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The Covina Christmas Massacre · Legally Brunette

0:01
Speaker 1: Hi, guys, Welcome to a new episode of Legally Brunette.
0:04
Speaker 1: I will be your host Emily Simpson with my co host,
0:08
Speaker 1: my Christmas co host, Shane Shane. So, we wanted to
0:13
Speaker 1: do a case today that had something to do with Christmas,
0:16
Speaker 1: because it is it's Christmas time. Do you love Christmas time?
0:20
Speaker 1: I love Christmas time?
0:21
Speaker 2: Yes, I do that.
0:22
Speaker 1: You don't. You're all stressed out.
0:25
Speaker 2: It's more work than it is fun.
0:27
Speaker 1: For you for parents. For me, well, I think for
0:30
Speaker 1: parents in general, it's tough for me. Oh, just for you, Okay,
0:33
Speaker 1: all right. So first, before we get into a true
0:36
Speaker 1: crime story that has to do with Christmas, we are
0:40
Speaker 1: going to just do a little update on Nick Reiner.
0:42
Speaker 2: So.
0:43
Speaker 1: Nick Reiner was diagnosed with schizophrenia several years ago, and
0:47
Speaker 1: his medication was changed or adjusted at some point before
0:51
Speaker 1: the killings of his parents. This is according to three
0:53
Speaker 1: different sources with direct knowledge of the case. A sealed
0:58
Speaker 1: medical order was signed Friday by the judge overseeing the
1:01
Speaker 1: case's initial stages. That sealed order may have to deal
1:04
Speaker 1: with Reiner's mental health condition and treatment. The sources have
1:08
Speaker 1: declined to discuss the contents of the order as of Friday,
1:12
Speaker 1: the weapon use and the slangs had not been found.
1:15
Speaker 1: This is two of the sources have said. However, we
1:17
Speaker 1: don't know how legitimate that is.
1:19
Speaker 2: Maybe it seems to be likely him, but what what
1:22
Speaker 2: concrete evidence is there that actually says it is him,
1:25
Speaker 2: or at least.
1:26
Speaker 1: Well when he checked into the hotel. I believe that
1:28
Speaker 1: in the hotel there was blood everywhere.
1:30
Speaker 2: Yeah that's right. Yeah, who's blood his parents' blood.
1:33
Speaker 1: I mean, there isn't any DNA confirmations or anything, but
1:36
Speaker 1: obviously in order for them to go look for him
1:39
Speaker 1: that evening after when after the or not that evening,
1:41
Speaker 1: but it was when they found soon after they found
1:43
Speaker 1: the bodies.
1:44
Speaker 2: They had that had something. I want to know what
1:45
Speaker 2: that was.
1:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, well we don't know that. But you made a
1:48
Speaker 1: good point, you said, maybe they pulled up ring footage
1:50
Speaker 1: and saw him coming in, you know, into the house
1:52
Speaker 1: and leaving.
1:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, lots of good points.
1:56
Speaker 1: Good for you, all right. Michael Douglas and Rob Reiner
1:59
Speaker 1: talked about parenting sons with drug issues. This was a
2:02
Speaker 1: People article, so Michael Douglas says he and Rob Reiner
2:05
Speaker 1: had had conversations about the challenges of parenting sons with
2:08
Speaker 1: drug addictions. In the CBS News special Rob Reiner Scenes
2:12
Speaker 1: from a Life that aired Sunday, December twenty one. Douglas,
2:15
Speaker 1: who is now eighty one. Did you know that Michael
2:18
Speaker 1: Douglas was eighty one now?
2:19
Speaker 2: Yeah? He had a song with substance abuse problems.
2:23
Speaker 1: Child, Yeah, so I guess. Michael Douglas recalls how he
2:28
Speaker 1: and Reiner had spoken about trying to help a child
2:30
Speaker 1: in the throes of addiction. With this terrible tragedy, we're
2:33
Speaker 1: realizing how much pressure he was dealing with in his
2:36
Speaker 1: personal life with his son, said Douglas. I also had
2:38
Speaker 1: a son who had drug issues, and I'm happy to
2:40
Speaker 1: say he has overcome them and he's living a prosperous life.
2:43
Speaker 1: But we talked a lot about that. What can you
2:45
Speaker 1: as a parent do? What you can't do? A source
2:48
Speaker 1: told people that the Reiners tried everything to help their
2:51
Speaker 1: son and never gave up hope. In a September twenty
2:54
Speaker 1: twive interview with NPR, Robin mentioned that Nick hasn't been
2:58
Speaker 1: doing drugs for over six years. He added of his son,
3:01
Speaker 1: he's in a really good place. Well, I mean, I
3:04
Speaker 1: don't know if that's accurate. Maybe he was doing drugs
3:07
Speaker 1: and he wasn't aware of it, or maybe he just
3:08
Speaker 1: didn't want to talk about it, or.
3:11
Speaker 2: Or maybe for a short period of time he was
3:12
Speaker 2: in a good place. Right.
3:14
Speaker 1: So, Romy Reiner, who's a sister, allegedly had been living
3:18
Speaker 1: in fear of her brother Nick. This was a Daily
3:20
Speaker 1: Mail article.
3:21
Speaker 2: Is Nick the youngest of the siblings? Uh?
3:23
Speaker 1: Do we know the daughter is Roma? Oh?
3:25
Speaker 2: Okay.
