Pedro “Pedrinho Matador" Rodriguez Was A Real Life Serial Killer, Just Like "Dexter"

by Elana

Unless you've been living under a rock for 10 years there's a good chance that somewhere along the way someone has talked to you about a Showtime TV Series called Dexter. Based off of a book, the hit series hooked in viewers obsessed with the hunky vigilante. He was a serial killer, but he only killed people who deserved it. He was practically impossible to hate, especially as you watched him murder Miami's worst of the worst. Serial killers, rapists, and all around bad guys who weren't going to see the justice they deserved without Dexter's psychotic mind intervening.

Devoted followers of the show have all thought it wasn't a terrible idea. Victims of crime tend to feel like they haven't received justice for what was done to them and their loved ones so the idea of someone taking care of that for them? Awesome.

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Pedro “Pedrinho Matador" Rodriguez may not be as dashing as Michael C. Hall but his story may not be that different from the fictional serial killer.

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Beginning his career as a serial killer at the ripe age of 14, Pedro Rodrigues managed to kill 10 people before he turned 18 and went on to kill a whopping 70 people, most of which had a confirmed history of crime themselves. Pedro is considered one of Brazil's most infamous and prolific serial killers and his hard life started before he was even born.

Pedro was born with an injured skull, the result of his mother taking a vicious beating from his father while she was pregnant with him. Rodrigues says that he developed a taste for murder when he was only 13 when he almost killed a cousin of his, pushing him into a sugar cane press during a fight.

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It wasn't long before he committed his first murder and the victim? The vice-mayor who had recently fired his father. His father had been working as a school guard and was fired for allegedly stealing food from the school. It was not long after that he went for his next victim, the supposed real food thief.

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He then fled to Mogi das Cruzes to take refuge and began a spree of burglaries, murdered a drug dealer, and lived with a woman he met named Maria Aparecida Olympia. Eventually, she was murdered by a gang while Pedro escaped.

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Most of the first 10 murders before Pedro turned 18 occurred shortly after, on a quest for revenge as he tortured and murdered gang members, attempting to discover who murdered Maria. Before leaving Mogi das Cruzes, Pedro murdered his own father because the man had butchered his mother with a machete. In an act of brutal vengeance, Pedro stabbed his father 22 times, cut out his heart, and bit off a piece to chew.

Finally, on May 24, 1973 Pedro was arrested. At that time he was sentenced to prison and during his incarceration he murdered 4 other inmates.

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The Brazilian law system prohibits anyone from spending more than 30 years behind bars so even though Pedro was sentenced in 2003 to 128 years in prison and due to the additional crimes he committed while in prison that sentence was increased to 400 years... he didn't serve a fraction of either!

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After only 34 years in prison he was set to be released by the Justice System in 2007 and on April 24th, 2007 he was indeed released!

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On September 15, 2011, local media from Santa Catarina published that Filho had been arrested at his home, in the rural area, where he worked as a house-keeper, at Balneário Camboriú, Santa Catarina coastline. According to a news channel, he will serve time for accusations such as riot and false imprisonment.

Diário Catarinense To date, Pedro Rodrigues Filho has claimed 100+ murders but "only" 71 have been confirmed.

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However, he remains infamous in Brazil for promising to continue murdering criminals. His most noteworthy promise is to kill Francisco de Assis Pereira, also known as "O Maníaco do Parque" ("The Park Maniac"), a notorious Brazilian rapist and serial killer.