Covina Massacre

Okay, welcome to Wicked and Grim Wage. That's not how it goes, is it. Fuck?

You're Ben, I'm Ben, I'm Nicole, and you're listening to Wicked and Grim Uh True Crime podcast Morning.

The following podcast contains content and material intended for a mature audience listener discretion. Okay, I fucked that up. Really. I try to be clever and do something cool that I just went to ship.

If we go astray at all, we usually end up fucking it up.

Yeah, okay, right now, just real, let's do it. Hey, what's up. My name's Ben and.

I'm Nicole and you're listening to.

Yeah it was it was on you never mind. Nope, even if we don't go straight, we still suck it up.

Yeah. I don't know why because we've said it how many times at this point.

Yeah, this is what episode fifty four. Wow, I think look at us, go right, so like Craig Crag and actually we oh this is really cool. Today we hit two hundred and forty thousand listener podcasts.

Oh my gosh, I haven't actually checked for the longest time.

Yeah, so we're really close to a quarter of a million.

Because that was the next big one we said we will share, like we'll do something.

Yeah, so we are super close. Guys, thank you so much for all that ridiculou Wow it blows our mind.

That is so awesome, right, wow, very cool.

Where was I going with that? What were we talking about before that? Fucking up? Oh? Yeah? And how how we should know by now? But we've done this how many times? And yeah there we are.

Yeah we still don't know.

Yeah, and we've we've been listened to two hundred and forty thousand times fucking up over and over a film.

And so grab your hot chocolate's today.

Yeah, because we had.

We're drinking some Spike hot chocolate. It's real tasty. And we're recording on a new soundboard. Yeah. Does that can actually make it sound differently?

It very well could. Yeah. But the really cool thing is I don't have anything loaded yet, so it's just like preset stuff on here. But I can do things like this if I'm like you guys, give us an applause, give us a round of applause, I can do this.

Yeah. Yeah, I feel like maybe let's not do that too much because uh oh no, I definitely won't. Could you imagine if we did that every five minutes or something. People would just be like, oh like that, Oh that's funny. Yeah, so it's pretty fancy, Actually it is.

And it's gonna take a little bit of used to figuring out all the buttons and fan dangling this thing. But we are super stoked to have it.

Yeah, it looks like we look like we made it to the big times.

Well we're getting there thanks to everyone so far. I can't believe the support we've gotten. Well, we can afford getting this because of the support we've gotten from people over on Patreon.

Oh my gosh, they're amazing, and we've freaking royally leffed up and forgot to thank them all last Tuesday.

Yeah, so we got a little bit of catching up.

Oh, we've got a list today. I've just freaking fantastic people.

So should I get to work on thanking all those amazing individuals over on Patreon.

Let's do it.

Okay. So I am not promising anything on pronouncing names correctly.

In fact, pretty good.

I'm starting to suspect some of you are typing in really weird names on purpose just to fuck with us.

Oh they wouldn't.

I don't know.

I don't think they would.

I don't know. Okay, I've talked to a few of those those people out there, and you guys seem pretty maniacal. Awesome but maniaca. Okay, so let's go down this. We got Desiree Lampet, Jessica armand Trout, I mean Armin Trout. That's that just sounds like a made up name.

I'm not saying that sounds like a sweet name.

It is a sweet name, which is why it sounds made up. It's like, who has a name like that?

Who has that sweet of a name?

Right? Erica Newwash, Gosia Hannon, Tracy Keener, Ktessa Teresa, Emily Ricci, Rachel Shanks, Nicole Nadell, Randy Mathieson, Audrey Schuck. I'm out of breath just thinking all you guys. Jeez, okay, I got this, Ali Moore, Jason Bird, Hailey, Brandy Jensen, Hailey, Cassie Christy Mooney and Gina Vertillo.

Wow, guys, thank.

You for reporting us over on Patreon. Everything you do for us, it's incredible.

So awesome. There's another Nicole there is? Is there a ben On there too? Like that? I don't think that's the first Nicole I think it might be. I'm into that that's a cool name.

It might be, but Jessica, just I'm not. I'm not making fun of your name. I'm just suspicious because your name is too cool. It doesn't seem to Jelly. I am Jelly. I'm peanut butter and jelly sandwich over here.

Oh my goodness.

Ah, So I hope everyone's Christmas is so far going good. I mean, it's not Christmas holiday season, not even well. Yeah, the holiday season tis the season, the holiday spirit, the December. I hope it's all going great.

We have our house decked right out, even though it's a tiny home, and I've been listening to Christmas music. But if other than that, it hasn't been changed. I still to get our Christmas shopping done. Holy moly, I'm pretty well done well and.

I'm almost finished shopping for you. But have you started shopping for me?

Do you have to do one person?

No? We do a secret Sanda with my family. Right.

I feel like you've had on each other people because I checked up everything else. But grant you, you work a full time job and I'm my schedule is more flexible, So I'm into it all and I love shopping.

All those gifts are with your family though too, right with my family, we each get one gift of the Secret Santa, yeah, and then each other, and then it's all the gifts for your family. I guess so you know them better than me.

Fine, okay, but I also have to make some cookies and do some baking.

I'm down to make cookies with you.

I know, I'm so into that. And we wanted to walk around our candy cane lane.

