Manuel Pardo (serial killer)

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]

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 who was a Miami-based anti-Duvalier activist, Michael Millot, who he believed to be a police informant.[1] Millot was a gunsmith who had previously supplied Pardo with silencers for his handguns.[1] Rolando Garcia lured Millot to the car of Pardo’s wife, where Pardo himself was already waiting in the back seat. Once Michael Millot arrived and entered the front passenger seat of the car, Pardo fatally shot Millot in the head with a 9mm pistol.[1] The car was later discovered to have been reupholstered after blood was cleaned out of it.[2][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] and for refusing to buy Pardo a VCR with stolen credit cards. Pardo would later claim that he believed Quintero had marked him for death by dialing him number 8s on a pager, a numerical sign for death in the Santería religion developed in Cuba.[2] Two others, Ramon Alvero and his girlfriend Daisy Ricard, were shot to death as Alvero failed to show up to several drug deals.[1]

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] The injury occurred when during the murder of Daisy Ricard, after shooting her once, Pardo’s .22 Ruger pistol jammed, so he bludgeoned Ricard with the handgun, causing the jammed round to discharge into Pardo’s foot.[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 his own 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]

Garcia was convicted of four counts of first degree murder and sentenced to death. However, he won a new trial in 2002. Among other reasons, Pardo claimed Garcia had no involvement in the murders. Garcia later pleaded guilty to four counts of second degree murder, received a 25-year sentence, and was released from prison on September 5, 2002.[5][6]

Pardo 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.

• List of people executed in Florida
• List of people executed in the United States in 2012
• List of serial killers in the United States