June 17, 1954 - Pedro Rodrigues Filho
What distinguishes Rodrigues from most figures cataloged here is the self-styled logic behind his killing — he targeted those he considered criminals, a framework that gave his violence the appearance of purpose while obscuring its scale. Officially convicted of 71 murders and claiming more than 100, he carried out most of this during his teenage years, a detail that complicates any straightforward reading of motive or method. His case later became the acknowledged inspiration for the fictional Dexter Morgan, a coincidence of timing that pulled him into international visibility he had never sought during his years of imprisonment.
From Wikipedia
Pedro Rodrigues Filho (29 October 1954 – 5 March 2023), also known as Pedrinho Matador, Killer Lil' Pedro, Killer Killer Petey, or simply Killer Petey, was a Brazilian serial killer, spree killer, vigilante, and YouTuber known for pursuing and killing other criminals and suspected criminals. He committed most of his crimes as a teenager, when he was between 14 and 19 years old, and was officially sentenced for 71 murders, but claimed to have killed over 100 people, including drug dealers, rapists, and murderers, and served a total of 34 years in prison before his release in 2007. In 2011, Rodrigues was imprisoned again on charges of inciting riot and deprivation of liberty for crimes committed in prison; he was sentenced to eight years in prison, but was released again in 2018 after seven years on good behavior.
Following Rodrigues' initial planned 2003 release, author Jeff Lindsay began publishing a novel series about a fictional American serial killer of killers, inspired by Rodrigues, named Dexter Morgan. The series' success, along with that of its 2006 television adaptation and 2021 revival, led to widespread retrospective media attention being brought to Rodrigues, with him becoming internationally known alternately both as the "Brazilian Dexter" and the "South American Punisher" (after the Marvel Comics character of the same name).
After his second release from prison in 2018, Rodrigues declared himself to be reformed from his self-declared vigilantism as a youth and publicly vowed to commit no further crimes, becoming a Brazilian celebrity and YouTuber, maintaining a YouTube channel called "Pedrinho EX Matador" ("Ex-Killer Petey") on which he commented on modern crimes while educating the public that criminal acts are not something of which to be proud. In 2023, Rodrigues was killed in a drive-by shooting and stabbing by unidentified assailants.
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