3:26
Speaker 1: One well placed source told the Daily Mail that Romy
3:29
Speaker 1: often felt scared of her brother and what he might
3:31
Speaker 1: be capable of, so much so that she allegedly told
3:33
Speaker 1: police he should be a suspect almost immediately after discovering
3:37
Speaker 1: her parents' bodies. There's a little more probable cause for you.
3:42
Speaker 2: Wow, if my parents will wound up dead, I would
3:44
Speaker 2: not think question my sister. I mean like, I would
3:49
Speaker 2: not think that unless there was like a real reason
3:52
Speaker 2: to think she is a killer.
3:54
Speaker 1: Well yeah, but if you find your parents dead, neither
3:56
Speaker 1: one of you were going to say that it was
3:58
Speaker 1: you or your sister. You're going to look for outside
4:01
Speaker 1: people were.
4:02
Speaker 2: Ut each other's alibi. Where was I? Again, Let's get
4:06
Speaker 2: a story straight.
4:07
Speaker 1: It feels like Romi has been scared of Nick since
4:09
Speaker 1: she was a child, The insider said, even before his
4:12
Speaker 1: drug addiction, his outbursts were frightening because they seemed to
4:14
Speaker 1: come out of nowhere. She tried to stay out of
4:16
Speaker 1: his way as much as she could, but it wasn't easy.
4:19
Speaker 1: Nick was so volatile that she didn't think it was
4:21
Speaker 1: a good idea for him to be living in Robin
4:23
Speaker 1: Michelle's guest house, which he once smashed up in a
4:27
Speaker 1: cocaine fueled fit of rage. She didn't even like the
4:31
Speaker 1: idea of him living across the street from her, but
4:33
Speaker 1: she knew that they moved him in so that they
4:35
Speaker 1: could keep a close eye on him and give him
4:37
Speaker 1: a roof over his head. Well that didn't turn out
4:40
Speaker 1: so well, no for them, all right. So that's what
4:45
Speaker 1: we know so far in the Nick Reiner case. We
4:48
Speaker 1: do know that he plans to plead not guilty by
4:52
Speaker 1: reason of insanity, which we talked about last time.
4:54
Speaker 2: Oh, we we do know that though I read that
4:56
Speaker 2: well last time, I think we said that that was
4:58
Speaker 2: the likelihood.
4:59
Speaker 1: I That was my guess when we talked about it.
5:02
Speaker 1: That was my speculation that he would because he you know,
5:05
Speaker 1: he has Alan Jackson and Alan Jackson, what does that mean, well,
5:09
Speaker 1: Alan Jackson is not going to show up to make
5:10
Speaker 1: a plea deal.
5:12
Speaker 2: I don't know.
5:13
Speaker 1: So he's going to go to trial, and to go
5:16
Speaker 1: to trial, he's going to plead not guilty by reason
5:18
Speaker 1: of insanity and that he's going to work hard to
5:20
Speaker 1: establish that. And like we talked about before, when it
5:23
Speaker 1: talks about Conan O. Bryan's party, remember there's been reports
5:25
Speaker 1: that you know, Nick was at that party and that
5:27
Speaker 1: he was acting crazy, he was scaring people, and he
5:30
Speaker 1: was going up to people and asking them strange questions
5:33
Speaker 1: like are they famous? And then I also read that
5:37
Speaker 1: that several people had wanted to call the police at night,
5:39
Speaker 1: like they were so kind of put off by his behavior.
5:42
Speaker 2: In his behavior, like was he aggressive? I think he
5:45
Speaker 2: was called the police. It would have to be like
5:47
Speaker 2: kind of I think.
5:48
Speaker 1: I think I think maybe it was scary. Maybe it
5:51
Speaker 1: was just he was so off putting to people that
5:53
Speaker 1: that his presence was scary.
5:56
Speaker 2: And you're talking about a lot of I wonder if
5:57
Speaker 2: he made any threats there, like if people are like, oh,
6:00
Speaker 2: many cities and they kills parents. I didn't take it seriously.
6:02
Speaker 1: No, I think people would have spoken up about that. No,
6:04
Speaker 1: there's been no reporting of that, but I did read that.
6:07
Speaker 1: I think a few people had wanted to call nine
6:09
Speaker 1: to one one or call the police, and Conan O'Brien,
6:12
Speaker 1: I read, had deterred people from doing that. Oh he did, yes,
6:17
Speaker 1: which I don't know if he how he sits with
6:19
Speaker 1: that right now, I don't know, because maybe if the
6:23
Speaker 1: police had been called and they had come and they
6:25
Speaker 1: had intervened, I don't know if they would have removed him,
6:27
Speaker 1: if they would have put him in jail for I
6:30
Speaker 1: don't know her Arausman or I mean, who knows what
6:32
Speaker 1: would have happened, But there could have been a completely.
6:35
Speaker 2: I know one thing, that Christmas party was not interrupted.
6:37
Speaker 1: It was not interrupted. It went on. The show must
6:40
Speaker 1: go on, all right, So let's move into the case
6:50
Speaker 1: that we're going to talk about today. It's called the
6:52
Speaker 1: covena Christmas massacre. It's actually it's really a traumatic and
6:57
Speaker 1: tragic case that happened on Christmas. But let's go through this.
7:00
Speaker 1: So let's just do a brief synopsis first of this case.
7:03
Speaker 1: It happened on Christmas Eve, December twenty fourth, two thousand
7:05
Speaker 1: and eight, forty five year old Bruce Pardo arrived at
7:09
Speaker 1: his former in law's home in Covina, California, where a
7:12
Speaker 1: Christmas party was underway. Pardo arrived dressed as Santa Claus
7:16
Speaker 1: and was carrying multiple semi automatic handguns. When his eight
7:20
Speaker 1: year old niece opened the door because she saw Santa
7:23
Speaker 1: Claus outside, she went to the door, opened it.
