Christmas parties are a time for joy, laughs, and family. A time to be shared with the ones you love. But sometimes, the ones who love us, have a different plan. That was the case of Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, the Killer Santa.
Bruce Jeffrey Pardo grew up in the San Fernando Valley, in Los Angeles California. He graduated from John H. Polytechnic High School and went on to study computer science at California State Northridge. A bright man, he graduated and secured himself a job as a software engineer for Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Bruce wasn’t the model employee, spending time hacking the company systems to access private personnel information including, but not limited to compensation, tax information, etc… He also had very poor attendance. Despite all this, by 1988, at the age of 24, he found himself engaged to Delia, a fellow employee.
Bruce still lived with his mother, and wasn’t in the best financial shape, so Delia agreed to pay for a wedding reception at the country club, as well as a honeymoon in Tahiti. Everything was setup, and both Delia and Bruce’s mother were excited. The big day arrived on June 17, 1989. Delia waited at the church in nervous anticipation, but Bruce never showed up. She later discovered that he had withdrawn $3,000.00 from their joint bank account and took a trip of his own – to Palm Springs, Florida.
Delia called off their engagement, and things went back to how they used to be. It wasn’t until 2001 that Bruce found himself in another difficult situation. He was living with his girlfriend, Eleanor and their thirteen month old son, Matthew, in Woodland Hills, California. It was the most stable relationship Bruce had ever had, and things were going really well. That is, until the day Eleanor went out, leaving Bruce home alone with the baby.
Bruce turned on the television, and got sucked in. He wasn’t paying careful attention to Matthew, and the boy fell into the backyard pool. When Eleanor returned home, she found Bruce holding their son, nearly hysterical. Matthew was rushed to the hospital, and after just one week of intense medical attention, the doctors informed them that their son would never fully recover. In fact, Matthew had sustained brain damage, and was now a paraplegic.
As Bruce did when things got hard, he left, never to see his son again, despite his mothers continued interest in and support of the child.
In 2004, a coworker of Bruce’s introduced him to his sister-in-law, Sylvia. Sylvia was a forty year old, mother of three, and they hit it off, right from the start. January 29, 2006, the couple was married. Bruce purchased a 3 bedroom, $452k home in Montrose. The happy family attended church together regularly, Bruce even volunteered as an usher.
But things are not always as they seem. The relationship was suffering under financial stress, and then Bruce’s mother, Nancy, decided she had to say something. She was quite fond of Sylvia, and knew her son had his troubles. She told her about her son’s past relationships, including that with Eleanor, and their son, Matthew.
Sylvia was shocked by this revelation, having not known anything about Matthew, and further angered by Bruce’s dishonesty and his lack of responsibility. Then it was discovered that although Bruce hadn’t seen his son since that day in the hospital, he was still continuing to claim him on his taxes as a dependent.
Sylvia filed for divorce in April 2008, and Bruce spiraled into depression.
In June, he purchased his first gun, a 9mm handgun. On June 18, in divorce court, he was ordered to pay $1,785 per month in spousal support. He wrote his first check, which bounced, and then he stopped payment on the second, making no further attempts to pay.
On July 31, he was fired from his job, for billing fraudulent hours. He applied for unemployment, but was denied, as workers who are fired are deemed ineligible.
On August 8, Bruce purchased another 9mm handgun, followed by another purchase on September 8. He then contacted one of his neighbors, Jerry, who happened to be the proprietor of Jerry’s Costumes. He requested a custom sized Santa suit with a little extra room for comfort, as he was 6’4” and 270 pounds, making a standard suit too small. He told her it was for a children’s party, and paid a $200 deposit, with a promise to pick up and pay the rest in November.
Then on October 11, he purchased his fourth handgun. He received a call from an old High School friend, Steve Irwin, who asked him over to his home in Iowa to celebrate his 45th birthday. Bruce accepted, and while he was there, confided in Steve. He was embarrassed that his personal life was open and on display in court where everyone could see his finances, and now knew of his firing. Even moreso, he was upset that he and his mother hardly spoke, and during the divorce proceedings, she chose to sit with Sylvia’s family, not providing support to her own son.