Yeah, so 'tis the season for epic shit to do?

I know, it's so fun, it's so fun.

But yeah, just don't leave your Christmas shopping to last minute, like clearly Nicole is doing.

Oh my gosh, this isn't last minute. Last minute is the twenty fourth Well, we're getting close lots of times. I like to have it done before December even hit, so I am behind.

And uh, I know, like looking at the mall parking lot, it's like you wouldn't want to be shopping.

There right now? Well, yeah, because people get crazy.

Yeah, it's kind of a little bit on the ridiculous side. But I mean you still got to go out and do the thing, the shopping. So good luck to those out there. Doing that, wish you nothing but the best.

And I got really pumped because I forgot which case we were doing today, and then I remembered in boom, yes, we are doing Wild It's a.

Very popular Christmas themed case. Is case? So many podcasts cover this one around Christmas. I learned of this one only because of the request that we had multiple people requesting. Yeah, it was awesome actually, and then yeah, researching it and listening to other podcasts, it's like, oh, like, this is a true crime case that is covered very frequently this time of year, so let's let's do it.

Well, I don't think there's probably a ton of Christmas and cases, no, no, but anyone who has covered it's like boom.

Yeah, and anyone who has covered this one, it's like they cover it Christmas because of how it's tied in.

Yeah, and I know very little, So I'm I'm excited to learn some morning Well.

Fuck this one. It sucks. Yeah yeah, so so trigger warning on some on some some murderous stuff and killing of children.

Oh yeah, what we said we weren't going to be doing. It's just so many cases, so many, like what the frig?

Yeah, so is what it is? You've been borned. Yeah, both in the intro and now, so here we go. Let's dive into the covena massacre. You ready for this?

I think so?

All right, Let's start out with a little a little nice interlude, A little introduction. Seems nice and happy, but here we go. So Bruce and Sylvia Pardo started the new year in two thousand and six with all signs pointing to a bright future. They were just getting married and together they had a healthy combined income of approximately one hundred and fifty thousand. Nice. Right, that's a nice annual income, especially in two thousand and six too. Right.

Warm, yeah, inegor, I'm sitting here freezing.

Yeah, welcome to Canada. But they're gonna be cold. So everything was looking great in their life, but things quickly turned sour, and divorce documents paint a bitter picture of Bruce Pardo's increasing depression as he lost his first wife, or so he lost his wife first, then his job, and finally the dog Saky in the divorce. By fall of two thousand and eight, Bruce was asking the judge to have his ex wife pay him support and cover

Okay, okay, okay, let's do it.

Okay. So, Bruce attended high school in Sun Valley. Then he went to California State University in Northridge to study computer science. He loved being the center of attention and he was very outgoing person. At his university graduation, he carried a blow up doll with him and it made his way around the ceremony and I could only assume probably across the stage as well. I mean, if you're going to carry it around your ceremony, you're probably gonna want to highlight it across the stage, right.

So he's kind of like a funny dude, too funny guy.

I think he's more of like a like a frat kind of guy sort of thing I couldn't really find too much, and like his sense of humor and stuff. We'll cover a little bit more on his personality you're coming up. But yeah, I think it's just kind of he's just out there and loud, rambunctious a bit. Friends, family, and coworkers recalled him as exceptionally bright, and after university he landed a job as a software engineer at the Jet Hulshan Laboratory in California. That sounds fancy shit, but

But his work was great.

Ethic was kind of shite. Okay, Yeah, so it's probably one of those people that's like the coworker where you're just like glaring out all the time because it's like, fucking do your job, your work at the base, you know, like the working hard or hardly working kind of thing. I think that sentiment kind of would sum up Bruce.

For the real party.

Yeah, that's well, that's pretty much how he spent most of his working days, just kind of like lulling around not doing much. So it wasn't just at work though that he seemed to.

Do this.

He would always relish the chance to defeat the system per se. One colleague actually recalled that he hacked into the Jet Propulsion laboratori's computer system and just to learn his his coworkers salaries, like fucking dick move. Yeah, why because he's an asshole apparently and wanted to do it, so he did.

But he's smart, so seriously smart as hat do you ever do that?

Yeah, he's smart, and.

Just like because he has curiosity, really.

Probably didn't want to do the work, so he's like, what else can I do?

Well? And making sure he's getting paid enough?

Yeah, exactly, even.

Though he's not doing jack all right.

Nice, So he did that. Fucking skeev as shit, but he did it. He basically seemed to come and go at work and do whatever he wanted and whatever he pleased whenever wherever throughout his life, personal life, the whole nine yards. In nineteen I that doesn't sound like the right year. Hold on, I have nineteen eighty eight. That doesn't sound like the right year. I gotta go double check this. Okay, don't mind me. That totally is the right year in nineteen eighty eight. So we're good. We're good.

Way, what do you mean that was long ago.

We were born?

Then? Did? Yeah? Not that long ago?

We old in nineteen eighty eight, when he was just twenty four, Bruce became engaged to a coworker named I want to say Delilah, but it's not Delilah. It's just really close. It's Deliah.

Okay.

So it's if I slip up and say Delilah, I'm sorry, it's Deliah.

Okay.

