Morbid - 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. Cowritten by Alaina Urquhart, Ash Kelley & Dave White (Since 10/2022)Produced & Edited by Mikie Sirois (Since 2023)Research by Dave White (Since 10/2022), Alaina Urquhart & Ash KelleyListener Correspondence & Collaboration by Debra LallyListener Tale Video Edited by Aidan McElman (Since 6/2025) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey weirdos, my name is Ash. And I am Elena. And this is Mobbid. Whoa, it is. I know I'm kind of a stu. You're Estelle. 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 going to 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. 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 Klaus, 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 going to add it to our arsenal of like Christmas vacation, Elf, the Santa Claus. Those are every year that we have to watch them and now Klaus is on top of it. And I just want to spread the word because it's real cute. I love 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? Sponsor us. So 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 Klaus 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's car. They were supposedly best friends for like 20 years. This woman, Megan Fierramuska, I think it is, was in the delivery room when she gave birth to her daughter, Margo. Margo, that's the cutest name. I know, isn't that adorable?

Yeah. And such a cute baby, such a pretty girl, like, brand new mom. I had 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 didn't 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. 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 assist in it.

You watched this woman give birth to her child. You know she's a mother of two children and you took her away from those children. I hate that. And then I feel even worse because everybody was thinking that it was the fiancé. 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 until proven 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.

Your what? You've never heard that before? Did you say heart or hat? Oh, I thought you said. I'll eat my hat if that's not. 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 was like, damn. I'll do that too if I'm wrong. You know, I'll take my 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.

I know. For Margot and her son and for her family. So that's just a real bummer. And RIP Heidi. And fuck you, 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 Grammarcy Theater in New York on January 30th. Can't wait to see you there. That show is sold

the fuck out. But we can't wait to see everybody who bought tickets. It's going to be Liddy. Then April 14th at the Punchline Comedy Club in Philadelphia will see you there. Coming at 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 Impress. of in Washington, D.C. I'm also pretty sure there's still tickets for that. Yep, go get those tickets. We want to see our faces.

We do. Then we are playing an early show on May 7th at Zanies, 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 going to be playing a late show there. So there are two shows. There are still tickets available for the second show. So go get it. Because the more shows we sell out, the more we can add.

Let's do this. We're already working on some others. Heyo. Let, let, let, let, let. 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 Covino, the Covina, excuse me, Covina 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 going to want to go to a Christmas party after this? It's the holiday season. So, yeah. 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, which 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? It always 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 Bundy. Yeah, he exact. Like he wasn't like a super withdrawn guy like Jeffrey Dahmer or anything like that or like an Ed Kempery 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

that I wrote. I wrote for the last time. I was like, whoa, when. Surprise. No, I read it. He carried a life-sized inflatable doll at his graduation. Why? Because he just thought it would be funny.

Like, he was one of those guys. A jockster. Just a big old jokster. Sounds 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 us.

Sometimes. But he was like the typical frat guy, but then add on like that he also, was a murderer. Oh. So there's, that differentiates him from the typical fratka. Yeah,

I don't know typical murderous fratman. No. He was also, and I'm not saying this differentiates him, I'm just adding this. He was very, he was brilliant. He was very brilliant.

Many frat guys are brilliant. Let's be clear. Yeah. I'm not saying that differentiates him. Um, so he ended up getting a job at the jet propulsion laboratory in, uh, 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 degree in computer science. He basically just kind of like fucked around it worked. Like he was not a good employee. Oh. He used his brilliance and knowledge to hack the system there to look at his co-worker's salaries.

Oh, that's not allowed. That's not allowed and that's not cool, dude. Why do you care what everybody else is making? Well, it's like, fuck you. You don't need to see what I'm making. Like, damn. Just ask me, I'll tell you. Yeah, like, 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 doesn't want to be associated with this. You know what I'm going to say? Hey there, Delilah. No. Delilah. You know that radio station at night? No.

And she's like, oh my God, it's like this lady. I was thinking that, hey there, Delilah, what's it like in New York City? People already fucking hate us, but I'm going to explain. Delilah is like a radio show around here and she's like, it's normally like late night. And you like right into her and she's like, tell me all your love woes. 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 real. A saucy body roll. Ash closed her eyes. She got all into that. Because I love that. It's so comforting. I appreciated it.