November came, and Bruce returned to Jerry’s Costumes and paid the outstanding fee for his costume, and even left her a $20 tip. On the 13th, he purchased yet another handgun, now totaling five. He had also acquired a DeWalt compressor, a 50-foot hose, and a tank of high-octane fuel.
Just one week before Christmas, on December 18, 2008, Bruce’s divorce from Sylvia was final. He agreed to let her keep her diamond engagement ring, and agreed to pay her $10k. The next day, he went to a Montrose travel agency, where he booked a ticket to Iowa where he would visit his friend, Steve. He paid $650 for a roundtrip flight, that would depart at 12:20am on Christmas day, and return two weeks later.
He rented Dodge Caliber from Budget, then rented a Silver Rav4 from Rent A Rec. He loaded up the Rav4 with maps of the Southwestern United States as well as water, food, clothing, a tank of gas, a laptop, and desktop computer.
Early evening on Christmas Eve, he stopped to chat with a neighbor, saying he was heading out to a Christmas party. He had been signed up to serve as an user for midnight mass at the church he attended, but didn’t show up. Instead, at approximately 11:30pm, dressed in his Santa suit, Bruce knocked on the door of his former in-laws’ house, where he knew his ex-wife would be.
The door was answered by eight-year old Leticia Yuzefpolsky, Sylvia’s niece. Excited to see Santa Clause, she rushed toward him. Bruce didn’t hesitate, he fired, hitting her in the face. He went on to shoot indiscriminately at the frightened party guests. When he felt he was done shooting, he unwrapped the gift he had brought with him. It was a homemade flamethrower. He began to spray racing fuel around the home, intent on lighting it with a flare. Unfortunately for Bruce, the flames from two separate fireplaces triggered an explosion.
Bruce fled the house, dropping a pair of fake glasses and his Santa hat in the yard. He jumped into the Dodge Caliber rental car and drove thirty miles to Sylmar, parking about a block away from his brother’s home.
He carefully peeled his shredded Santa suit off his body, as it had melted into his skin from the explosion, causing third degree burns. He used his suit to setup a booby trap; if the suit was moved, a trip wire would ignite a flash fire, exploding 200 rounds of ammunition.
Bruce’s brother returned home around 3:10am and found him sprawled on the living room couch, with two handguns by his side. He was dead, having shot himself in the mouth.
Back at the house, the fire soared 40-50 feet, and took 80 firefighters an hour and a half to extinguish. Nine people were dead, and three others wounded. Due to the intensity of the fire, victims could only be identified with dental and medical records.
- Sylvia Ortega Pardo, Bruce’s ex-wife, died from a gunshot wound.
- Alicia Sotomayor Ortega, Sylvia’s mother, died from a gunshot wound to the abdomen.
- Joseph S. Ortega, Sylvia’s father, died from multiple gunshot wounds.
- Charles Ortega, Sylvia’s brother, died from a combination of smoke inhalation and gunshot wounds.
- Cheri Lynn Ortega, Charles’ wife, died from a combination of smoke inhalation and gunshot wounds.
- James Ortega, Sylvia’s brother, died from a combination of smoke inhalation and gunshot wounds.
- Teresa Ortega, James’ wife, died from a combination of smoke inhalation and gunshot wounds.
- Alicia Ortega Oritz, Sylvia’s sister, died from a combination of smoke inhalation and gunshot wounds.
- Michael Andre Oritz, Alicia’s son, died in the fire.
Sylvia’s eight-year-old niece, who had been shot in the face, suffered severe, but non-life-threatening injuries. A sixteen year old girl was shot and wounded in the back, and a twenty year old woman suffered a broken ankle, jumping from a second floor window.
Looking for a little more Christmas cheer? You won’t find it here, but you will find another killer Christmas story.