Murder by nature

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Murder by nature

The Christmas Murders

December 19, 2022 • Jazmin Hernandez • Season 1 • Episode 26

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Christmas is a time for families and friends to gather around with holiday cheer. Most families have holiday parties with food, drinks, games, and music, while others have a sit-down dinner with a few selected friends. Christmas morning is filled with laughs and screams as children run to the tree to see what Santa brought them, and wrapping paper is laid across the room as they rip through all their gifts. It’s a time for family and happiness. But as you know, listening to this podcast, Christmas can also be filled with murder. As we dive into this case, I am not going to dive into the Reddit forms that make assumptions about the family or the motive for why this happened. We will focus on the facts and the facts alone.

Christmas, 2008. Joseph and Alice's Ortegas were celebrating Christmas as they did every year. Friends and family were coming over for the annual Christmas eve party. The house would soon be filled with their 5 grown children, grandchildren, and friends. The family played a game of poker that Christmas Eve and the party was in full swing. But the doorbell rang in the middle of their holiday celebration, and what unfolded next was incredibly gruesome. Shortly after the doorbell sounded, police received 911 calls from the Ortega’s neighbor. The caller cried, “Come immediately! They’re burning down someone’s house.”

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Intro

“Welcome to Murder By Nature, where we discuss True Crime, Mystery disappearances, and unsolved cases! I’m Jazmin Hernandez, your host!

Thank them for listening and being a part of this community.

References:

Bruce Jeffrey Pardo was born on March 23, 1963, in Los Angeles, United States, into a traditional family. Even with the perfect family, his life came with a lot of pain and trauma. In 1989, Bruce had gotten engaged to a coworker, and the two had planned a large wedding and expensive honeymoon in Tahiti. At the time, Bruce didn’t have a lot of money and was living with his mother. So his fiancée dipped into her savings to fund the reception and put down deposits on the honeymoon. But on their wedding day, Bruce never showed up. She would later learn he had withdrawn all the money from their joint bank account and used it to fund a trip to Palm Springs, Florida. And if life could get worse any worse, On Dec 31st, 2001, Bruce had been watching his then-13-month-old son while the boy’s mother went shopping. While Bruce was watching TV, the toddler fell into the pool; and when his mother came home, Bruce was cradling the unconscious boy in his arms, screaming uncontrollably. It took hours of resuscitation and a helicopter flight to another hospital to stabilize the boy’s condition. During this time, Bruce never left his son’s side. After a few weeks, doctors determined that the boy had suffered severe brain damage from lack of oxygen. He was left a paraplegic who would need constant care for the rest of his life. Upon learning this, Bruce broke off the relationship with his son's mother and left his son. Although the child's mother never suspected Bruce of any wrongdoing, she needed help to pay the almost $350,000 in medical bills that had accumulated. Because Bruce refused to help her pay them, she was forced to sue his homeowner’s insurance. The settlement money — less than a third of what the bills were — was used to pay down some of the medical bills and establish a trust to help pay the ongoing expenses of caring for their son. After settling the claim, Bruce cut off all contact with her and their son. He never paid a penny in child support, but he continued to illegally declare the boy as dependent on his taxes.

Bruce and Sylvia met in Jan of 2006. Bruce was a volunteer usher at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, and everyone who knew him described him as outgoing and friendly and liked to be the center of attention. Sylvia has three children and felt like she found the person she was going to spend her life with. The pair quickly got married. By the end of their first year of marriage, Bruce had become cold, distant, and miserly with money, leading to frequent arguments. The couple would argue about money, as most married couples do. The biggest issue was that they did not struggle to make ends meet. Bruce was an electrical engineer for a military contractor in Van Nuys, CA. Sylvia was a secretary at a flower nursery. They had two homes in Montrose, and Bruce owned a Cadillac Escalade, Hummer, and a boat he kept on Lake Havasu. The issues stemmed from the fact that Sylvia made not even a quarter of what Bruce did and even married Bruce, refused to open a joint bank account with her, or shared the responsibility of the children's expenses. Bruce felt that that should be her sole responsibility and she should care for them on her own. If you remember earlier, we talked about the other two events that had happened in Bruce's life before meeting Sylvia; it was only in the second year of their marriage that Sylvia learned about the real person she was married to. When Sylvia learned of this, she could not forgive such callousness and didn’t want to be held liable for the tax fraud he was committing by claiming the boy as a dependent. They began sleeping in separate beds, and in March 2008, they separated.