7:25
Speaker 2: Whose house is it?
7:26
Speaker 1: His former in laws? He was getting divorced and the
7:29
Speaker 1: divorce had just been final like a couple weeks before,
7:32
Speaker 1: Like he just find like signed off on a fly.
7:34
Speaker 2: Now he goes to his in laws or former in
7:36
Speaker 2: law's home.
7:37
Speaker 1: Right, and he knows that his ex wife is there.
7:39
Speaker 1: He's dressed up as Sanna. When the eight year old
7:43
Speaker 1: niece opens the door, believing that Sanna had arrived, Pardo
7:47
Speaker 1: immediately shot her in the face. He then opened fire
7:50
Speaker 1: on all the party goers inside the home before deploying
7:53
Speaker 1: a homemade flamethrower style device, sprang fuel throughout the house
7:57
Speaker 1: and igniting a massive fire. Were killed, some by gunshot
8:01
Speaker 1: and others trapped by the fire.
8:02
Speaker 2: You know how many people were there? Did he kill all?
8:04
Speaker 1: Yeah? No, he killed nine and they were about there
8:07
Speaker 1: were like thirty people there. It was a big I
8:09
Speaker 1: guess this family, the Ortega, has had just like this
8:12
Speaker 1: lovely Christmas party every year for family, and they invited
8:14
Speaker 1: all their neighbors, and their neighbors said that they were
8:17
Speaker 1: just this.
8:17
Speaker 2: Well, I'm betting he knew that they had this annual party.
8:20
Speaker 2: It was, you know, say betting, you're betting. I'm betting
8:23
Speaker 2: that you're betting, Bette.
8:26
Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, you're betting right, because he did dramatically Burnette.
8:32
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, what betting?
8:36
Speaker 1: Betting? Betting that he knew, Yes, he knew that they
8:39
Speaker 1: had the annual Christmas party and that the whole family
8:41
Speaker 1: would be there, and then his sex wife would be there, right.
8:43
Speaker 2: And then he knows that he's so unwelcome. They did
8:46
Speaker 2: to dress up as Santa Claus.
8:47
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, he's got bigger problems than dressing up as
8:51
Speaker 1: Santa Claus. So Pardo accidentally burned himself in the process
8:55
Speaker 1: of this massacre and fled the scene, though he.
8:57
Speaker 2: Had done me suit was flammable.
9:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I should have gotten a non flammable one,
9:04
Speaker 1: though he had done months of planning, renting two getaway cars,
9:06
Speaker 1: and booking a flight. He was later found dead by
9:10
Speaker 1: suicide with ten thousand dollars in his pocket and he
9:13
Speaker 1: was found in his brother's home. His brother's name was
9:15
Speaker 1: Brad and this was in Silmour, California. But they honestly,
9:17
Speaker 1: they did not know that he died by suicide when
9:20
Speaker 1: they initially found his body. They thought he Initially they
9:23
Speaker 1: thought he was another victim of this violence that happened
9:27
Speaker 1: that night because apparently when he went into his brother's house,
9:29
Speaker 1: he shot the ceiling and shot the place up and
9:34
Speaker 1: then shot himself. And I guess he was burned so badly,
9:38
Speaker 1: and there were gunn you know, there was expired.
9:42
Speaker 2: And he was dressed like Santa.
9:44
Speaker 1: They thought, they initially thought he was a victim. Right,
9:49
Speaker 1: So let's talk about Bruce's planning, because he put a
9:51
Speaker 1: lot of planning into this. So investigators believe Pardo had
9:54
Speaker 1: been planning the attack for months following his divorce, planning.
9:57
Speaker 2: Could there be in I went into a house dressed
9:59
Speaker 2: a and I shot her one up and then I burned.
10:01
Speaker 1: It because he built these like this flame thrower thing
10:06
Speaker 1: that he He was very intelligent. He was highly educated.
10:09
Speaker 1: He worked for I be no, he worked he like
10:13
Speaker 1: out of college. He was like an engineer or something,
10:15
Speaker 1: and he worked for like Aerospace at NASA. He was
10:18
Speaker 1: like a rocket scientist.
10:19
Speaker 2: Did he work on the Challenger shuttle. He apparently caught
10:22
Speaker 2: himself on fire. That's what I'm saying. I beg to differ.
10:26
Speaker 1: No, I'm saying I'm talking about all the planning that
10:28
Speaker 1: he did to build his flame thrower. He also had
10:31
Speaker 1: two rental cars and he booby trapped the rental cars
10:34
Speaker 1: for who For the police when they found his Santa
10:38
Speaker 1: suit in the car, it was booby trapped. So when
10:41
Speaker 1: they opened the car door and like pulled the Santa
10:43
Speaker 1: Suit out, it ignited like another flame thrower and blew
10:46
Speaker 1: the car up. Oh so, like there was a lot
10:48
Speaker 1: of planning that went into.
10:50
Speaker 2: This, but that was okay, well we'll get into it.
10:52
Speaker 2: But that was not his getaway car that was to
10:54
Speaker 2: blow up.
10:55
Speaker 1: Yes, there's another getaway car. We're going to get into this.
10:58
Speaker 1: So according to court doc documents, Sylvia Pardo this was
11:01
Speaker 1: his ex wife. They did not have any children together,
11:04
Speaker 1: filed to dissolve the two year marriage in March, citing
11:08
Speaker 1: irreconcilable differences. The couples reached the settlement on December eighteenth.
