World of Crime - What's Inside The Mind of The Killer Child - Marcelo Pesseghini
[Source]
Sweet child
Young Marcelo Pesseghini was a sweet, smiley child. The 13-year-old lived with his parents Luiz, 40, and Andreia, 36, in Sao Paulo, Brazil. His grandmother Benedita, 65, and her sister Bernedete da Silva, 55, lived next door. Their tight-knit, loving family seemed utterly content.
Things changed in August 2013, when Andreia's brother Sebastiao unable to contact his sister, broke into her house and discovered a horrific scene. Luiz, Andreia and Marcelo were dead. They all had been shot in the heads and were huddled around the parent's bed. Luiz was face down on the bed, with Andreia knelt on the floor beside him. Face down on the floor beside her lay Marcelo. Benedita and Bernedete had also been killed in their bedrooms, in the house next door.
Sebastiao was distraught.
Who had murdered such a doting, respectable family?
[Marcelo Pesseghini with his mother Andreia and father Luiz. Source]
Strange events
Police had a theory.
Luiz was in the police SWAT team, while Andreia had recently reported some corrupt policemen for robbery. Was it a revenge attack?
While lifting Marcelo's body forensics had a shock. He was clutching his dad's pistol in his left hand. Tests soon showed the gun had killed all the family, including Marcelo who was shot once through the left temple.
The case shocked whole Brazil. Why would this sweet boy kill his whole family and then himself?
There was another mystery too. Marcelo's parents, grandparents and great-aunt had all died in the early hours of Monday 5 August, but Marcelo's shocked teachers said he'd been at school that day - calmly studying in class, chatting with friends.
The school's CCTV showed something strange, tough. At about 1:30 AM on Monday morning, Marcelo had driven his mother's car into the school car park. Then he sat inside, waiting, until finally at around 6:30am, he had walked into school carrying his backpack. That evening, he had taken a lift home with a friend's dad.
He had died soon after.
Strange.
If he had murdered his family the previous night, why return to school before killing himself?
The family was stunned.
"If it was Marcelo who did it, then it was force of evil. He never even got into a fight at school. He was loving and loved by all", his cousin Sandra said.
"He was only a small child, even though he was 13. I don't believe he was even big enough to drive the car. This is a heavy gun, he couldn't have had the strength to shoot it", said Sebastiao.
It was also claimed that Marcelo wasn't left handed.
Had the boy been set-up?
Still, it didn't explain why he had gone to school in the early hours and why inside Marcelo's schoolbag was one of his dad's police revolvers. Although, it wasn't the revolver used to kill the family.
Soon, police officers held a press conference.
"We've ruled out the possibility of some sort of retaliatory attack by a gang, the house was not ransacked, there were no signs of forced entry", police commander Benedito Meira said.
[CCTV recording of Marcelo Pesseghini walking in the front of school on Monday morning. Source]
The hitman
Instead, there was more shocking evidence from one of Marcelo's friend. According to detective Itagiba Franco, the friend said that Marcelo had been fantasizing about becoming a hitman. That Marcelo dreamed about assassinating his parents at night and about living alone in the house.
Police also revealed that few weeks before the murder, Marcelo updated his Facebook profile with a picture taken from brutal computer game Assassin's Creed.
He had also previously posted a photo from the site of another notorious family massacre - Amityville murders - where a young man shot dead his whole family while they slept.
The similarity between the cases was disturbing.
Forensic psychiatrist Guido Palomba analyzed Marcelo and rule that the boy had suffered brain damage in the past and had developed delusions. He compared him to the famously delusional book character Don Quixote, who attacked windmills thinking they were monsters. He believed that Marcelo, inspired by violent computer games, vowed to become vigilante but he saw his parents as an obstacle. So they had to die.
"In all young children, up to a point, fantasy and reality remain mixed", Palomba said. He also added that Marcelo felt he had failed his "noble" mission - "So, not because he regretted the murders, but because he had failed, he shot himself".
[Marcelo with his father Luiz. Source]
No-one will ever know if that is true, so many conspiracy theories exist regarding the whole case.
No matter what, like Amityville murders, Marcelo's family massacre is now infamous.
Thank you for reading,
@claudia
News sources that helped me to write this article::
The Guardian - "Brazil shocked as 'sweet child' apparently murders his own family."
Globo - "Laudo aponta doença mental e compara filho de PMs a Dom Quixote."
A very strange case. Thanks for sharing this.
Thank you for upvoting!
You're welcome it is a fascinating post.
interesting upvoted
Thank you! :-)
This case is truly saddening and cringeworthy. Any loss of life is a devastating experience, especially when considering the speculative notions that involve a young teen who is suspected of being able to commit first degree murders, as well as, commit suicide following the cold blooded slaughter. I'm surprised this post doesn't have more comments. We are only on the outside looking in, but too many strange side notes make me feel that there definitely was foul play in this case. I could see it as a planned revenge attack due to the crooked cops being exposed. But who knows, the young boy wasn't left handed and who can truly verify the witness account of this supposed friend of his who says Marcelo fantasized about such horrific things? Interesting post to say the least. Upvoted thanks for sharing
You may be right.
There should be another, full and transparent investigation.
Definitely, I agree.