Bruce was livid. He fought her over everything, no matter how petty. Sylvia had asked Bruce if she could continue to live in their home until the end of the school year so her daughter could finish Kindergarten. But while they were away at a birthday party, Bruce tossed all their belongings out onto the driveway. He didn't want them in the house if she wasn't going to stay married to him. He was angry and wanted Syliva to feel the pain that he was feeling. However, this tactic did not work with Sylvia; she had children to think of and her own life and sanity. In the following days, Sylvia decided it was time to file for divorce and move back in with her parents.

In June 2008, Sylvia filed court papers asking for attorney's fees and $3,166 in monthly spousal support. She claimed her husband had drawn down their $88,500 savings to $17,000 in two months and was transferring funds to a private account." The situation has become untenable, and continuing the marriage was not an option," she said in court documents.

In July, Bruce lost his job at ITT and soon was drowning in debt while scrambling to find work. He begged the court to grant him spousal support until he could find employment. He complained in a filing that he had monthly expenses of $8,900 and ran a monthly deficit of $2,678. He also had $31,000 in credit card debt and a $2,700 monthly mortgage payment. "I was not given a severance package from my last employer at termination, and I am not receiving any other income," Bruce was also was denied unemployment benefits. "I am desperately seeking work." Instead, the court ordered Bruce to pay his ex-wife $1,785 monthly in spousal support, plus $3,570 for past payments. When the divorce was settled, the court waived those payments, and Bruce got the house, but he also had to pay Sylvia $10,000, return her valuable diamond wedding ring and give her custody of the dog. Bruce was livid! During the divorce proceeding, Bruce had confided to a friend his wife was "taking him to the cleaners. In a court declaration, Bruce complained that Sylvia was living with her parents, not paying rent. She had spent lavishly on a luxury car, gambling trips to Las Vegas, meals at fine restaurants, massages, and golf lessons.

As the trauma of everything was starting to spiral out of control Bruce started to stock pile on different types of guns. Aug 8th Bruce purchased a 9mm Sig Sauer. A month later he purchased a third 9mm Sig Sauer and that evening he ordered a custom made santa suit. Oct 8th Bruce purchased his fourth 9mm and later that month during a trip to Iowa he purchased 16 magazines for his 9mm. On Nov. 13, Bruce purchased a fifth 9mm Sig Sauer and picked up the Santa suit.

On Dec. 18, 2008, Sylvia and Bruce’s divorce was finalized. Sylvia was done with Bruce and could move on with her life now.

Christmas Eve, residents of the quiet cul-de-sac in Covina reported seeing a man in a Santa suit get out of a blue Dodge Caliber. The Santa, who was pulling a large gift-wrapped box on wheels, waved and said “Merry Christmas” to passers-by. Little did they know that in a few mins they would be calling 911 to report a fire and gun shot sounds. In the dinner room of the Ortegas house Joseph, and his wife of 53 years along side their children we playing a fun game of texas hold em after their christmas eve dinner. It was close to 12 pm when there was a knock on the front door, 8 year old Katrina ran to the door screaming Santa Clause Santa Clause! Unexpectedly Santa Clause stepped inside the house, unloading a semiautomatic handgun and immediately started shooting inside the house. As Santa made his way into the house he shot the 8 year in the face, walking in the door shooting two more party goers as they rushed to help the little girl dropping them to the ground. Joseph, Alicia, and their three daughters dived behind the dinning room table for cover in hopes the gun man wouldnt come after them. But it was no use, Santa walked through the house unloading multiple rounds within the living room, dinning and room and more. As chaos unleashed with a barrage of gunfire in the living room, relatives smashed through windows, hid behind furniture or bounded upstairs in hope to just get away from what was going on in the house. Police speculate that the gunman may have stood over and pointedly executed some of the victims, using the other handguns. After the shots stopped, Santa unwrapped the package containing the homemade flamethrower, and used it to spray racing fuel gasoline throughout the house. As the house went up in flames family members jumped from the second story to try and save themselves and others ran out the back door.