Anyways. Well, this is not the same Delilah. In 1988, he was 24 years old. They got engaged. She ended up paying for the wedding and the honeymoon. Why? From her savings. Is he a fucking software 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 altar. 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? Yep, and he went on a Palm Springs vacation and just blew it all.

What a fucking asshole. No wonder she's like by. Right. There's a lot more that she would want to disassociate from this dude that we'll hear about. Did she 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 this dude is. In 2001, he met a woman named Elena Lucano. Shut up, Elena. Yeah. That's your name. It's not spelled the same.

Oh. It's like Elena. Not Elena. But it's 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 toddling 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 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. John 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 going to sit down and watch it. Right. And it's like for him to say, sit there and watch TV long enough

for this kid to wander outside first of all. How did your kid 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. Is the kid okay?

Well, he lived. 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. Well, 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 going to abandon your game? Yeah.

And leave with, and leave it up to the mother to take care. Obviously, the mother, I mean, you're a mother of a child. That would not be like, we don't 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 take care of your child and especially when you're responsible for it. Never mind that. So again, I mean, not cool. Piece of shit. Absolute piece of shit. That poor little babe.

I know. And I mean, I guess he's thriving with his mother. You know what I mean? Well, that's good. But that sucks. Still. Because of your dad's fucking negligence. Yeah.

And that kid is like suffering because of. 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 Letitia. She ended up meeting Bruce and marrying him. Why? Unfortunately. Why? Now, Sylvia, around 19888, 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. Okay. 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's a deadbeat. Shit went real bad, almost immediately. He was super shifty. He was just an asshole. They fought about money a lot because he wanted a separate, like, secret bank account away from her. Go fuck yourself.

Yeah, so money became a real source of contention for them, like, right away. And the straw that broke the camel's 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 brain damage 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, he was not seen, spoken, or paid for this child. she was like, you're 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 kindergartner, like a four-year-old.

And she was like, can she finish kindergarten here? then I'll move out. Right. 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 Bruce fashion. Yeah, typical fucking Bruce. You know what I'm saying? Fucking Bruce. Fucking Bruce. Rest in distress because, spoiler alert, he's fucking dead. Bye Bruce. She was like, don't break me down.

Don't break me down. Bruce. So, yeah, so he's a piece of shit. June 2008, he was ordered to pay Sylvia $1,785 a month in spousal 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. Again. 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 Alty Times article. Yeah. He's just an absolute.

asshole in every sense of the word. In June, he bought a Sig Sour, 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. 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 help 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.

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. Yep, he ordered a Santa Claus outfit. Okay. He rented it from Jerry's costumes, and it was a custom Santa Claus outfit.

outfit and he asked for extra space in it. Okay. You're going to see why. Oh, I don't want to. Yeah, it's not awesome. And when I say, I don't want to, that doesn't mean stop telling the story because everybody gets upset and they say that they're like, Ash doesn't want to know the details. Why does she have a true crime podcast?

I do want to know the details. It's a figure of speech. Damn it. God damn it. Galapstis. 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. is Mercury in retrograde? Oh, wait. Side note. The moon was fucking straight up orange the other night, and I meant to text you. Maybe that's why. Yeah.

That orange mood is casting a salty light on us. So then he ended up visiting his friend, I believe, in September or October. He visited a friend in Iowa, 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. 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 divorced. 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. Sochi. 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 shit, but then, like, I feel like 9 out of 10 times you never see it. I know, that shit is always, like, it always gets held up and, like, with tape and shit. But then you're like, yeah, when I'm going to fucking get $10,000 from Bruce? When is Bruce going to pay that up? So Sylvia moved in with her parents for the time being at 1-1-2-9. East Noel Crest Drive and West Covina. Oh, Sylvia, you're having a time, girl.

I'm so sorry. This gets bad, guys, just to 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 Powder Coating 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 going to marry that girl. I'm going to leave because I have to go cry. Isn't it just like that's so beautiful? I love love.

Fifty-three years together. I hate to tell you this is not going to 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, there's some articles I'll post, too, that go through, like, each family member and just, like, go through their life and stuff. And it's like... All the great shit they did.

And it just seemed like they were just this, like, wonderful, loving family. Oh, good. They really did. Like, they loved each other. It just, like, really bum me out. So neighbors who had joined the family for other events and 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. I want to be named Mitsy. I know. That's a great name. She lived next door to 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 taught their kids to be respectful. They just loved each other. Just fuck, man. Fuck, Bruce Pardo.

