Santa gunman led 2 lives to plot killings

House explodes
When it was over, Pardo's ex-wife, her parents, her two brothers and their wives and her sister and her sister's 17-year-old son were dead — nine of the 25 guests at the annual holiday bash.

The teen was upstairs using a computer and perished in the fire after the house exploded from the fuel vapor. Michael Ortiz sent an e-mail to his friends at 11:25 p.m., said Sylvia Pardo's best friend, Roxanne Jauregui, who spoke to the teen's father afterward.

Police later said Pardo also intended to kill his own mother, who was to attend the party, but she decided not to go at the last minute because she felt sick. Pardo apparently felt she was siding with his ex-wife in the divorce; the two women remained close friends.

Police believe Pardo cut short his rampage when the fuel from his device ignited before he expected — probably set off by a pilot light or candle. He suffered third-degree burns so severe they seared the Santa costume to his flesh.

"He was probably in a great deal of pain," said Lt. Tim Doonan, who's supervising the investigation.

Still, Pardo managed to change out of the suit and knock out lights in the street before he drove to his brother's house 40 miles away and parked his rented car.

He left the remains of the singed suit in the car, booby-trapped with a trip wire set to ignite black powder and detonate several hundred rounds of ammunition when disturbed.

Then, Pardo broke into his brother's house and shot himself once in the head.

Investigators found $17,000 in cash strapped to his legs with Saran wrap and in a girdle around his middle, along with a plane ticket to Illinois.

The car exploded when a bomb squad tried to dismantle the booby trap, but no one was hurt.

Police later found another a second getaway car, a rented sport utility vehicle, outside the home of his ex-wife's divorce attorney in nearby Glendale, packed with a spare fuel tank, maps, clothing and Christmas presents.

That discovery was a grim coda to an already morbid tale: Police said Pardo probably would have added the attorney to his list of victims if he hadn't been so badly burned.

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