11:11
Speaker 1: This is a week before.
11:12
Speaker 2: They say two years. No children, You're not tied that closely. Yeah,
11:19
Speaker 2: any had to kill everyone. Well I yeah, I mean
11:23
Speaker 2: that is just imagine it was what their pre tenures.
11:25
Speaker 2: Imagine if they had kids, he would have killed the
11:27
Speaker 2: kids too.
11:28
Speaker 1: Probably so Sylvia in this. So in their settlement, Sylvia
11:32
Speaker 1: received the dog. Maybe that's what pushed him over the edge.
11:34
Speaker 2: I would push you over the edge. Damn. If he
11:38
Speaker 2: gets that dog, he gets my dogs.
11:40
Speaker 1: That's it. Sylvia received the dog, some jewelry, and ten
11:43
Speaker 1: thousand dollars in the settlement agreement. Bruce Pardo got the
11:47
Speaker 1: couple's home. A court ordered Bruce Pardo to pay seventeen
11:50
Speaker 1: hundred and eighty five dollars a month and spousal support.
11:54
Speaker 2: After two years.
11:55
Speaker 1: He made a lot of money. I read his salary
11:57
Speaker 1: was one hundred and twenty two thousand for.
11:58
Speaker 2: His two years. Well, anyway, that doesn't just fire yea,
12:03
Speaker 2: and I think.
12:03
Speaker 1: Her salary was like thirty thousand, and you know if
12:06
Speaker 1: it was, I believe this is the way I understood it.
12:08
Speaker 1: I believe he was initially ordered to pay seventeen hundred
12:12
Speaker 1: dollars a month in spousal support. Then he lost his job.
12:15
Speaker 1: He was fired from his job because he was making
12:18
Speaker 1: false time cards. He was saying he was working more
12:21
Speaker 1: hours than he actually won.
12:22
Speaker 2: I'm a very intelligent person.
12:24
Speaker 1: Well, okay, you can be intelligent and con people and
12:29
Speaker 1: kill people at the same time.
12:31
Speaker 2: He got caught in both crimes. Apparently he tried to
12:33
Speaker 2: commit time theft, Yes, an arson, he got caught, yeah.
12:36
Speaker 1: A murder, Yeah, murder. So he was fired. So I
12:39
Speaker 1: believe the seventeen eighty five was an initial spousal support payment,
12:44
Speaker 1: but then after he was fired. The way I read
12:46
Speaker 1: it was that it just turned into a ten thousand
12:48
Speaker 1: dollars like lump payment, like lump settlement. But he told
12:52
Speaker 1: the judge he didn't have ten thousand dollars. All we
12:54
Speaker 1: know is after that final hearing date on December eighteenth,
12:58
Speaker 1: where he lost the dog ten thousand dollars and had
13:01
Speaker 1: a final divorce decree, he was pushed over the edge.
13:05
Speaker 1: So allegedly, like we just talked about, Bruce had lost
13:08
Speaker 1: his job and had trouble making payments. Police and media
13:12
Speaker 1: reports cited the divorce as the central motive for the attack,
13:15
Speaker 1: specifically targeting his former wife's family for revenge. So in
13:20
Speaker 1: July of two thousand and eight. This is during the proceedings,
13:23
Speaker 1: Like while the divorce is still going on, Parto began
13:25
Speaker 1: purchasing guns and hundreds of rounds of heavy ammunition. He
13:28
Speaker 1: even started building a device to spray highly flammable rating
13:32
Speaker 1: fuel in his in law's home. This is what police said.
13:34
Speaker 1: He also purchased a custom Santa suit.
13:37
Speaker 2: Like he didn't just get.
13:38
Speaker 1: On Amazon and get any Santa suit. He got a
13:41
Speaker 1: custom Santa suit.
13:41
Speaker 2: You look good on your way out.
13:43
Speaker 1: That discreetly hid the firearms. Where do you get a
13:46
Speaker 1: custom like he had it made so he had like pockets.
13:50
Speaker 2: Inside as he's like, take all this stuffing out to
13:54
Speaker 2: make me look jolly and put all this ammunition. Yeah,
13:57
Speaker 2: he seemed to enjoy this too much.
14:00
Speaker 1: Yea.
14:00
Speaker 2: He spent more on trying to create a war act
14:02
Speaker 2: like he was going into war. Yeah, and at the
14:04
Speaker 2: end of the day, I mean, not to make it
14:06
Speaker 2: light and not to make light of it, but he
14:08
Speaker 2: just wanted to shoot up a bunch of people and
14:10
Speaker 2: then run away. But it's almost like you took pride
14:13
Speaker 2: and revenge and I'm gonna burn him and I'm gonna
14:15
Speaker 2: build this, I'm gonna blow this bomb, like he made
14:18
Speaker 2: it more sophisticated than he needed to be.
14:20
Speaker 1: Well, I don't understand why people don't want to get
14:22
Speaker 1: revenge in a way where you just move on with
14:24
Speaker 1: your life and have like a better life.
14:26
Speaker 2: A revenge body. Yeah, that's what I would do.
14:29
Speaker 1: Like, why don't you just go to the gym and
14:31
Speaker 1: get really fit, get like a hot wife, and you know,
14:35
Speaker 1: get a better job, and why don't you try to
14:37
Speaker 1: make yourself you're.
14:38
Speaker 2: Talking to me, Oh that's you. Yeah, yeah, go to
14:41
Speaker 2: the gym, get a hot life.
