they did and it just seemed like they were just this like wonderful loving family Oh, they really did like they loved each other. It's just like really bum me out So, neighbors who had joined the family for other events in holidays because they were like all about having their neighbors over, yes, the more the merrier. They said they were the sweetest, most loving family. Like everyone said that. In fact, a neighbor named Mitzi Avery. Um, I want to be named Mitzi.

I know, that's a great name. She lived and extorted them and she told the Los Angeles Times, quote, When you walked into a room, every one of the Ortega kids would get up and give you a kiss and a hug. They were the most respectful family I'd ever known. It all started with Joe and Alicia. I love that. So they just like taught their kids to be respectful. They just loved each other.

Just fuck. Man, fuck, man. Fuck him, respectful. They just loved each other. Just fuck. Man. Fuck. Where's Marno? Fuck him, man. He's a degenerate. Oh, I'm so angry. This case makes me so angry.

So this Christmas Eve 2008, there were about 25 people attending the annual holiday, Shinding at their house. A big swarray. Big swarray. So later, sometime after 11 p.m., some of the family, including Joseph and Alicia Ortega, were playing a game of Texas Holdum with some of their family, mainly like the siblings. They were enjoyed, it was after they enjoyed

a wonderful Christmas Eve dinner together, nice party. According to the LA Times, a lot of the grandchildren were kind of in the back of the house, playing video games. Cute. And 17 year old Michael Ortega was upstairs on the computer. Mm-hmm. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door.

And they were like, come on in, it's Christmas. Well, this is when chicken's real. So just everybody hang onto your booties. Trigger warning? Yeah, kind of. Trigger warning for death. It's coming. So when eight-year-old Katrina,

use of Polsky, peaked out the window, she saw none other than Santa Claus. No. Standing at the front door, and he was carrying a giant, nicely wrapped Christmas present. Mm-hmm. Obviously, she psyched as any fucking eight-year-old would be to see Santa on Christmas Eve.

Right. Standing outside their door with a Christmas present. Right. So she ran to the door like any child would and flung it open yelling Santa. Oh my god. Now everybody, it's bad because no sooner had she opened the door and saw Santa Claus standing there. Santa Claus shot her square in the face with a semi-automatic handgun. Yup. Shot this eight-year-old girl square in the face with a handgun. Now I'm gonna tell you right now the girl lives. Okay okay okay. I just want to let everybody know. She lived but but like, holy shit.

Shot an eight, you're old in the face, what kind of fucking Dressed as Santa, Nara? Dressed as Santa. What the fuck is wrong with you? Exactly. Now, hearing the commotion and the gun shot, the home just erupted into panic in chaos, obviously. Family members were diving under tables, under chairs, they were running everywhere. They were grabbing each other, trying to save each other. I mean, it's just

pandemonium. Now most of the adults were in the front of the home getting ready to leave. And as I said, most of the kids were in the back playing video games. This allowed most of the kids to escape. Okay, that's good. That's good, but it's like still. Now during the chaos apparently Charles Ortega, Sylvia's brother recognized who Santa was. He yelled it's Bruce and was promptly shot and killed. Oh my God. Yes Bruce Parto was literally mass-occurring his ex-wife's entire family along with her. Like why though? Now family members who survived said they saw Charles and James or take a Sylvia's brothers try to take Bruce down even after they had been shot.

Oh my god. They said they got up pouring blood and tried to save their family. Oh my god. But they were obviously overtaken. But they tried till the very end to like take this guy down for their family. Now, Joseph, Alicia, their three daughters, including Sylvia, hid under the dining room table and were executed and killed where they hid. Oh my God. The only survivor of the immediate family was the sister Latisha. Oh my God.

Now Latisha noticed that her daughter, Katrina, who was shot in the face, was stumbling out of the home at one point after being shot in the fucking face by Santa Claus. So she ran out after her. Right. bumbling out of the home at one point after being shot in the fucking face by Santa Claus. So she ran out after her. Right. Now, according to the LA Times, relatives that were present said that they thought that they saw Bruce Pardo, oh, this is awful, lift up Katrina before putting her down and shooting her in the face.