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 shindig at their house. A big, a big soire. Big soiree. So later, someone, sometime after 11 p.m., some of the family, including Joseph and Alicia Ortega,

were playing a game of Texas Holden 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 L.A. 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 shit gets real. So just everybody hang on to your booties. Trigger warning? Yeah, kind of. Trigger warning for death. It's coming. So when 8-year-old Katrina Yuzov Poski peeked 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's psyched as any fucking eight-year-old would be to see Santa on Christmas Eve 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. Uh, yep. Shot this eight-year-old girl square in the face with a handgun. Now I'm going to tell you right now, the girl lives. Okay, okay, okay, thank God.

Because I was like, I want to leave now. Yeah, I just want to let everybody know. She lived, but like, holy shit. Shot an eight-year-old in the face? What kind of fucking, dressed as Santa nonetheless? Dressed as Santa. What the fuck is wrong with you? Exactly.

Now, hearing the commotion and the gunshot, the home just erupted in. to 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 Pardo was literally massacring his ex-wife's entire family along with her.

Like why, though? Now, family members who survived said they saw Charles and James Ortega, Sylvia's brothers, tried 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. Jesus Christ.

until 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 Letitia. Oh my God. Now Leticia 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. Now, according to the LA Times, relatives that were present said that they thought that they saw Bruce Pardo. Oh, this is so awful. Lift up Katrina before putting her down and shooting her in the face. What? What? What?

He came in. 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, six. 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 Pardo 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. Because he was showing up with a gift.

The wrapped gift was a homemade flame thrower. Wait. What? Yep. A homemade, literally Bruce Pardo, put together a homemade flame thrower. What even is that? It's like, it's exactly what it sounds like. No, I know what it is.

And it's got, and it had 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. in flames. What the, like, why? Yep. Now, this is, this sucks. Michael Ortega, 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. Now, Letitia, who ran out after her daughter Katrina, called 911 first at 1127 p.m. 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 Parsons. 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 he asked for extra room? Yep. in the suit to carry the guns. 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 them execution style 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 woof. Pardo's ex-wife, Sylvia Pardo, 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, were all killed. God. A 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 8-year-old Katrina survived but was obviously badly injured. Yeah. 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 80 firefighters, 1.5 hours to get the resulting firefighters. fire under control. Holy shit.

They said that flames were shooting up like 50 feet in the air. Because was he probably still in there, like shooting? It was just a massive fire. I mean, that flamethrower must have just caused the perfect atmosphere for an insane bonfire to happen. Now, Bruce had no priors. Right. No previous record. Right.

So this is just an insane jump. Why was he like so, like, why was it this time? I have no idea. It's like, because there's 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 into. Oh, he left. Oh, yeah, he left. He put the flamethrower into his rental car because he rented a car a week before this because he knew what he was going to do.

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.

Los Angeles County Coroner's Lieutenant Fred Corral said there was an exit wound at the top of his head, which meant that he probably put the gun in his mouth. to kill himself. There's something so cryptic about that. It really, it's so like, blah.

Like, it just gives me the willies. Um, it was around 3.30 a.m. that his brother showed up to his own home and found his brother. Oh, that's horrible. Just go fuck over one more fucking person, Bruce. Exactly. Um, he, so the brother called the police after discovering him, obviously. Mm-hmm. 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 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 that. Yeah. And so it was so. And it was so bad that the pants, the Santa pants, had actually melted into his skin. Good. So I think this is why he killed himself because, like, escaping at that point is just not going to happen. He just wasn't going to. Because you're going to have to go to a doctor now.

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 saran wrap. Oh, he was definitely not playing around.

Yeah. Investigators. Wait, 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 flamethrower, the guns, the 200 pounds of ammo, the costume, like the same Santa costume, food, water,

maps of Mexico and the U.S. A laptop, a desktop computer. Yeah, 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 got the burns. He initially he was ready to get the fuck out of there. Now he realizes he can't. Yeah. So now he's like, well, I'm going to 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, got to do it now. Luckily, he didn't kill anybody with that. explosion because they were smart and detonated it. Safety. At his home, they found four shotguns, more ammo, and more gas containers that he used to fuel the flamethrower.