14:42
Speaker 1: Yeah, you have the hot wife, but you don't go
14:44
Speaker 1: to the gym. So Parto had parks one of his
14:48
Speaker 1: rental cards near the house of his ex wife's divorce attorney.
14:51
Speaker 1: So that's the other rental cards next to the divorce
14:53
Speaker 1: attorney full of supplies and maps of the Southwest in Mexico.
14:57
Speaker 1: Police speculated the attorney might have also been a target.
15:00
Speaker 1: You think he parked the other rental car by her
15:04
Speaker 1: attorney's house. Pardo had also made plans to visit a
15:09
Speaker 1: friend in Iowa and had purchased a Christmas morning plane
15:12
Speaker 1: ticket from Los Angeles to Moline, Illinois. He was also
15:16
Speaker 1: carrying cash strapped to his body. I don't know why he.
15:19
Speaker 1: I guess he thought that his Santa suit wasn't going
15:22
Speaker 1: to burn up, and that he was just going to
15:24
Speaker 1: go get on a flight in his Santa suit with
15:26
Speaker 1: ten thousand dollars like strapped to him, and nobody's gonna
15:29
Speaker 1: say anything because he was dressed like Santa.
15:31
Speaker 2: I don't know, made's Christmas d Maybe thought there'd be
15:32
Speaker 2: a lot of Santa's at the airport, so it was
15:34
Speaker 2: just going to blend in with the other Santas, I guess. So.
15:38
Speaker 1: So, as investigators dug into Pardo's background, another disturbing detail surface.
15:43
Speaker 1: Now he had been married previously, so the wife and
15:46
Speaker 1: the family. Her name was Sylvia, and Pardo had a
15:50
Speaker 1: prior son from a previous relationship who years earlier nearly
15:55
Speaker 1: drowned under his supervision, suffering catastrophic brain damage. So I
16:00
Speaker 1: read that he had been married previously and they had
16:02
Speaker 1: a son, a toddler at the time. I don't know,
16:04
Speaker 1: he was like a year or something, very young, and
16:06
Speaker 1: she left to go shopping and she left the son
16:09
Speaker 1: in his care. Clearly he did not pay attention, and
16:13
Speaker 1: this toddler ended up in a pool and she comes home.
16:16
Speaker 1: I actually read two different accounts. I read one account
16:19
Speaker 1: that said she came home and he was holding the baby,
16:21
Speaker 1: like he had found the baby drowned and he had
16:23
Speaker 1: picked the baby up and was holding him. And another
16:25
Speaker 1: thing I read said that when she came home, he
16:28
Speaker 1: was just sitting on the couch drinking a beer, watching
16:30
Speaker 1: TV and had no idea what the child was and
16:32
Speaker 1: then they found him in the pool. At any rate,
16:35
Speaker 1: those are two different accounts, But at any rate, we
16:36
Speaker 1: know that he had had a child with his first marriage.
16:40
Speaker 1: A toddler had drowned under his care and it did
16:43
Speaker 1: not die, had fallen into the pool, had been in
16:46
Speaker 1: the pool for so long they had to take him.
16:49
Speaker 1: He went to the hospital and then he ended up
16:51
Speaker 1: being in a type of He had severe brain damage
16:54
Speaker 1: from that incident and he was in a vegetative state.
16:57
Speaker 1: Basically he was alive, but he was going to be
16:59
Speaker 1: in a wheelchair. Why are we bringing this up because
17:02
Speaker 1: it goes into They dug into his past, I guess
17:05
Speaker 1: to try to find motive and like psychologically what was
17:07
Speaker 1: going on with him, and they were, you know, they're investigating.
17:09
Speaker 1: So they found out that he did not tell his
17:13
Speaker 1: current wife, Sylvia was current his most current ex wife
17:18
Speaker 1: that he had this son. So they'd been married for
17:21
Speaker 1: two years.
17:21
Speaker 2: Wow?
17:22
Speaker 1: Really yes, and she did not know about the son.
17:25
Speaker 1: So she found out about the son when she was
17:27
Speaker 1: helping him with his taxes, and apparently she's.
17:30
Speaker 2: Just like, who was his child?
17:33
Speaker 1: He was claiming this child as a dependent but he
17:36
Speaker 1: wasn't paying any child support or medical costs. He totally
17:40
Speaker 1: like left the wife and left the sun and never
17:43
Speaker 1: saw them or having.
17:44
Speaker 2: Well, yeah, but they're lucky he didn't kill them.
17:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, they were lucky. They weren't at the Ortelles that
17:48
Speaker 1: night on Christmas Eve. So the child had survived this,
17:51
Speaker 1: but was left severely disabled and part of later cut
17:54
Speaker 1: off all contact and support, keeping the child's existence a
17:57
Speaker 1: secret from his wife, Sylvia for years. Allegedly, when Sylvia
18:01
Speaker 1: found out that Bruce had abandoned his brain damaged son
18:04
Speaker 1: but continued to claim him as a tax ride off,
18:07
Speaker 1: their marriage began to disintegrate. I mean, can you imagine
18:11
Speaker 1: you marry someone and then you find out by helping
18:13
Speaker 1: them with their taxes that they have a secret child
18:16
Speaker 1: who is brain damaged because you were neglectful, and then
18:21
Speaker 1: you didn't tell your new spouse about them.
18:25
Speaker 2: Wow.
18:25
Speaker 1: So then that obviously now she's like, I don't want
18:28
Speaker 1: to be with this guy.
18:29
Speaker 2: But he's intelligent.