Relatives literally said they came in. They said some of them said, I saw him pick her up and then put her down and shoot her in the face. Like why? Like pick her up like Santa would pick you up. Yeah. So this girl was like Santa and then he puts her down and boom shoots her in the face. What the fuck?

Again she lives but like holy shit. Now after the shooting spree Bruce Parto was not done. Okay. Because he, remember he had a gift in his hand, a wrapped gift. What was that? Well he unwrapped his gift. And this is the one that made Katrina think that he had to be the real Santa. Uh-huh. You shown up with a gift. The wrapped gift was a homemade flame thrower. Whoa. What? Yup. A homemade literally Bruce Parto put together a homemade flame thrower. What even is that?

It's like, it's exactly what it's like. No, I know what it is. And it's got like, what the fuck? It had like two tanks on it, like fuel tanks and everything that he could literally just spray basically spray fire Yeah, and He unwrapped this gift and immediately started engulfing the entire home inflames What the like why yep now this is this sucks Michael or Tehga the 17 year old upstairs on the computer

He was killed in the fire. Oh my god. He wasn't shot. He was killed in the fire. Oh my God! He wasn't shot. He was killed in the fire. Oh my God. Now Latisha, who ran out after her daughter Katrina, called 911 first at 11.27 pm, to report that her daughter needed medical attention after being shot in the fucking face. She also told the dispatcher at 911, quote, his name is Bruce Pardo. She said she could still hear him shooting, and she ended the call by saying, please, I don't know who else is alive. Oh, I just got chills.

And this is her whole family. Right. Like, this is her whole family. In the end, nine were dead. Oh, my God. He killed nine people in this family, either by gunshot or by the fire. Right.

Now, Bruce Pardo had brought with him four semi-automatic weapons and the homemade flamethrower. Right. Is that why you asked for extra room? Yep, in the suit. Yep, because he carried all his shit in there. Now some of the victims were shot execution style. Oh my god. Like he literally stood over these people hiding from him and shot the

execution styles while they're cowering away from him. Right. This is so beyond psychotic, it's unreal. Now the bodies were so badly burned that cause of death was hard to determine like whether they were shot or died from the fire. So they ended up having to use dental records, not just for cause of death, but for ID purposes. Oh, that's so sad. Which is always really fucked whenever they have to resort to dental records. It's like a wolf. Parto's ex-wife Sylvia Parto was 43. Her parents Joseph Ortega 80 and his wife Alicia

70. Her two brothers James Ortega 52 and Charles Ortega 50, their wives Teresa 51 and Sherry 45, Sylvia Pardo's sister Alicia Ortiz 46 and her son Michael Ortiz 17 were all killed. God. 16 year old that was there was shot in the back, but survived. A 20 year old jumped from a second story window and broke her ankle and eight-year-old

Katrina survived but was obviously badly injured. They said that she might have actually saved herself at the last second because she turned her head at the last second and he shot her basically through the jaw. Oh, ow. Yeah. It took 85 firefighters 1.5 hours to get the resulting fire under control. They said that flames were shooting up like 50 feet in the air. Because he was still in there like shooting.

It was just a massive fire. I mean, that flame throw must have just caused the perfect atmosphere for an insane bonfire to happen. Now Bruce had no priors, no previous record. Right. So this is just an insane jump. Why was he like so? Like, why was it this time? Like he's no idea. It's like, because this conflicting things where some friends said that he was really upset over the divorce. And then some said he seemed fine. Right.