They invited approximately two hundred and fifty guests to their nuptials at the San Fernando Mission.

Oh, that would be a pretty penny eight.

Yeah, it's going to be a big wedding.

It's a lot of money.

Bruce, however, didn't have so much money even though they're planning this big wedding, So he didn't have any of his money at the time, and he was actually in fact living with his mother even though he's got this great paying job.

So what's he spending all his money on.

We'll kind of get to that, okay. So the bride to be dipped into her savings for the country club reception and honeymoon reservations in Tahiti. Wow, so she's paying for it all for the two hundred and fifty guests at the wedding at a country club and the honeymoon in.

Tahiti, like that would be a lot of money.

Oh yeah, and it's going to be like a wedding to remember, And she was dishing out big bucks to have the wedding of her dream sort of thing all on her own.

Maybe her parents were helping her too.

Or something, though potentially I'm not too certain on that extent. All I know is that Bruce wasn't paying a dime nice, so she was all on her, and potentially.

I feel like at that point I just be like Pierce right, not into this anymore.

So. Anyways, after planning lots of money clearly being sunk into the wedding, finally the big day arrived. All the planning money spent, he'd come down to today. The day of the wedding was June seventeenth, nineteen eighty nine. However, didn't play out white as planned. Deliah waited for an hour for him to walk down the aisle and there stood an empty altar and no groom. He never showed up. What he fucking ghosted her on the wedding?

Are you serious, dead fucking serious after she's pretty much spent her probably life fucking savings on.

That, yep? Wow, fucking dick hole.

Don't like him at all anymore. Pretty much done already.

Yeah you should be. You're really going to be done when you hear more of what's to come.

Wow, you're good. Bruh, I'm appalled already.

Yeah, he's fucking disgusting.

That's just brutal.

Spoiler alert, Bruce is a douche canoe.

Okay, okay, well I already gathered that.

So the next week after the wedding, Deliah learned that Bruce had withdrawn the remaining amount from her savings, totaling three thousand dollars, leaving Deliah completely flat broke, and, as it turns out, rather than get married, he decided to go to Palm Springs on vacation, where he blew all her money.

Wow. Yeah, Like, I don't even know what to say, because this guy's a freaking asshole.

Yeah, he just blew all the money, just partied it away, didn't care about the wedding, just took the rest of what she had and fucked off and didn't give a shit.

Like, Okay, cancel the wedding whatever, Like that's not like the end of the world, but cancel it prior to like at least give the person that you're about to marry some freaking respect like that is brutal.

He was probably on a fucking airplane laughing.

While she was Wow, that makes my heart like actually sing because just what that would do to her and her life's man and stuff like just traumatizing. Really, Yeah, she would never trust another.

Soul, oh and rightfully.

So wow. So also I might just have to add like she might have dodged a bullet.

Oh, she fucking dodged a bullet.

Just from the teeny bits that I know about this story.

No, she she definitely dodged a bullet metaphorically and literally, we'll say that. Yeah. So there is a quote that I have from Deliah. Whatever he felt like he did, there was no sense of responsibility. That's how she would go on to describe Bruce. And since that day the relationship was clearly over right, she had moved on and she actually went on to find a happy life with someone else and got married and moved to another state.

Yeah, good for her.

So Jeliah described Bruce to a fucking tea, no responsibility and he did as he pleased a simple as that he liked to be center of attention. As we already said, partying was a normal thing for him. He would often invite friends onto his boat on Lake Havas Havasu. Sorry, And in one incident, he had a friend fall overboard. And I think there were some discrepancies in this, but I think it was like a rafting trip, okay, and that friend actually nearly drowned, and all he did was

Holy this guy just doesn't seem like he gets it.

Yeah, he don't. He don't because.

I'm sorry, But like, no matter what kind of state you're in, Like, if your friend's drowning, like right, get your shit together and help them.

I can understand maybe laughing after the fact with your friend. If your friend is sound. Yeah, if your friend is like, oh man, look that was close, and it's kind of giggling about it, Yeah, it's okay for you giggle along with them. But like they're being pulled onto the when they're sitting laughing and that they're basically dying.

Fuck off, Holy heck, I'm sprays you even had any fucking friends.

Yeah, So that friend, actually I have a quote here from them as well. He didn't get the severity of what happened. He was very very intelligent, but common sense lacking.

Oh okay, so I guess that kind of makes sense.

Then, yeah, it kind of kind of does, but it's common sense only goes so far. When you ditch your bride to be at a fucking altar, steal their money, and go on a vacation, that's not common sense.

Oh yeah, I wasn't thinking about the wedding. What I was thinking about maybe this, like.

Yeah, maybe this isnt incident, but still like that. Okay, maybe it paints this incident, but it doesn't paint him fully in my opinion, that excuse only goes so far. Oh totally so. By two thousand and one, at the age of thirty seven, Bruce seemed to have finally settled down. He was living in Woodland Hills with his girlfriend, Elenacano Lacano. Names are hard Elena Lacano and the thirteen month year

I don't know because you I am scared now with the look on your face.

Bruce was chilling on the couch watching TV. Oh oh hang, no attention to his son, h oh, while little Michael ended up falling into a backyard swimming pool.

Oh my gosh, no, no, no lived though? Did he drowned?