18:30
Speaker 1: Hem just telling you that he's educated and he worked
18:34
Speaker 1: as like a rocket science and so.
18:35
Speaker 2: So what good does that do at the end of
18:37
Speaker 2: the day.
18:38
Speaker 1: So the night of the massacre, we know that he
18:40
Speaker 1: dresses in his custom Santa suit that had room for
18:43
Speaker 1: all that. I believe he had four semi automatic weapons
18:45
Speaker 1: with him. He goes to the door, the niece answers
18:48
Speaker 1: it she's eight years old. He shoots her in the head,
18:51
Speaker 1: and then the rest of the family. I believe their
18:54
Speaker 1: tradition was they would play poker every night right before midnight.
18:58
Speaker 1: So the family was sitting around a poker table playing poker,
19:01
Speaker 1: and he opens fire on them with the rifle, with
19:04
Speaker 1: the gons, the semi automatic weapons. But he also is
19:07
Speaker 1: carrying a present that's wrapped up like he has it
19:10
Speaker 1: on a cart like he's pulling it into the house,
19:12
Speaker 1: and that is his his homemade flame thrower gas ignited
19:18
Speaker 1: explosive device. So that's when they think what happened is
19:22
Speaker 1: when he ignited all that gasoline all over the house,
19:25
Speaker 1: that there were candles lit in the house and then
19:27
Speaker 1: once that hit the candles, like the entire house exploded
19:31
Speaker 1: and it was it's I saw photos of the home.
19:33
Speaker 1: I mean it's complete, there's nothing left.
19:36
Speaker 2: So there were so I think he had more excitement
19:41
Speaker 2: in planning this whole thing. Yeah, like he enjoyed, like,
19:45
Speaker 2: I'm going to get them, I'm going to dress up
19:47
Speaker 2: the Santa. I'm going to ruin their night. I'm going
19:48
Speaker 2: to make it on Christmas Eve, you know, and I'm
19:51
Speaker 2: just gonna like tear I'm going to burn their house
19:53
Speaker 2: down as well.
19:54
Speaker 1: Yeah, and he didn't care who it was. He didn't
19:55
Speaker 1: care if his kids or a girl, or adults or teenagers.
19:59
Speaker 1: He didn't care.
20:00
Speaker 2: So, so don't answer the door on Chris's Eve if
20:03
Speaker 2: you if you're in the midst of a divorce.
20:14
Speaker 1: All right, So let's talk about the victims of the massacre.
20:16
Speaker 1: First of all, Sylvia Pardo, who was his ex wife,
20:18
Speaker 1: was forty three years old and she died. Joseph Ortega
20:22
Speaker 1: was her father and Alicia Ortega was her mother. They
20:25
Speaker 1: were seventy nine and seventy and they were the owners
20:27
Speaker 1: of the homes and they died too. They died too,
20:29
Speaker 1: so they were at so that's four.
20:30
Speaker 2: This was the eight year old girl, the ex die.
20:33
Speaker 1: The eight year old girl did not die. Yeah, she survived,
20:36
Speaker 1: So she's a survivor. So the victims who died, there
20:39
Speaker 1: were nine people who died. Sylvia, who's forty three, was
20:42
Speaker 1: his ex wife, her parents, Joseph and Alicia, and it
20:46
Speaker 1: was their home. Michael Ortiz who was seventeen at the time.
20:50
Speaker 1: That was a nephew, Charles Ortega, who was I believe
20:55
Speaker 1: Sylvia's brother, and then five and then Sherry I believe
20:59
Speaker 1: was his wife and she died. And then James, another brother.
21:03
Speaker 1: He was fifty two, he died, and then his wife, Teresa,
21:06
Speaker 1: and then another aunt I believe, Alicia. The woman that
21:11
Speaker 1: called nine to one one was Sylvia's sister. Her name
21:14
Speaker 1: was Latsia, I believe, and I actually listened to the
21:17
Speaker 1: nine to one one call because it was her daughter
21:20
Speaker 1: that answered the door. And somehow a lot of people
21:23
Speaker 1: I saw interviews with some of the family members, and
21:26
Speaker 1: I mean a lot of people survived. They escaped, They
21:28
Speaker 1: jumped through windows and people ran they're running around the yard. Yeah, well,
21:33
Speaker 1: oh yeah, absolutely. I mean someone comes in the house
21:34
Speaker 1: and starts shooting I'm going, I mean, I have children,
21:37
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go for the show.
21:38
Speaker 2: Then unless you're running though, whether you're running to get
21:40
Speaker 2: your kids and run out the door, out the window, whatever,
21:42
Speaker 2: you're running. Right.
21:43
Speaker 1: The survivor, Katrina, she was the one who was eight
21:46
Speaker 1: years old at the time she was shot in the face.
21:49
Speaker 1: She became an outspoken advocate against gun violence during her
21:52
Speaker 1: high school years, notably participating in a student walk out
21:56
Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen. She attended Tufts University, graduating in twenty
22:00
Speaker 1: twenty three with a degree in psychology and entrepreneurship. As
22:04
Speaker 1: of December twenty fourth, she has a linked En profile.
22:08
Speaker 1: It indicates that she is a senior recruiter at a
22:10
Speaker 1: private equity firm in the Los Angeles area. But can
22:13
Speaker 1: you imagine, I mean, she was shot in the face, right,
22:16
Speaker 1: and she she lived. And also I saw a video
22:19
Speaker 1: of her speaking and talking about the walkout and things
22:21
Speaker 1: like that. She has no scars on her good face,
22:24
Speaker 1: she looked completely normal.