But all the time people did say that he would say like she's taking me to the cleaners, She's trying, I think it was money. Yeah. I think he just didn't want to pay her any money. Probably. Now after the massacre, Bruce changed out of his Santa suit. He changed. Oh, he left. Oh, yeah, he left. He put the flame thrower into his rental car because he rented a car a week before this because he knew what he was going to do. Yep. He drove 30 to 40 miles to the San Fernando Valley where his brother lived. He went inside his brother's home, sat on his couch, and killed himself on his brother's couch with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He still had his wedding ring on according to an LA Times article. wedding ring on according to an LA Times article. Los Angeles County coroner's lieutenant Fred Karel said there was an exit wound at the top of his

head which meant that he probably put the gun in his mouth to get himself. There's something so cryptic about that. It's so like well, it just gives me the willies. It was around 3.30 a.m. that his brother showed up to his own home and found his brother. Oh, that own home and found his brother. Oh, that's a whole lot of them. That's a dead-on-us couch. Just go fuck over one more fucker person. Yes, exactly.

So the brother called the police after discovering him, obviously. Now, it's widely thought that he did not intend to kill himself initially. And I don't think he did either. Now, he had booked a plane ticket on Canadian Airlines to connect in Iowa to go visit his friend again. And he had told his friend the one that he went to visit before earlier and got the bullets when he was there. He told him he was going to come visit him, so he was ready to leave and he bought the plane ticket. Another reason it seems like he was likely forced into taking his own life is that later the autopsy showed that he had third degree burns on his arms and sides and some of his legs. So he knew he wasn't going to get away with it.

And so it was so bad that the pants, the Santa pants had actually melted into his skin. So I think this is why he killed himself because like escaping at that point is just not going to happen. You just wasn't knowing too. Because you're going to have to go to a doctor now. A doctor? Like, you have third degree burns, you might not even live. Right. So, they also found trace amounts of cocaine in his system, indicating that he had probably taken

some the evening of the massacre, which makes a little sense. They also found $17,000 in cash wrapped around his leg with Seran wrap. Oh, he was definitely not playing around. Yeah. Investigators, we did you say $17,000. $17,000 in cash. Investigators found his rental car dumped a ways away from his brother's home

and it had all the evidence in it. The flame thrower, the guns, the 200 pounds of ammo, the costume, the Santa costume, food, water, maps of Mexico and the US, a laptop, a desktop, who you're there. He definitely wasn't. It had extra clothing. I mean, he was ready to leave. The costume, when they found this car, was rigged, however.

So it was rigged to ignite when you moved it. It would ignite, and then it would trigger the 200 pounds of ammunition to explode. Oh. And it did. His whole car lit on fire, but no one was hurt because they detonated it like safely, right? But so this is what I think He he got the burns he initially he was ready to get the fuck out of there. Yeah

Now he realizes he can't yeah, so now he's like well I'm gonna kill some more people on my way out because why the fuck not so he sets that shit up now Jesus because he's an engineer, he's a smart guy. He knows. Unfortunately. If you set it up so that it ignites this ammunition, he probably had that as like a backup plan. And he was like, well, we've got to do it now.

Luckily, he didn't kill anybody with that explosion because they were smart and dead. Thank God. And it's safety. And as home, they found four shotguns, more ammo, and more gas containers that he used to fuel the flame thrower. It was later discovered that he was planning to kill his ex-wife Sylvia's divorce attorney.

Oh, Jesus. Just planning to go to his house afterwards and kill him. Oh my God. Yep. And he was also planning to kill his own mother, Nancy Windsor. Oh my God. That evening he was going to go from their house to her because she was invited to the Christmas Eve party at the Ortega's. He thought she was going to be there. Yeah. He thought she was going to be there. But she felt ill that evening. And

she decided not to go. Bruce resented her because she sympathized with Sovia. In fact, apparently he was telling people at the divorce proceedings. She would sit with Sovia, her family. What about that? Right. She's just like, your piece of shit. I know it. So obviously this was planned for a long time. I mean, he built the flamethrower. He bought the guns months ahead of time. Like why are you buying that many guns? And it's like you had to build that flame thrower that you could just put that together

in like a night, right? No, you gotta get, he ordered that santa suit pretty early. So it's like what the fuck were you trying to do? Nothing good. No, nothing good. 13 kids lost their parents on that Christmas Eve. Oh my God, that's so sad. 13 kids, they parents on that Christmas Eve. Oh my God, that's so sad. 13 kids.