When Alena returned home, she found Bruce screaming and holding and cradling their thirteen month son in panic. According to her attorney, Bruce maintained a vigil by the boy's hospital bed for a week, but when the doctors determined that Matthew would never fully recover, Bruce and Elena split up. He just pieced the fuck out. So Michael did survive, Okay, okay, now because of the accident, he was actually left with severe brain damage and is paraplegic.

Seriously. Yeah, and that and Bruce just has nothing to do with that now.

Yep.

Wow.

Neither Elena or Matthew have ever seen Bruce. Wow never again.

Wow?

Yeah, this guy. Now, I do want to say one thing I can understand, Like, he clearly felt bad on what happened. He was like fucking grieving, And I can understand someone like that, like a father having caused something like that to their own child. The guilt he would have fucking felt if he actually did feel it. I'm assuming he did by his reaction, so I can imagine that guilt like would have drove him to do things that's like we may not understand. However, he never fucking returned.

Him running away and never coming back almost just as bad.

Yeah, yeah, I understand him panicking and being like, fuck, I don't know if I can do this. I don't give a ship. You have to do it.

Yeah, yeah, Well, because honestly, I mean, shit happens, like of course you didn't mean for that to be to happen, but then to just leave, like to piece the fuck out.

Yeah no, wow, you got you gotta fucking buck up.

Oh my gosh, that's devastating.

Yeah. So now apparently, and I'm not sure in the source, but listening uh to the incredibly talented ladies over on Morbid, who also presented this case. They found a source where Lena and Matthew or said to actually be doing really well, and let's be honest, probably better without Bruce. I'm not too sure sure the source they had for that, but I'm gonna trust them because they awesome.

Yeah, they're good. They're good.

Yeah, shout out to you too, I know they're awesome. Now, this is where Bruce and his mother actually begin to have a little bit of troubles. You see Bruce being Bruce literally just abandoning his fucking child, and his mother didn't agree with these actions in the slightest because, let's be honest, she's a fucking person and Bruce is clearly not.

The She's a mother.

Yeah, and it's like it's your own fucking kid, so.

Well, and that would have been her grandkid and stuff, right, So that's all of a sudden, probably out of her life too.

Yeah. So you do literally know something's wrong when your own caring mother sides with your ex.

Just saying you have to do a lot of shit for your mom to side.

With your ex.

Yeah, yeah, I think, well, not not always, but generally generally.

Generally speaking. So now in two thousand and four, Bruce would meet a woman by the name of Sylvia Ortes Ortes. I'm pretty sure I misspelled her name. No, No, I didn't, Sorry, Orza Orza. Yeah. I was like, there's a tea in there, Sylvia or up. Yeah. They were introduced by her brother in law, who was one of Bruce's coworkers. Sylvia was forty years old and had three children from two previous marriages.

He didn't leave her at the fucking altar.

He didn't leave her at the altar.

He grew up a little bit.

I guess he did a little bit, They bought their half million dollar home that we talked about, they started their life together, and of course, as we did say though already, divorce was imminent.

Right.

Yeah, So they ended up separating on March seven, two thousand and eight, after Sylvia found out about his son, who he had left behind and never contacted again. Michael, really he hit it all from her, and she managed to find out.

Holy shit, that's quite the thing to hide. Yeah, and then obviously she did not approve either, no of this whole situation.

No, clearly that was enough for Sylvia to realize what a huge piece of shit he is.

Well, yeah, holy shit.

Good for her, I like her, right, and she wanted the fuck out. Yeah, understandable. Good job Sylvia of recognizing that shit, not taking no shit and piece in the fuck out. However, though she was in a bit of a situation, she asked if she could stay at the home with Bruce while while her sorry daughter finished up the last few months of kindergarten. You know, rather than yanking your kid out of school making it rough on.

Her, She's being a good parent, right. Wow.

All they had to do was tolerate each other for a couple of months like adults, and she would move on hard though, I'm not going to lie. It would be especially for Bruce because Bruce being well Bruce, Bruce. Sylvia was at a niece's birthday party and while she was there, he threw all her ship out in the driveway.

For right, Why why doesn't he get the fuck out? Like, why does she have to get out?

It's mostly his house?

Well, he's a piece of ship.

Yeah, well, it's not that it's mostly his house. I shouldn't say that because it it takes two to tango. They're both in a relationship and we kind of touch on that. But he kicked her out, and I would say probably because he feels like it's him his home because he's the bread winner.

Well, just the fact that he's a piece of shit means that he should not have the house and she should get it. Yeah, I'm done with him.

Yeah. Well, she quickly filed for divorce after that, and she moved in with her sister.

This guy, oh, this guy, Hugh. I'm disgusted. I need more to chop.

Take a sip, I don't have any left.

I drink it all and I.

Still got something stressing me.

Out.

It's more like cold chocolate now, though still good. So during the divorce, Bruce was apparently hoping to reconcile, but Sylvia wasn't having it.

Well, I'm sorry, maybe you should have thought about that before you threw all her stuff on the driveway.

Right, what the I mean?

Honestly, that kind of stuff has consequences.

If you were hoping to reconcile, maybe those couple months when she was staying there would have been a good time.