22:26
Speaker 2: I mean, she didn't go without a lot of trauma
22:28
Speaker 2: and physical trauma.
22:29
Speaker 1: Well, absolutely, can you imagine the people that survived that evening.
22:32
Speaker 1: I mean, her mother, Latisia, lost her sister, her two brothers,
22:37
Speaker 1: her parents, her nephew, and then she ended up adopting
22:41
Speaker 1: or I don't know if it was officially adopted, but
22:43
Speaker 1: she ended up taking in her sisters one of her
22:46
Speaker 1: sister's children and raising it because they lost their parents
22:50
Speaker 1: that night. So Latisia became the matriarch of the remaining family,
22:55
Speaker 1: focusing on keeping their tight knit family traditions alive. She
22:59
Speaker 1: worked through her anxiety and nightmares with therapy and faith,
23:02
Speaker 1: telling the media in twenty thirteen that we have to
23:04
Speaker 1: keep moving in our everyday moments. So that's Latisia. Can
23:07
Speaker 1: you imagine she lost her parents, sisters, her brothers, and
23:12
Speaker 1: a nephew and she all in one night and her
23:14
Speaker 1: daughter was shot in the face. That's Latusia. So Selena
23:18
Speaker 1: and Salk.
23:19
Speaker 2: Yeah, some guy was upset from a two year breakup
23:22
Speaker 2: and he had to pay some ten grand.
23:24
Speaker 1: Yeah, ten grand and the dog and yeah they were
23:29
Speaker 1: together two years. I mean they didn't have children together.
23:32
Speaker 2: It matter if they're together twenty years, at least twenty years.
23:35
Speaker 2: You'd understand if he was emotionally, you know, more disturbed.
23:40
Speaker 2: Goes back to him being a terrible father to his
23:43
Speaker 2: other child. I mean, this guy was never any good, right.
23:47
Speaker 1: But it's so interesting to me because there were a
23:49
Speaker 1: lot of people who gave interviews about this case because
23:52
Speaker 1: it was huge. Can you imagine this happened on Christmas?
23:54
Speaker 1: Even nine people are dead now exploded, and he dressed
23:57
Speaker 1: up like Santa Claus, and I mean it was all
23:59
Speaker 1: over the news and there were so many people that
24:02
Speaker 1: came forward and said, like, he was just just this normal,
24:06
Speaker 1: lovely person.
24:08
Speaker 2: Intelligent, Yes, he was intelligent.
24:10
Speaker 1: He was well educated, he had a good job, he
24:12
Speaker 1: made good money. I don't know, it's it's what that's
24:15
Speaker 1: my question is is that something inside of you that
24:19
Speaker 1: you always have, Like, is there just some evil nugget
24:21
Speaker 1: in you?
24:22
Speaker 2: I think he was able to hide it. I mean,
24:23
Speaker 2: is him neglecting his child? I mean that's weird. And
24:27
Speaker 2: then and then he was able to hide it from
24:29
Speaker 2: her this whole time, right, I mean that right, there
24:33
Speaker 2: is strange.
24:34
Speaker 1: Right, But there are men out there who are crappy
24:37
Speaker 1: fathers who leave their kids and never see them and
24:39
Speaker 1: don't want to have anything to do with them. But they
24:41
Speaker 1: don't plan an elaborate, sophisticated massacre on Christmas Eve. So
24:47
Speaker 1: my point is, I guess what I'm trying to say
24:49
Speaker 1: is he was he just always innately evil and it
24:51
Speaker 1: was just always in there. Or can someone who's actually
24:54
Speaker 1: psychologically normal for most of their life just something makes
24:59
Speaker 1: them snap, Like Betty Broderick, Like she just seemed like
25:03
Speaker 1: this normal housewife that just was like taking care of
25:06
Speaker 1: her husbands and kids, and then her husband and kids,
25:09
Speaker 1: and then her husband leaves her and she just snaps
25:11
Speaker 1: and she drives to his house and murders him and
25:13
Speaker 1: his new wife in their sleep.
25:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, it makes me think twice about getting up and
25:17
Speaker 2: leaving you. He will snap. You're a seemingly normal housewife.
25:24
Speaker 1: Seemingly normal. Thank you for that, all right, there's some
25:27
Speaker 1: cultural and looking Sam, I thank you.
25:31
Speaker 2: I think he wanted to sucker punch him. He wanted
25:33
Speaker 2: to really catch him off guard and see their faces
25:36
Speaker 2: while he shot him. That's why you wanted to infiltrate,
25:38
Speaker 2: like get inside the house, is Santa Claus.
25:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're saying he's such as sick.
25:42
Speaker 2: Oh, anyone could have rung the doorbell and shot and
25:45
Speaker 2: I mean don't know what he did, but I think
25:47
Speaker 2: he really wanted to get inside that house and have
25:49
Speaker 2: a last laugh at him. Yeah, it's sick.
25:52
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, you know, well his original plans were foiled
25:56
Speaker 1: because he did plan to take off that night or
25:59
Speaker 1: the next day, right, but he got third degree burns
26:02
Speaker 1: and he had to he had to, you know, go.
26:05
Speaker 1: He went to his brother's house. His brother's named Brad,
26:07
Speaker 1: and he ended up shooting himself because he knew he
26:09
Speaker 1: couldn't get away a third degree burns on him.
26:11
Speaker 2: His third degree is the worst, worse than second degree.
26:14
Speaker 2: In first degree, I always get confused.
26:15
Speaker 1: Yes, third degree is as bad as it gets.