It was later discovered that he was planning to kill his ex-wife, Sylvia's divorce attorney. Oh, geez. He was 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 Sylvia. In fact, apparently he was telling people at the divorce proceedings, she would sit with Sylvia in her family. What a bad bitch. Right? She's just like, you're a piece of shit. I know it. Um, 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 flamethrower that you could just put that together in like a night. Right. No. He ordered that Santa suit pretty early. So it's like, what the fuck were you trying to do? Nothing good. No, nothing good. Um, 13 kids lost their parents on that Christmas Eve. Oh my God. That's so sad. 13 kids. they're going to remember Christmas Eve as the night they became essentially orphans. Oh my God.

Can you imagine? No. Katrina was fucking traumatized. Yeah. Can you imagine? Like you're eight years old and Christmas is the most amazing thing. Like, you would be triggered every time you saw Santa Claus. Yeah.

Which is like 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 jaunty. Yeah, it's a very Christmas. It's a 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, too. Full Santa gear walking down the road, just nothing in his hands, just walking down the road. nobody else was around. It was so weird. And I just looked out of the window and I was like, guys, it's Santa. And the girls like lost their shit. I think that's 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, magic. 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 poor Katrina. If she was the back seat. Oh my God. Saw fucking Santa walking down the street. That poor girl would lose her damn mind probably. Yeah.

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. Well, not even just for the rest of your life. Like you can never enjoy Christmas. No. And it's like her mother, Letitia, said she had to constantly remind her that that man was not the real Santa Claus.

God, my heart. Because this poor girl's probably sitting there being like Santa Claus did that to me. Like, she doesn't understand that you're eight years old. That this is a disgruntled ex-uncle of hers. You know what I mean? 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. The rest of ever. Because no matter what, it's like, she's going to be like, no, he's coming. Like, they're going to celebrate Christmas again. I would assume I don't know. Maybe they stopped. I don't know. But it seems like her mother Letitia 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 that Santa?

My whole family was annihilated on this day, however many years ago, every year. I can't even your parents, all your siblings, your nephew. And then all those kids that got left without parents? 13 kids. I wonder how old everyone was. 13 kids. And 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. family enlights the crime scene ablaze with a fucking homemade flame thrower.

The homemade flamethrower 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. Because you could do some awesome shit in the world and you've chosen to be this evil son of a bitch. And it really sucks that he killed himself. It really sucks that he killed himself because I would love to see this guy fucking rotting away. And the fact that he shot an eight-year-olds 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 Pardo'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 what I mean? And I wouldn't blame you. Right. And actually, she told the L.A. Times, quote, I will say this to you. It would have been so easy for that family to hate me.

And Sal 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. Yeah. And like your kid 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. And it's, I guess, um, Joseph had, um, a sister that was, um, that was, I mean, he was 80 years old, so an elderly sister. Yeah. 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. They, I guess they didn't tell her. I don't know if they ever told her, like, 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 just rippled so far out in like this awful spider web of just shit. 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. Because it 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, fuck you for bringing her.

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 that, like, it gets better. Like, I promise. I know, I did too. I got the chilly willies. So that is the Covina Christmas Eve massacre. Wow.

And Bruce Pardo is dead. I hope he's getting tortured wherever he is. Yeah, same. Yeah. I hope they just like constantly like throw a flamethrower at him. Right? I hope he's just getting blasted with a flamethrower wherever he is. 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 flush 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 morbid. 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 going to get, we're going to change up the schedule a bit, but we'll figure it out.

Stay tuned. Yeah, because I'm going to be handing over the editing. So. Hey-yo. Yay. But my mini is also going to be. holiday themed but not in a good way, so stay tuned for that.

So exciting. Yay. Well, if you do want to see our holiday shenanigans, you can follow us on Instagram at Morbid Podcasts. Hit us up on Twitter. A Morbid podcast. Join our Facebook group. Morbid, colon, a true crime podcast.

And it's great in there, despite what some negative nancy's have to say. Mm-hmm. Send us a Gmail. Morbid podcast. Atgmail.com. Preferably not complaining. Yeah, don't do it. I'm kind of getting sick of that.

Check out our website. Morbidpodcast.com. Do we have anything else? No, I don't think so. Cool. We hope you keep listening. And we hope you. Keep it weird.

Definitely not doing one for this. No. I mean, don't keep it anywhere near this weird. Don't just don't even think of it. This isn't weird. This is fucked. Bye. Bye.