Oh, it would probably would have been perfect time, actually, right, and they probably could have.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I don't even really know what to say to that. I mean, it's just yeah, seriously, Yeah, she was a grown ass woman though she's badass. Bit she wasn't having a child as bullshit. Let's put it this this way. She wasn't going back, but too late. Now you could have stopped at Bruce, you could have maybe have had your reconciliation, but not now. So all in all, Bruce was now working at a raidar system company as a defense contractor, making one hundred and twenty

Oh, sorry, Bruce is making the more money. Yes, oh, I thought that was Sylvia.

Oh so that's probably more so why he felt like it was his home, because he's that breadwinner. He was bringing home a significant amount more than her.

Like I say, it's fifty does matter when you're married.

Right, it's fifty to fifty. But I'm sure he felt entitled like that, well.

Just clearly, yeah, the way he was.

So with that discrepancy between their earnings though, and they were fifty to fifty in a marriage. On June eighteenth of two thousand and eight, it was ordered that Bruce would pay Sylvia approximately seventeen hundred dollars a month for spousal support. His first check bounced and he just stopped paying after that.

Oh my gosh. Of course that doesn't even fucking surprise me. Right, I'm surprised he even fucking wrote a check to begin with, even though knowing was going.

To bounce, right, But it did bounce. And I mean that's that We see that so much in cases like this where people actually have to support someone else, be a child support, spousal support. How often do people actually receive that support? And there are cases where it is unfair that the individual has to pay that much or pay that they shouldn't be paying to begin with. But then there are many cases where it's like, yeah, they do deserve to be paid that there. Yeah, But either way,

He's making that much money too, I mean.

He should be able to.

Yeah like that, that shouldn't be doable.

It should be Yeah, if you're making one hundred and twenty two K a year and you can't afford to do any support like that, you're fucking up somewhere. I'm sorry.

Yeah, well he's probably just spending his money on stupid sheds.

Yeah, most likely. So the next few months we had the two had very little contact. They were divorced. Life had moved on, or at least Sylvia's did. It was Christmas Eve, December twenty fourth, two thousand and eight, the Ortega family invited all five of their children and their kids to their home in Caravina, California, a quiet community about twenty two miles east of Los Angeles. The Ortegas, Joseph and Alice loved Christmas and it was their favorite

Right, sounds so lovely.

But in the middle of the holiday celebration, the doorbell rang.

Don't answer the fucking door.

You know what's coming? I do you do?

It's so sad.

Buckle your seatbelts, ladies, gentlemen, because here is where shit goes. You ready for it?

Mm hmmm.

It was eleven thirty pm Pacific standard time, and everyone in the house was looking towards the door in confusion, wondering who it could be. Well, yeah, that's late right then, little eight year old Katrina saw Santa Claus through the window, standing in the front door holding a big present, excited with the prospect that like Sanna is showing up on Christmas Eve, present in hand, she jumped for joy and raced to the door to let him in. Oh no, She opened the door and looked up at the man

What yep, the little eight year old girl, a little eight year old girl? Did that kill her?

Well, we'll touch on that.

Oh my gosh.

I'll let you hang on to it.

That okay, Like, do you think this man is Santa? It's Christmasy?

Like, yeah, imagine being eight years old, oh Santa, Oh.

You would just be like the most happiest thing in the whole wide world. Right, And then they pull out a gun and we're gon shoot you.

Yeah, okay, yeah, okay, I won't let you hang on it too long. Katrina does live, but we'll touch on on her in a bit. I could just see the pain in your eyes.

Oh yeah, it's there, It's really there.

So after shooting Katrina in the fucking face, Santa stepped inside the house and began firing shots indiscriminately at anyone that he saw. Amongst all the chaos and bullets, a voice was heard, and the voice shouted and said it's Bruce. Everyone was ducking for cover and running from bullets whizzing

That's it's incredible. Actually, hey, what people can do.

Oh, it's in fucking sane.

And well the end, they're literally doing that because they're like they're protecting their kids, right.

Yeah, they're protecting the their family around them, the adults, their brothers or sisters, their mom, the dad, and the kids, their nieces, their nephews, their daughters, their sons in the back room. Yeah, so they are doing whatever it takes to try and stop Bruce bullets in their chest and they are still coming forward.

Oh my gosh. I always like find it's so interesting because you feel like there's a crowd or a group or whatever that you think that you'd be able to take down like one single gunman gunman, but like you're startled and you're not ready, and it's just like this environment that's I just I couldn't even imagine. I always feel like they should be able to take him down, but you just you can't.

It's seems like they say, your best hope in a situation like that is to rush the gunman because they can't shoot you in close range, especially if there's multiple people on top and you can disarm them. But like you say, you're caught off guard. Yeah, they had bullets.

They've probably had some drinks and just having a good old time.

And probably sitting down stumbling over furniture while he's just sitting there unloading on you.

Yeah, boom boom boom boom.

Yeah, so you don't really stand much of a chance. So others did hide and duck for cover, but Bruce would walk up to them and put a bullet in their head execution style as they desperately tried to save their lives and the lives of their loved ones. Yeah, like I said, indiscriminately, he just killed them. It was literally a.

Massacre and just no shit skipping.

Not a single fuck given that day, not a single one, not by Bruce anyways.