26:17
Speaker 2: Yeah, because you have first degree, you don't have third
26:19
Speaker 2: degree murder. You have first agree murders the worst kind.
26:21
Speaker 1: Right, but burns are its opposite. Third degree burns are
26:24
Speaker 1: worse than first degree. I don't even know if they
26:26
Speaker 1: call it first degree. I don't know. I just know
26:28
Speaker 1: third degree burns as like as badly as you can
26:30
Speaker 1: be burned, Like your skin's like literally melting half of you.
26:33
Speaker 1: So he caught himself on fire and he had third
26:36
Speaker 1: degree burns. I guess the Santa suit basically like melted
26:39
Speaker 1: on him. So he could not escape. So he ended
26:42
Speaker 1: up going to his brother's house.
26:43
Speaker 2: Couldn't change clothes, he couldn't he couldn't get it like this.
26:47
Speaker 1: He couldn't get away with his getaway plan. He couldn't
26:49
Speaker 1: take his flight and he had his ten thousand dollars
26:51
Speaker 1: strap to.
26:52
Speaker 2: Him to get from the house to He didn't use
26:54
Speaker 2: his getaway cars or anything. He just went from his
26:56
Speaker 2: that house to the to his brother's house.
26:59
Speaker 1: He had an elaborate scheme of getaway cars. So I
27:04
Speaker 1: assume when he finally did after he caught the house
27:07
Speaker 1: on fire in the house blewide.
27:08
Speaker 2: It sounds like he had a very colorful escape plan,
27:11
Speaker 2: but it was probably poorly execute and probably over the top.
27:14
Speaker 1: Well, as he was leaving the house after he shot
27:17
Speaker 1: people and caught the house on fire, he passed a
27:19
Speaker 1: neighbor on the sidewalk and told him Merry Christmas.
27:23
Speaker 2: He filed the animals. So what he said he.
27:27
Speaker 1: Really Yes, I saw an interview, a news interview of
27:30
Speaker 1: a neighbor that was that watched him walk.
27:33
Speaker 2: Away from the house they saw like a Santa Claus
27:36
Speaker 2: on fire, wishing him a half Merry Christmas.
27:39
Speaker 1: Said Merry Christmas.
27:41
Speaker 2: Yeah, got to move on.
27:45
Speaker 1: Yeah. So after they investigated is when they realized that
27:50
Speaker 1: he ended up killing himself. So he did shoot himself
27:52
Speaker 1: in the mouth, but it was hard to tell that.
27:54
Speaker 1: Initially they thought that he was possibly another victim that
27:58
Speaker 1: happened on the same night. So let's talk about homicide
28:02
Speaker 1: rates increasing during the holidays. Do you think they increase
28:05
Speaker 1: or decrease homicide? Well, crime in general increases, but what
28:11
Speaker 1: about homicide.
28:13
Speaker 2: I'm guessing you're gonna say yes.
28:16
Speaker 1: Well, surprisingly, there is no evidence to support that homicide
28:19
Speaker 1: rates increase during the holidays in the United States. However,
28:22
Speaker 1: robbery and larceny are shown to go up in December.
28:26
Speaker 1: Even if homicide counts don't spike dramatically across the season,
28:29
Speaker 1: certain risk factors associated with violent incidents can increase around
28:32
Speaker 1: the holidays. Alcohol use tends to increase on holidays, which
28:36
Speaker 1: is correlated with violent incidents. Yeah, that's violent. Domestic violence
28:42
Speaker 1: results stress around the holidays. Yeah, domestic violence reports often
28:46
Speaker 1: arise during major holidays, and some of these incidents can
28:49
Speaker 1: unfortunately escalate to lethal outcomes. So I don't know, do
28:54
Speaker 1: you get stressed with the holidays?
28:56
Speaker 2: Yeah? Absolutely.
28:57
Speaker 1: Do you think the holidays are fun?
28:59
Speaker 2: Financially it can be stressful, yeah, you know, trying to
29:02
Speaker 2: make sure you're living up to the expectations that kids
29:05
Speaker 2: might have. Then you got your spread thin. When you
29:08
Speaker 2: got all these you know, family members all over the place,
29:10
Speaker 2: and everyone wants to do things your spread thin. It's tough.
29:14
Speaker 1: You know what I did this holiday? I declined every
29:17
Speaker 1: holiday invitation I got yes because I just didn't feel
29:22
Speaker 1: like going anywhere.
29:24
Speaker 2: It's very festive of you.
29:27
Speaker 1: It's a lot of work when you get those invites
29:28
Speaker 1: in for holidays, and then you got to get your
29:30
Speaker 1: hair and makeup done.
29:31
Speaker 2: You don't have to get your hair makeup.
29:33
Speaker 1: Done, well, I choose to, but then it's like then
29:36
Speaker 1: you have to figure out what you're gonna wear, and
29:37
Speaker 1: you end up buying something new, and then I don't.
29:39
Speaker 2: Care what you gonna wear every day anyway.
29:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, but it has to be something different, not something
29:43
Speaker 1: I already wore. And I know it's stressful, so I
29:48
Speaker 1: just said no. I said no to most things this year.
29:50
Speaker 1: So I just sat at home and watched while real No,
29:55
Speaker 1: I watched some Christmas movies. All right, Thank you guys
29:58
Speaker 1: for listening to our Chrismas episode. Thank you for listening,
30:02
Speaker 1: and again, you can follow us on our own feed
30:04
Speaker 1: legally Brunette, and also please leave us a review I
30:08
Speaker 1: like to read them. Be nice, cheers and Merry Christmas.