Most chilling Christmas crimes including 'Santa Claus' who butchered ex's entire family
Most chilling Christmas crimes including 'Santa Claus' who butchered ex's entire family
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Christmas is a magical time of year filled with cheer and high spirits, but it has also been a time of tragedy for some families. Hearing of disturbing crimes being carried out during the festive period makes them all the more horrific. From a bitter ex-husband disguising himself as Santa Claus before gunning down his in-laws, to a father being stabbed in a queue in a mall, now known as the Santa Line Slaying, there are some awful incidents to have scarred Christmas.
Here, the Mirror looks at just some of the chilling crimes that have taken place around the holidays... A man dressed as Santa Claus knocked on the door of a family home, much to the delight of an eight-year-old girl - but things took a horrifying turn as he shot her before going on to massacre the family. The Ortegas were hosting a party for Christmas 2008 in their home in Los Angeles County, California, with other family members when there was a knock at the door.
One of the young girls happily cried "Santa Claus! Santa Claus!" upon hearing the knocking and she opened the door to find a man dressed as Santa, complete with an enormous present - which contained a homemade flamethrower. Just seconds later, 'Santa' pulled two handguns from his festive trousers and shot the young girl, Katrina Uzefpolsky, in the face.
The gunman was the ex-husband of one of the Ortega daughters. After shooting into the festivities, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo opened up with the flamethrower, with the resulting blaze soaring to around 40 to 50 feet high and it took 80 firefighters an hour-and-a-half to put it out. The intensity of the fire meant victims had to be identified using dental and medical records. He later took his own life but left nine members of the Ortega family dead with many more suffering severe injuries.