Wow. And why because he got a divorce pretty much, but we'll touch on that too.

After unloading multiple rounds into the house, Bruce then turned to the large present that he carried with him into the home and began to unwrap it. Do you have any predictions?

I don't know, Kiwi just came down the stairs and wants the fuck to know. Well, Kiwi, I have a small well I think I know, so I'm not gonna say well.

Inside was an eighteen gallon compressor that he had modified into a homemade flamethrower. He would use this device and he would begin shooting gas and flames all over the inside of the house, setting everything on fire before he fled the scene.

Wow, that is fucking next level.

Yeah, fucking disgusting, Like holy.

See, actually think that he's gonna get away with this or he doesn't give a shit? Maybe I we touch on that too, Okay, sorry, I'm just it's all good.

He he fully intended on trying to get away with it.

Oh, good luck, Bud.

Yeah. So, in total, nine people died from either gunfire or flames, and three others were wounded. Katrina, the eight year old little girl, was shot in the face. She stumbled outside of the house as Bruce made his way in and continued to massacre. So she was shot with severe but non life's threatening injuries. Thankfully, she happened to turn her head and it's thought that she was turning back to be like Sata is here into the house.

Right, that's so pure and innocent.

Right, So she had slightly turned her head just at the right moment when she was shot, and she was shot through the jaw, which saved her life.

Saved her life.

Wow, There was also a sixteen year old girl who was shot and wounded in the back, but she managed to survive, and a twenty year old woman who suffered a broken ankle who jumped out of the second floor window home to escape.

Well. Yeah, I'd rather a freaking broken angle than shot.

Yeah, no kidding. The seventeen year old boy who I mentioned, who was upstairs playing video games didn't get shot, but he did die in the fire because that fire raged out of control. Oh my gosh, that fire soared approximately forty to fifty feet in the air and took eighty firefighters an hour and a half to extinguish the flames. Due to the intensity of the fire, wow. And also due to that intensity of the fire, they had to identify victims with dental and medical records, which is fucking brutal.

Okay, Well, and let alone, like how brutal of a scene that is for all those people too now that are involved, right, that aren't like first responders, just traumatizing.

Yeah, and then fucking Christmas Eve.

So how many people survive? Like did the kids survive?

Are you getting to that any other kids survived. I don't have a list of survivors, but I do have a list of victims. And there was approximately twenty two to twenty five people in the house.

Okay, okay, so there was eight people sorry that died, nine died, nine died.

Nine died, and three were Yeah.

Okay, So like I mean, not that there's any light at the end of the tunnel. I mean there's a little bit. But that's good that at least half of them seem like survived. But it's most a kid. So that's kind of scary.

Yeah.

So because what does that mean.

Well, you basically have orphans. Now, that's what that means. Being orphaned by Santa on Christmas?

Fucking wow, how do you go on to live your life?

Imagine the rest of your Christmas is?

Oh my gosh, it's traumatized. Yeah, there's no way you'd want to even celebrate. Probably probably not.

And even if you say you don't celebrate, say that that's okay. You decide not to celebrate, how many people around you are fucking celebrating Christmas parties at work? Yeah, just going to get groceries.

The whole month of December really you're like triggered. Probably, Yeah, that is.

A whole fucked up like I can only imagine the issues you'd have to deal with for the rest of your life.

That's some of the parents survived, then, yes, I believe some, So hopefully they just took all the children, right is kind of the whole.

I'm not too sure how that worked out in the end.

Oh my gosh, wow, so are.

You ready to move on?

Sure?

Well, all these horrendous acts aside, The silver lining is they did know who had done this. It was Bruce. They didn't know why he would act and attack his ex wife's family like this during a Christmas party, nonetheless murdering those who called him like brother, uncle, whatever.

Fucking crazy that's why he did.

Yeah, pretty much, that's that's it. They don't know why, but he did, fucking looney apparently. So police quickly set out to find Bruce, and from a tip from a neighbor, they knew what he was driving, which was good, good, So they sent out for that vehicle right away.

Oh yeah, imagine being the neighbor of this shit too.

Right, which I should note and I didn't actually put this in here, but I should say it I believe it was the twenty year old girl who broke her ankle actually made it to a neighbor's house to call nine one one.

Wow with a open an ankle.

That's impressive, right, Uh now, where am I here? Okay? Yes? So they quickly was set out for the car right However, the investigation was like just beginning, but it didn't last very long because Bruce's brother, Brad Parda, was returning home from a Christmas party and called the police because he found his brother Bruce on the couch of his home in a pool of.

Blood dead what okay, I didn't know that part yep, So he killed himself.

Then, once police arrived on the scene, they found Bruce in civilian clothes and a single gun shop from a nine millimeter handgun in his head. There was a nine milimeter gun in his lap, and there was a second nine millimeter on the floor. Police also found another bullet hole in the ceiling.

I don't know how I feel about that? No, why well, because what a fucking asshole, right like you did this just horrific act and then you just go and take your own life and right don't even have to pay the consequences.

Really, I know, like, fuck him.

Wow.

Wow, there's a little bit on that. We'll touch on it here in a minute. So comparisons from the bullets of Bruce's gun tested in forensic lab would confirm that he was the one who fired the shots at the Rtega home and on himself.