They're gonna remember Christmas Eve as the night they became essentially orphans. Oh my God. Can you imagine? No. Katrina was fucking traumatized. Yeah. Can you might like your eight years old

and Christmas is the most amazing thing? Like, you would be triggered every time you saw Santa Claus. Yeah. Which is Christmas time. Right. You would see triggered every time you saw Santa Claus. Yeah. Which is Christmas time. Right. You would see, like, perfect example of this wonderful whimsical thing that happened. That would be something that would trigger severe PTSD in this poor child.

We were driving down the street this morning and I had my twins in the back seat. We drove down the center of our town and I don't know what the fuck was going on. But we have like a very like magical center of town. It's like a jaunty. Yeah, it's a very Christmas It's very like Hallmark movie And on the side of the road on the sidewalk was a dude in full Santa gear a very good Santa to full Santa gear walking down the road Just nothing in his hands just walking down the road nobody else was around it hands, just walking down the road, nobody else was around, it was so weird. And I just looked out the window and I was like, guys, it's Santa!

And the girls like lost their shit. They were so cute. Like they were freaking out when we got home. They were like, I can't believe I just saw Santa. And I was like, yeah guys, because he went behind a car afterwards and just kind of like disappeared. And I was like, oh, he's gone. He just wanted to show you that he was here. And like, imagine he was here. And he just wanted to put you on the nice list.

That's all. And they were like so happy. And then I'm thinking about Porca Trina, if she was in the backseat. Oh my God. So fucking Santa walking down the street, that poor girl would lose her damn mind, probably. And it's like something that was so awesome

for my kids or like any other kid that hasn't gone through something like that is literally a nightmare to this poor kid. And it's like something that's so innocent and like so. Well then even just for the rest of your life, like you can never enjoy Christmas. No.

And it's like her mother, Latisha, said she had to constantly remind her that that man was not the real Santa Claus. Oh my heart. Because this poor girl's proud of sitting not the real Santa Claus. Oh my heart. Because this poor girl's proud of sitting there being like Santa Claus did that to me. Like she doesn't understand that that's eight years old. That this is a disgruntled ex uncle of hers, you know what I mean? Like, but her mother had to be like that was not Santa.

Like I promise you that was not can you imagine? No. Having to like, well, and then you're probably fucking terrified on Christmas Eve that Santa's coming to your house. Exactly. Like the rest of ever. Because no matter what, it's like she's gonna be like, no, he's coming.

Like they're gonna celebrate Christmas again. That would assume. I don't know. Maybe they stopped. I don't know. But it seems like, it seems like her mother, Latisha tried to like make it, like keep it going and keep it a happy thing.

But I'm sure she, that's probably terrifying every single year. You're thinking like, what if it's an old thing? That's just like my whole family was annihilated on this day, however many years ago, every year. I, I can't even, your parents, all your siblings, your, and all those kids that got left without parents. 13 kids.

I wonder how old everyone was. 13 kids, not only lost to their parents, but were there when they're, and in the most brutal, horrific, just tragic way, you can imagine. And by somebody that you looked at as an uncle, at one point, you know what I mean? Like that's so beyond.

