Manuel Pardo (serial killer)
Manuel "Manny" Pardo, Jr. (September 24, 1956 – December 11, 2012[1]) was a serial killer in South Florida, active from January to April 1986, often working with partner, and co-defendant, Rolando Garcia.[2] Over the course of those months, Pardo had nine known victims. These events led to his arrest and conviction for 8 counts of First Degree Murder in the mid 1980s which he received the death penalty for, and ultimately his execution in December 2012.[1]
Manuel Pardo | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Manuel Pardo, Jr. September 24, 1956 New York, United States |
| Died | December 11, 2012 (aged 56) Florida, United States |
| Cause of death | Executed by lethal injection |
| Other names | "Manny" |
| Conviction(s) | Murder |
| Criminal penalty | Death |
| Details | |
| Victims | 9 |
Span of crimes | January–April 1986 |
| Country | United States |
| State(s) | Florida |
Date apprehended | May 7, 1986 |
Early life and police career
Pardo was born in New York. According to USA Today, Pardo was "a former Boy Scout and Navy veteran, [who] began his law enforcement career in the 1970s with the Florida Highway Patrol, graduating at the top of his class at the academy. He was fired from that agency in 1979 for falsifying traffic tickets. He was soon hired by the police department in Sweetwater, a small city in Miami-Dade County."[3][1]
Criminal career and trial
After some brushes with law enforcement, including one incident involving lying to investigators, his position at the Sweetwater Police Department was terminated. In January 1986, Pardo killed his first two victims, Mario Amador and Roberto Alonso, with a .22 caliber Ruger pistol as he "ordered the men to the ground, then pumped bullets into each of their heads," police reported Pardo also shot the two victims in the torso.[2][1] Later that month, he killed a Haitian man, Michael Millot, who he believed to be a police informant.[1]
In February 1986, he killed two more victims, Luis Robledo and Ulpiano Ledo, during a robbery of their home.[1] Pardo had four victims in April 1986 in two separate incidents: two, Fara Quintero and Sara Musa, were killed over an argument about a pawned ring worth $50;[1] two others, Ramon Alvero and Daisy Ricard, were killed as Alvero failed to show up to several drug deals.[2]
Pardo was apprehended in New York City, found in a hospital with a bullet in his foot that matched those found in his final victims.[1] Pardo maintained until his death that his mission was to rid Florida of its drug culture by killing, one by one, or in his cases, two by two, active sellers and buyers of drugs, admitting to at least six of the nine murders.[1]
During his trial, against the advice of his attorneys, Pardo took the witness stand in self-defense. During this portion of the trial, Pardo claimed "I am a soldier, I accomplished my mission and I humbly ask you to give me the glory of ending my life and not send me to spend the rest of my days in state prison."[4] Pardo "acknowledged that he killed all nine victims, but claimed that all nine victims were drug dealers who had no right to live and that he was doing society a favor."[1] Prosecuting attorney David Waxman, on the other hand, maintained that Pardo was a "cold-blooded killer" and, according to the Clark County Prosecutor's site, "The State presented the case that Pardo and Garcia were drug dealers and were eliminating the competition."[1][4]
He was executed in Florida on December 11, 2012 by lethal injection,[3] and was pronounced dead at 7:47 P.M.[1] Manuel Pardo Jr. spent a total of 26 years on death row before his execution.
In popular culture
In the 2015 top-down shooter video game Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number, one of the playable characters is an unhinged Miami Police Department homicide detective named Manny Pardo, who uses his authority to go on violent rampages and get away it. Pardo is established to be seeking attention and recognition for his crimes over other violent criminals making the top headlines in Miami, who the player also controls throughout the story. Over the course of the game, Detective Pardo is gradually revealed to be a serial killer dubbed by the press as the "Miami Mutilator" who investigates his own crimes. When Manny Pardo does not initially receive the media attention he craves as a murderer, Pardo escalates the brutality of his killings, in an effort to have his crimes dominate the news cycle like these other three major stories involving more massacres by animal mask wearing vigilantes, the trial of the now notorious masked contract killer who was the main protagonist in the first Hotline Miami, and an escalating bloody gang war between the Russian Mafia and the Colombian cartel.[5]
There has been speculation that Dexter Morgan, a fictional serial killer and vigilante who works as a forensics technician at the Miami Police Department, was inspired in part by Pardo due to their resemblance.[6][7] Another Dexter character, Miguel Prado, was also likely named after Pardo.
See also
References
- "Manuel Pardo Jr. #1320". clarkprosecutor.org. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
- "Manuel Pardo: The saga of a Sweetwater ex-cop convicted of mass murder, now set for execution". The Miami Herald. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
- "Florida executes ex-cop for killing 9 in 1986". USA Today. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
- "Former Sweetwater Cop Executed". December 11, 2012. Retrieved January 9, 2019.
- Hotline Miami 2: Wrong Number#Plot
- Manuel Pardo: The Real Dexter
- The Real ‘Dexter’: Did Manuel Pardo Inspire Showtime Serial Killer?