No shit.

They actually at first thought there might have been a second gunman, oh really in the scene where Bruce was or had committed suicide, but forensics confirmed that it was self inflicted. Okay, so they ruled out a second gunman.

Okay.

Bruce was also found to have several third degree burns on his body, like severe third degree burns, along with melted poly esther fabric embedded in his skin.

I almost wonder if he didn't realize how fucked up he would have gotten from that, then eh, welles he would have been in some serious pain then.

Oh yeah, like while shooting flames all over the Ortego home, he managed to get severely burnt like himself and melting the cheap velvet suit into his own skin.

So I wonder if he didn't even realize that.

You know, no, something got out of hand, whether he got too close to fire, whether fire he sprayed himself with gas and it caught up or just the intense heat inside like combusted his clothes something. It got out of hand to the point where he fucking hurt himself where clearly he didn't mean to.

Well, certain fabrics two don't do good under that, right, he needs to probably warm, like a firefighter suit or something.

Yeah, and this this was just a cheap Santa suit. So now he also had seventeen thousand dollars in cash cling wrapped around his legs.

Okay, yeah, because he was flying to flee.

Probably Now, investigators turned to search Bruce's car for more evidence and clues and what the fuck was going on? Yeah, his car was he was driving a rental at the time. He wasn't driving his own car, so it was a rental car that he rented, and it was parked one block from his brother's house. Inside, investigators found the remaining

Oh so this was totally premeditated.

Oh fuck, Yeah, and the car was actually rigged to explode with black powder if that Santa suit was removed from the vehicle.

Oh yeah, like because if someone came across it or whatever in evidence or something.

Yeah, so if if someone were to remove that Santa suit, it was rigged to blow. Wow.

Okay.

Now, because of this, there is some questioning around whether or not Bruce always intended to kill himself or if it was a last minute decision when things didn't go as planned.

I feel like it's last minute.

Because if he's gonna rig up the car to blow, that seems like he's trying to hide evidence, right, Yeah, totally, So why would he just kill himself if he's like why why is he trying to hide evidence if he's just offing himself anyways, So yeah, there's there's a few discrepancies about it, and there's a few different like.

Well, regardless, I'm surprised that he didn't just blow up the car. Really, that's interesting.

Yeah, yeah, it's true. Well regardless, it's it was clear that once he parked the car, h he clearly changed out of the suit, intending to blend in a little bit more be inconspicuous. Who's no longer in the suit. He was in civilian cloth. And they also recovered four thirteen round capacity nine millimeter handguns that were empty. So I just want to repeat that, four thirteen round capacity nine millimeter handguns that were empty empty. Okay, so that

Yeah, like fifty I don't know. I don't want to say, because what I'm wrong.

I think it's fifty two.

It's twenty six times too, Does that help? Fifty two?

Yeah, that's what I said. Fifty two.

Oh, okay, you are quicker than me.

So he most likely emptied fifty two bullets into that family's home.

That is so many. Yeah, holy frig and they were I can't even like just sorry, just like hearing that go off, right, yeah, like being a neighbor or whatever and just hearing that many gunshots like just terrifying.

But this way, if you're firing one bullet a second, that's bullets going off for a minute.

Straight like that would just be terrifying.

Right. It's actually very surprising that like no one got hurt in nearby houses.

Actually, yeah, it is.

There was at least two hundred rounds of ammunition found with all the evidence they needed and collected, and investigators actually treated the car as a bomb threat because the way it was rigged. So police fired an incendiary round or device into the vehicle and destroyed the vehicle.

That's fair, yeah, yeah, And no one else needs to get injured.

From this exactly now. Inside Bruce's home in Montrose, California, police had recovered five empty boxes of semiotic handgun semi semi automatic I can't talk tonight handguns, a tactical shotgun, and a container for high octane fuel tank gasoline. Wonder what to use that for. They also found what would be described as quote unquote a virtual bomb factory in his home.

Wow.

Whatever that specifically means, I don't know, but that is a direct quote.

So so he took this shit to the next level.

Hey, yes, he fucking did. He was planning on this, He knew what he was fucking doing. There's major premeditation.

Uh huh.

Investigators also found that Bruce had purchased a plane ticket to fly to Mexico. It didn't seem like he planned on killing himself with all the evidence on hand. First off, Bruce's getaway car was parked about five hundred feet from also Scott Nord's house, who was Sylvia's divorce attorney. Police believed Bruce might have actually planned on also murdering Scott, who resided over the proceedings of their divorce, who he clearly did not like.

Yeah, there's absolutely no reason.

That's like, there was no reason to murder the r TA family. But yeah, good lord, well they they they think that was his plan afterwards. Okay, they think he was going to kill the attorney and flee the country with the seventeen thousand dollars cash he had strapped to his leg, go to Mexico, getting away, starting a new life before anyone ever catches on to who he was,

Okay, well, it's pretty it's probably pretty obvious to them.

Oh yeah, yeah, so he's identified and he's severely injured. Could he get away fast enough? Being that injured? Is a hospital waiting for a man with third degree burns to come in right fucking now? To Bruce, the only way way out may have just been to end his life. He may have had a plan to escape, but in his condition.

To himself and he got way too injured.