Neighors rushed outside after hearing the explosion of the homemade flamethrower. The Neighor directly behind the Ortegas’ house ran out to the backyard and heard three girls, including the one who had been shot in the back, trying to climb over the wall. “There’s some guy shooting in there the girls were screaming. One girl said that a guy dressed as Santa started shooting. Another neighbor, saw three more partygoers fleeing the burning home. One of them, a young woman, had escaped upstairs from the living room but broke her ankle when she jumped out a second-story window.

Shortly after the victims started fleeing the scene police started to received 911 calls from the Ortega’s neighbor. The caller cried, “Come immediately! They’re burning down someone’s house.” The fire department was dispatched to the Ortega house, but the calls kept coming in. Some even reported that they heard shooting coming from the house, and when police arrived at the scene, it was total chaos. The Ortegas’ house was burning so hot flames were shooting 50 feet in the air. It took firefighters nearly two hours to put it out. When the fire was finally put out, investigators immediately spotted several heavily charred bodies near the front of the house. As they continued their search, they ended up discovering a total of nine bodies in the ruins of the once-happy family home. As the police attempted to locate all of the people who attended the christmas party they could only locate Leticia. Leticia had managed to escape the fire with her husband and 8-year-old daughter and make it to a neighbor’s house. But quickly made their way to the hospital as Leticia’s daughter was the 8 year old who had been shot.

As police talked to witness they were shocked to discover what had transpired within the home on this christmas eve. In the middle of the inteviwers police got a big tip from one of the neighbors. She and her husband had seen a car leaving their cul-de-sac at around 11:45 PM. After putting out an APB on the car, police started sifting through the Ortegas’ scorched home. The bodies were so burnt dental records could only identify them and when they did they would discover 9 of the missing Ortega family memebers. They were Joseph and Alice Ortega; their son Charles and his wife, Cheri; another son, James Jr., and his wife, Teresa; their daughter Alicia and her son, Michael; and their other daughter Sylvia. Nearly all of them had been shot with a 9mm weapon. The only one who was not shot was Michael Ortiz, the 17-year-old who was sitting at the computer on the second floor. Michael was apparently killed by the explosion or fire started by two tanks that had been fused together to create a device capable of quickly engulfing the home in fire.

Now while police were trying to piece together the devastation of what was coming out of the Ortega house the neighboring town in Sylmar would also get a call to the home of Brad Parda. Brad was Bruces brother and when he walked into his home from his christmas party he found his brother lying in a pool of blood. As police arrive on the scene they found a single shot from a 9mm handgun in Bruces head, a 9mm pistol in Bruces lap and a second 9mm on the floor next to him. As they contiuned to investigate the scene they found a bullet hole in the ceiling and believed there might of been a second shooter at the scene. As they contiuned to dive into the case of Bruce they realized that he just got divorces to Sylvia Ortiz not realizing the two cases were going to be the linking clue to solving. When police started to perform the autopsies on the bodies from the Ortega shooting they quickly noticed that they were killed by the same bullets they found at the scene of Bruce’s killing.

On Christmas Day the police interviewed Leticia and other surviving family members. They were able to tell police exactly what had transpired and who was responsible: Bruce Pardo. Investigators went back to Brad’s house where Bruce was found dead and searched his car, and to their suprise the car ended up being the same car the Ortega’s neighbors had described seeing on their street after the murders. Inside the vehicle, police found a Santa suit and thousands of rounds of ammunition. The car had been booby-trapped to explode once the Santa suit was removed, and though the vehicle exploded, no one was injured. Once Bruce’s autopsy was finished, investigators were able to conclude he had committed suicide, and that there was no second shooter. The autopsy also revealed he had “horrific third-degree burns” on his hands and arms, and part of the Santa pants had melted to body. Shortly after christmas day a man reported a mysterious car parked in front of his Pasadena home. When Police ran the plates they found the car had been rented by Bruce. Though the car wasn’t rigged, it was packed with supplies including a computer, clothes, water, food and maps of the US and Mexico. Police believed Bruce had been planning on escaping to Mexico after his killing spree. Bruce’s getaway car was also parked about 500 feet from the house of Scott Nord, Sylvia’s divorce attorney. Police believed Bruce might have planning on also murdering Scott.