So yeah, I just, I can't imagine how triggering Santa and Christmas is in general now. Yeah, I mean you got shot in the face on Christmas by Santa who then massacres your whole family and lights the crime scene ablaze with a fucking homemade flame throw. The homemade flame throw is like what the fuck dude? Just beyond. Yeah, beyond the whole. I mean the whole fucking thing is like what the fuck dude And for him to use his fucking that brain For that evil what a waste man like what a waste of a mind It just I hate when I see this shit when like serial killers or killers are Brilliant you're like what a fucking waste cuz you could do some awesome shit in the world And you've chosen to be this evil son of a bitch and it really says that he killed himself

It really sucks that he killed himself because I want to I would love to be this evil son of a bitch. It really sucks. It really sucks that he killed himself because I want to I would love to see this guy fucking running. And the fact that he shot an eight year old in the face the second that dude stepped in a prison he would be like enemy number one and I would love it. Yeah. Now pretty close after this whole massacre, Bruce Parto's mother Nancy said she talked to the remaining members of the Ortega family and they all assured her that they loved her and didn't blame her. Because I can't imagine you would probably be like, you definitely blame me for that. You know me and I would blame you. Right.

And actually she told the LA Times, quote, I will say this to you, it would have been so easy for that family to hate me. And Saul was just so wonderful. He said, we love you and your family. I love them so much and it's very hard. This has happened. Like she really felt like connected to this family and it sucks. Like that sucks. And like, how did that? It's like, how do you even wrap your brain around that as a mother? Yeah. He fucked up so many people. Oh,'s, I guess, Joseph had a sister that was, I mean, he was 80 years old, so an elderly sister, who he often visited, like a lot all the

time. And he always, when he left, would tell the family, her family, take good care of my sister. Like, he was just, this is that kind of family. I guess they didn't tell her. I don't know if they ever told her what actually happened, but they were like, they were like, she'll die. Like, we cannot tell her what happened. Oh god. The amount of lives he ruined with this, it's just rippled so far out in this awful spider web of just shit. But it just goes to show how amazing this Ortega family was, But then it just like goes to show how amazing this ortega family was that like This that his own mother was like so concerned that they'd hate her and that they didn't blame her Yeah, no they were clearly an amazing family because like she said it would have been so easy for them to blame her

And I mean, I can't say I wouldn't have some kind of like For bringing this guy into the world, you know what I mean, but it's not her fault. No Now Katrina just as a little update, is thriving today. Oh, that's good. She actively fights against gun violence. The family also writes letters to other survivors of gun violence, like the Newtown massacre. They wrote to all those, the family members.

And they tell them to stay strong. And they're just like, we're here as a shoulder to cry on. And like it gets better like I promise. I know I did too. I got the chili willies. So that is the Kovina Christmas Eve massacre. Wow. And Bruce Pardo is dead. I hope he's getting tortured wherever he is. Yes, I am. Yeah.

So yeah, just like constantly like throw a flame throw around him, right? I hope he's just getting blasted with a flame thrower where he is. He's four seconds. Yeah, and just constantly putting another Santa suit on him and then just melting it into his flesh. Yeah.

Then just putting another Santa suit on and he's just got like 500 layers of Santa suit just melted into his flesh right now. Yes. That's what I want for him, correct. So, I believe it's happening and I feel good about it. Me too. I'm stoked.

I love it. So, happy holidays. That was horrible. I know it's awful. So, yeah, that was awful. And let's hope that everybody has a beautiful holiday that is absolutely nothing like this. Yeah, I hope our holiday is absolutely nothing like that. Yeah, and we'll be, maybe we'll be posting a few of our holiday shenanigans on more bid,

but I'm going to be doing my mini episode this week as well. These are going to be back-to-back episodes like two days in a row because this has been a tough holiday season. We've been doing that a lot lately anyways. We have. I think we're gonna get... we're gonna change up the schedule a bit but we'll figure it out. Stay tuned. Yeah, because I'm gonna be handing over the editing so... Hey oh! But my mini is also gonna be holiday themed, but not in a good way so... Awesome, stay tuned for that. So exciting. Yay! Well, if you do want to see our

Holidayation Anagins, you can follow us on Instagram at... Morbid Podcast. Hit us up on Twitter. A Morbid Podcast. Join our Facebook group. Morbid, Colin, a true crime podcast, and it's great in there,

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