Yep. Now as for why, well, they believe his divorce took a toll on him more than many knew. He couldn't take it. His life was ruined. He even ended up getting fired and losing his job prior to all this, So no money, no way of paying what he owed. Bruce was required to pay Sylvia as part of the settlement, and according to court documents, Sylvia actually kept the wedding

Yeah, but wasn't he not even paying her? Was or was this that was a different one that you'd said, where like the check bounced right?

No, this this was her.

So he wasn't even really giving her the money.

I know.

But yet he's still bussed.

Yeah, but she's living like this and he has to pay her. So she's living good. Why does he have to pay her? That's what he's thinking in his eyes, right.

Oh so yeah, that so justifies what he did.

Oh yeah, so dump It didn't matter though he lost His wife left him, mostly for abandoning his son to start with. At least, whatever it all was, it was too much, and he hated everyone in that house for having part in what drove him to this place, even his own fucking mother, who was actually invited to the Ortega home that night. What she was invited to the Christmas party because she was actually fairly close with Sylvia. Still, Bruce wasn't invited.

And so that pissed him off her. The mom didn't go th or and die right.

Yeah, she didn't go. Actually, she actually ended up not feeling good that night and she didn't go. So little did she know, but that literally saved her.

Oh my gosh, how you stalled there? I was like, did she go and he killed her?

No, she didn't die, but he went there knowing she was invited.

Wow. Right, but it doesn't seem like they had the best of relationships, probably anymore.

Right, No, it doesn't seem so. But that's as far as I'm concerned, all to Bruce's own fault.

Yeah. So well, and then I just have to say, sorry, Holy Frank for the fact that he like, like okay, because he goes to his brother's house and does that on his couch. Like now he's also ruined, ruining his brother's Christmas Eve completely, Like could you imagine like celebrating coming home to that.

Yeah. So my theory on that is he was going to the attorney's place, parked there, and he's like I can't, like I'm too fucking hurt sort of thing, And so he went somewhere else close by, which was his brother's place, lived in the same neighborhood, maybe to try and patch himself up or something and realize was how bad he was, Yeah, and then said fuck it, Wow, he should.

Have just gone back to his car and blown it up.

Yeah, no kidding, but we wouldn't have gotten evidence that way, so I'm glad he didn't.

That's true. That's true.

So the people who lost their lives that night in Bruce's fucking tyranny are Sylvia, who is Bruce's ex wife. She died from gunshot wounds, Alicia Ortega gunshot wound to the abdomen, Joseph Ortega multiple gunshot wounds, Earls Ortega, Sherry Ortega, James Ortega, Teresa Ortega, Alisa Ortiz, Michael Ortes, who was the seventeen year old who died upstairs in the fire.

That is just devastating.

Yeah, it's sick and.

For what really, Like that just doesn't make any.

Sense because he was petty. That's why you also have he.

Had to had some sort of mental like issues going on, right, because like, uh, you don't go and do that.

The only speculation of mental issues that he had with mental health sorry mental.

Health, Yeah, yeah, I started.

That depression was the only thing that they know of. There is no predocumentation of anything. He wasn't diagnosed with anything. They believe it was depression caused by the divorce.

Wow. Because yeah, I'm just thinking, like the terrible cases of depression, like you don't go and kill nine people like that.

That depression is not an excuse to fucking massacre a family.

A family just destroyed as family, like a whole extended family. Wow. And numerous other people too along the way.

Really, So that is the Caffina massacre.

Hmmm, holy shit. Yeah, that's a wild, wild one.

Eh, Mary fucking Christmas Yeah, that holy shit brutal.

Okay, So the one that we have like for Christmas Week is not quite as heavy. It's a little more jolly, would you say or not.

I don't know what you guys will find out when we do it, but I wouldn't describe it as.

It's not quite this bad though, right well, oh shit, okay.

No, it's I wouldn't say it's as bad, but it's definitely.

Not fucking because yeah, this is horrific. Like even We've covered a lot of murders and true crime cases and stuff, and this it's like one of the most horrific ones.

This is one of the worst ones. It's not the worst one as far as I'm concerned, I think Junko for the yeah is still the worst.

But then just the amount of people that were affected and stuff too right, and like wow, wow, did he have to seriously wear a Santa suit? Like fuck them?

Yeah, fuck this dude. Wow, so that is the douche canoe Bruce? Fuck him? But uh, rest in peace to all those that yeah massacred, and we are sincerely sorry to the Ortega family for you had to go through that night. We can't imagine.

I cannot imagine. I hope that they have just the slightest bit of peace.

Yeah, and something I fully endorse this thought. Talking back, uh sorry, throwing back to the ladies over on Morbid. They said that they hope Bruce is burning, and so do I, but I like what they said. They hope that he is burning with a Santa suit melting on his skin and then getting another one put on, melting in over and over. You know what.

Fuck yeah, yeah, fuck you deserve some real shit.

Yeah, well, thank you for listening.

Guys.

Don't forget to check out all our social links down below, including Patreon and of course our merch We have.

Merch now yeah Instagram, yeah.

Yeah, also down below on the podcast, So.

There you go. Yeah, easy to find.

Hopefully you guys have great holiday and we got more coming up for this holiday.

We sure do, and until then, of course, stay wicked.