Brazil’s Most Notorious Serial Killer, ‘Pedrinho Matador,’ Who Claimed to Kill Over 100 People, Shot Dead at 68

Brazil’s most infamous serial killer, Pedro Rodrigues Filho, popularly known as “Pedrinho Matador” (Little Pedro the Killer), has been shot dead at the age of 68.

Authorities confirmed that Rodrigues was gunned down on Sunday, March 5, 2023, in front of a family member’s home in Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo State. Witnesses reported that two masked assailants ambushed him in broad daylight, firing multiple shots before slashing his throat with a knife.

Police say an investigation has been launched to uncover the motive and identify the killers, though no arrests have been made as of the time of this report.

Born on October 29, 1954, in the rural town of Santa Rita do Sapucaí in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, Pedro Rodrigues Filho’s life was marked by violence even before he was born.

According to his own accounts, his father once kicked his pregnant mother during a domestic argument, fracturing Pedro’s skull in the womb a trauma he would later claim shaped his violent temperament.

By the time he was nine years old, he had fled home due to relentless abuse and instability. He drifted between relatives before making his way to São Paulo, where he lived on the streets, surviving through theft and petty crime. 

Pedro’s first recorded murder occurred in his teenage years, when he killed a local official who had dismissed his father from his job at a school canteen. According to reports, he believed the firing was unjust and sought revenge.

After that killing, Rodrigues continued a ruthless campaign of vengeance against anyone he believed had wronged him or others. By his late teens, he had already tracked down and murdered several individuals including rival gang members, drug dealers, and alleged criminals earning a reputation as a vigilante-style assassin.

He later claimed that killing gave him a “feeling of power,” insisting that his victims were “people who didn’t deserve to live.”

Unlike most serial killers driven by impulse or personal gain, Rodrigues developed a twisted moral code. He saw himself as an “executioner of the wicked” targeting those he considered criminals, traitors, or morally corrupt.

This so-called “code of justice” drew comparisons to fictional antiheroes and led some in the Brazilian media to dub him a “real-life Dexter.”

Over a period of five decades, Rodrigues claimed responsibility for more than 100 murders, though official court records confirm 71 convictions.

His crimes extended beyond the streets of São Paulo; once imprisoned, he continued killing this time behind bars.

In 1973, at just 18 years old, Rodrigues was arrested and charged with multiple murders. He was sentenced to 128 years in prison, but that figure ballooned as he continued killing inmates while incarcerated.

He claimed to have murdered more than 40 fellow prisoners, most of whom were convicted rapists, murderers, or gang members.

“I only kill people who don’t deserve to live,” he once told reporters during a jailhouse interview, speaking calmly and without remorse. “I kill for pleasure,” read one of his tattoos.

One of the most shocking chapters of Rodrigues’ life occurred while he was still in prison. His father, who had been jailed for stabbing Pedro’s mother to death with 21 knife wounds, was transferred to the same penitentiary.

In a gruesome act of retribution, Rodrigues stabbed his father 22 times, then cut out his heart, bit into it, and spat it out.
“It was vengeance, not hunger,” he said in a later interview, defending the act as a symbolic form of justice.

Rodrigues’ combined sentences eventually exceeded 400 years, but under Brazilian law, the maximum time a person can spend in prison is 40 years (previously 30).

After serving 34 years behind bars, he was released in 2007, having reached the legal limit for imprisonment.

However, his freedom was short-lived. He was later re-arrested in connection with a prison riot, though he denied any involvement. After several years, he was again released in 2018.

In his later years, Rodrigues claimed to have found God and renounced his violent past. He adopted the title “Ex Matador com Jesus” (Former Killer with Jesus) and launched a YouTube channel where he spoke about crime, repentance, and faith.

On his channel, Rodrigues shared stories from his violent past while warning young people about the perils of criminal life. “The crime is not a game,” he said in one 2018 interview with Folha de S.Paulo. “Many enter it because they see fame and money. But they don’t see the roots prison and death. It’s like the devil: gives with one hand and takes with the other.”

His online presence quickly gained tens of thousands of subscribers, many drawn to his raw, candid storytelling and public repentance. 

Despite his apparent reform, Rodrigues’ past seemed to catch up with him. On March 5, 2023, he was ambushed and fatally shot by unidentified gunmen outside a relative’s house in Mogi das Cruzes, São Paulo.

Police reports indicate he was shot multiple times before one of the attackers slit his throat. He died at the scene before emergency services arrived.

Investigators have not yet confirmed the motive for the killing, though some local media have speculated that it could be an act of revenge from criminal groups or individuals linked to his violent history.

Pedro Rodrigues Filho remains one of the most controversial figures in Brazil’s criminal history. To some, he was a cold-blooded murderer whose violence knew no limits; to others, a dark vigilante who took justice into his own hands in a system plagued by corruption and impunity.

His life story inspired books, documentaries, and comparisons to Jeff Lindsay’s 2004 novel “Darkly Dreaming Dexter”, which was later adapted into the hit television series “Dexter”, featuring Michael C. Hall as a forensic analyst who kills criminals he believes have escaped justice.

Rodrigues’ complex legacy  torn between justice and brutality continues to captivate criminologists and true-crime audiences worldwide.

He was 68 years old at the time of his death.