The survivors among the 25 to 30 people celebrating Christmas Eve with the Ortegas have not spoken publicly. But law enforcement sources close to the investigation confirmed many of the relatives’ descriptions, providing the clearest picture yet of what happened inside the house.

Bruce, dressed as Santa and pulling a large gift-wrapped box, knocked on the Ortegas’ door around 11:30 that night. Many of the adults were at the front of the house because people were beginning to leave, making them especially vulnerable in the attack. Eight-year-old Katrina rushed to the door to let him in. As soon as she opened the door, “Santa” shot her in the face. He then rushed into the house, a gun in each hand, shooting everyone he could see. According to relatives, one of the Ortega sons, Charles, recognized Bruce after the gunman shot his 8-year-old niece and his older brother, James. “It’s Bruce!” said Charles Ortega before being shot. Irma told investigators James and Charles Ortega struggled to get up even after they were wounded. “Even bloodied, they got up, they stood up,and They tried to grab him, to stop him. But they couldn’t.” Joseph, 80, and Alicia, 70, and their three daughters slipped under the dining room table along with at least one daughter-in-law, Teresa. Someone screamed, “Run! Run!” The only one of their children to survive was Leticia, the mother of the wounded 8-year-old girl, who according to a 911 tape had briefly hidden under the table. “I heard the shots,” Leticia told the police dispatcher in the 911 call. “Everyone started panicking and running, and we all dove under the dining room” table. Leticia made a break for it after seeing her wounded daughter stagger out of the house. A source close to the investigation said that althougBruce shot her in the face, the child may have saved herself by turning her head at the last moment. The bullet struck her along the side of her jaw. “I need someone to come over and help my daughter!” Leticia screamed at the dispatcher. “She’s bleeding. She’s been shot on the side of the face!” Some of the adults grabbed children and carried them out. Investigators believe that almost all of the younger childrem were saved because they were in the back of the house, closer to the television, possibly playing video games. After running out of bullets Bruce opened the large box and pulled out a homemade flamethrower, which he used to spray a high-octane fuel mixture inside the house, which he likely planned to ignite on his way out. However, he didn’t know there were already open flames in the home, in the two fireplaces and those flames would sparked an explosion.

Police believe that Bruce had planned to escape and had bought a plane ticket for a flight on a Canadian airline from Los Angeles International Airport to Minnesota with a connecting flight to Iowa where he may have planned on visiting a friend, But he was badly burned in the explosion and ensuing fire, with extensive third-degree burns on his hands and arms, and parts of a Santa suit had melted onto his skin. Wrapped around his legs and held in with a girdle was $17,000 in cash. He also had traces of cocaine in his system.

Evidence would later show Bruce also intended to kill his own mother, whom he believed had taken Sylvia’s side in the divorce. But the explosion at the Ortegas’ home had burned him so badly that he couldn’t follow through with the rest of the plan.

Instead, he took his own life.

Today Katrina the 8 year old girl that was shot transformed into a fierce activist against gun violence. In 2018, ten years after the murder of nine family members, the young woman gave a speech after a serious shooting at an American school. There she said that her family continues to celebrate Christmas Eve and Christmas, despite the fact that each year marks a new anniversary of the tragedy caused by his uncle disguised as Santa Claus.

Outro

That brings us to the end of this episode! As always, thanks for listening to Murder By Nature. If you enjoy our show, please rate and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any streaming platform you are currently on, and be sure to come back Saturday for our new episode. Until then, I am your host, Jazmin Hernandez, don’t forget to stay safe! Don’t get murdered or murder people, you lovely humans!

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Jazmin Hernandez

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