| “ | That damned hunger of trying to kill people. The Enemy growing within me: 'She can't escape!', 'If you take her!', 'If she says yes!', 'I will eat her alive!'. It was not the sex...it was something...Cannibal. | ” |
— Pereira
| ||
Francisco de Assis Pereira, a.k.a. "The Park Maniac", is a (possibly prolific) Brazilian ephebophilic serial killer, rapist, and attempted cannibal.
Background[]
Pereira was born in São Paulo, Brazil, on November 29, 1967. Raised in a religious family, he was named after Francis of Assisi, an Italian saint. During his childhood, he claimed that he was sexually abused by his own aunt, which caused him to develop an obsession with breasts. Years later, as an adult, Pereira was seduced by his male boss, which eventually sparked an interest for homosexual relationships. He also claimed that a Goth tried to tear out his penis with her mouth but failed, which subsequently left him with excruciating pain that was experienced during future sexual acts. In 1995, he was accused of attempted rape following an attack on a woman, but he posted bail and was let go. Pereira worked as a worker in the offices of a local transportation company, but quit his job three days before the killings.
Murders, Arrest, and Incarceration[]
Pereira's first victim was Elisângela Francisco da Silva, who was having financial difficulties at time of her murder. He approached her and gave her an opportunity to work, but only if she followed him to the nearby state park, and she accepted the offer. There, he raped and strangled her to death with a rope. During interviews, Pereira said that her death made him sexually aroused, only wanting to rape and kill more women, but at the same time, he was deeply scared of being caught. Much later, Pereira claimed that a voice had told him to continue the murders. Driven by the voices, he next killed Raquel Mota Rodrigues, after he saw her walking down a street; the voice allegedly told him that she was "the perfect victim". Using exactly the same M.O. as before, he took her to the state park, raped her, and strangled her with a rope. Feeling more satisfied than before, Pereira proceeded to kill women at the state park, with the voice only getting stronger with each kill. Patrícia Gonçalves Marinho, an aspiring model, was his next victim, and after she died, the voice ordered Pereira to eat her body. Obeying, Pereira bit multiple parts of her body, most notably her breasts, but wasn't strong enough to eat her. Pereira's last known victim was fifteen-year-old Selma Ferreira Queiroz. Using the same M.O. to kill her, he then attempted to eat her body like he did with Patrícia, but failed.
A police investigation began when police discovered three victims who managed to escape him. A sketch of the suspect was made, and shortly after, police received a call from a man claiming to have the phone number of a similar-looking individual. The phone number took the officers to Pereira's former workplace; searching his office, they found the identity card of one of the victims. A manhunt for Pereira was launched, while he escaped to the south and began staying with a friend in Itaqui. 23 days later, the friend saw Pereira on the news and reported him to the police, resulting in his arrest. On August 7, 1998, Pereira confessed to his lawyer and two others of killing eleven women. However, he could only lead them to the bodies of ten, resulting in ten murder convictions and a final sentence of 268 years in prison. Because of the sexual nature of his crimes, multiple inmates attempted to murder him, including fellow Brazilian serial killer Pedro Rodrigues Filho. On December 18, 2000, a prison riot occurred and left four inmates dead; Pereira was initially believed to be one of the victims, but it was later confirmed that he survived. He was subsequently moved to a psychiatric facility, where the voice that drove him to commit his murders reportedly disappeared. In the present day, Pereira considers himself to be a new man, even having a girlfriend living outside of prison. Ironically, Pereira would go on to inspire other Brazilian serial killers, including Dionathan Celestrino and Paulo Sérgio Guimarães.
Modus Operandi[]
"I am a person with a good and a bad personality. Sometimes I am not able to dominate this dark side. I pray, I pray, but I cannot resist and then I chase after women. I wished that they would not go with me into the park, that they would run away."
Pereira would approach young local women between the ages of 18 and 24 and claim that he was a fashion photographer searching for potential future models. He would give them an opportunity to work as a model and instructed them to follow him to the state park, where a session of photos would be taken. At the park, the victims would be brutally raped and strangled to death with some sort of ligature, such as a rope, shoelace, or scarf, and. After killing his two last known victims, he bit their corpses multiple times and tried to cannibalize them, but gave up. Some of his victims' bodies were found naked, face-down with their legs spread out, and completely burned as a forensic countermeasure.
Known Victims[]
- Unspecified date in 1995: Unnamed woman (attempted to rape)
- Unspecified date in 1997: Elisângela Francisco da Silva, 21 (raped and strangled with a rope)
- 1998:
- January 9: Raquel Mota Rodrigues, 23-24 (raped and strangled with a rope)
- February 10: Isadora Fraenkel, 18-19 (raped and strangled with an unspecified ligature, then burned her body post-mortem)
- April 17: Patrícia Gonçalves Marinho, 24 (raped and strangled with an unspecified ligature, then bit and attempted to eat her body)
- June 3: Selma Ferreira Queiroz, 15 (raped and strangled with an unspecified ligature, then bit and attempted to eat her body)
- Unspecified dates:
- Six unnamed women (all strangled with unspecified ligatures)
- Unnamed woman (possibly)
- Three unnamed women (attempted)
On Criminals Minds[]
- Season Three
- "Lucky" - While Pereira was never directly mentioned or referenced on the show, he appears to have been an inspiration for the episode's unsub, Floyd Feylinn Ferell - Both are cannibalistic serial killers who believed they had to satisfy a flesh-eating demonic entity, targeted women, bit them, had a forensic countermeasure involving damaging their victims' bodies in some way (Pereira burned his victims post-mortem, while Ferell froze his in a freezer and kept them there), and were said to be very 'lucky' in some 'supernatural' way. Ferrel also appears in Season Thirteen.