In April of 1986, the body of Daisy Ricard was found in a secluded wooded area in Hialeah. She had been shot in the head by two different .22 caliber pistols. The following day, the body of her boyfriend, Ramon Alvero, was discovered in the trunk of a car about a mile away from where Daisy had been found. He had been shot with the same two guns.
The ensuing investigation found a watch belonging to Ricard had fingerprints that matched Florida police officer Manuel Pardo. On the night Alvero's body was found, Pardo had flown to New York City. There he sought medical attention for a bullet lodged in his foot. The bullet doctors removed matched those taken from the bodies of the two victims.
Even more evidence mounted tying Pardo to the murders, as well as to seven other unsolved homicides. He was eventually convicted of eight counts of first-degree murder.
Pardo admitted he intentionally killed all nine of the victims because he believed them all to be drug dealers who "have no right to live."
"I am a soldier," he told jurors at his 1988 trial. "I accomplished my mission and I humbly ask you to give me the glory of ending my life and not send me to spend the rest of my days in state prison."
Pardo, 56, will be executed by lethal injection at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday night at Florida State Prison in Starke.
Pardo's attorneys are trying to block his execution, claiming that he is mentally ill, something his trial attorney believed as well.
During the original trial, the state presented the case that Pardo, and his accomplice, Rolando Garcia, were drug dealers and that the murders were motivated by a desire to eliminate the competition.
In 1985, Pardo flew to the Bahamas to testify for a fellow cop who had been accused of drug smuggling. Pardo lied to the court, telling them they were undercover agents. He was fired from the Sweetwater Police Department shortly after.
Alvero, the victim found in the trunk of a car, was a drug dealer Pardo and Garcia had worked for.
In 1986, Pardo went on a killing spree, murdering six men and three women. He took photographs of his victims and wrote detailed accounts about the killings in his diary. He also used his victims' credit cards, which police used to link him to the murders.
U.S. Judge Timothy Corrigan denied Pardo's attorney's request for a stay on Monday.
While in prison, Pardo was dubbed the "Death Row Romeo" after he corresponded with dozens of women and persuaded many to send him money.
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