Brazil’s greatest serial killer and the biggest murderer in the country’s prison system, after 42 years in prison and more than one hundred murders, is now a free man.
Pedro Rodrigues Filho, or “Killer Pete”, was responsible for more than 71 murders inside and outside the prison and was officially sentenced to more than 400 years of imprisonment. He was finally released in 2018.
Born in the state of Minas Gerais, he is not a typical killer at the age of 67. Filho actively boasted that he had killed more than he had been imprisoned. His tattoo covered his body with the symbol of his killing, and the words “I Killed for Happiness” hung on his arm. According to him, he only kills those “bad” people, including gang leaders, rapists and other criminals.
“[People are scared of me because] They never try to understand why I want to kill. You see, I have never killed a child. I like children…. I have never killed a woman or father from a good family,” Filho told Época magazine in 2003.
Filho had a skull fracture at birth because his father beat his mother during pregnancy, and he committed the first murder when he was 14 years old. O Globo Media, Filho killed the second of the mayor because his father was fired on false accusations that he stole food. He then killed the security guard who was allegedly responsible for the crime.
Since then, Filho has committed hundreds of murders by stabbing victims, 47 of which occurred in the prison where he was detained.
He also killed his father for murdering his mother.In the interview Comet Podcast In May, Philo said that he stabbed his father, opened his chest, and ate a piece of his heart.
However, according to O Globo, a prison psychiatrist who evaluated Filho said that his father was killed by the family of one of his lovers. Not sure which one is the true story.
“I can’t kill you for free. If you never hurt me or anyone else, why should I kill you,” Filho told the podcast host. “For me, it must be a very serious matter to kill someone.”
Filho was first detained at the age of 19 in 1973 and released in 2007. Three years later, he was detained again and was finally released in 2018.
According to a forensic report by two prison psychiatrists in 1982, Killer Pete was diagnosed with paranoia and antisocial behavior.
“God has forgiven my killing. Now I can’t kill anymore,” Philo said in May.
