Francisco de Assis Pereira

Francisco de Assis Pereira (born November 29, 1967), also known as "O Maníaco do Parque" ("The Park Maniac"), is a Brazilian serial killer. He was arrested in 1998 for the rape and murder of 11 women and for assaulting nine others in a São Paulo park.

Biography

Francisco de Assis Pereira was born on November 29, 1967 in São Paulo. He was named after the Italian saint Francis of Assisi.

Pereira found his victims by posing as a talent scout for a modeling agency. He would often use shoelaces to strangle his victims after raping them.^[1] Pereira worked as a motorcycle courier during the course of the crimes. Pereria was arrested on August 4, 1998 in Itaqui, Rio Grande do Sul, ending a 23-day manhunt when he was reported to police after fisherman João Carlos Villaverde, who he was staying with, saw his picture on television.

He was eventually sentenced to a total of 268 years in prison. Pereira would go on to say "I was possessed by an evil force." and "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." After being caught he claimed he was about to start cannibalizing his victims.^[2]

On December 18, 2000, inmates tried to kill Pereira during a riot at the Taubate House of Custody and Psychiatric Treatment and four inmates were killed. Pereira was then moved to another psychiatric facility.^[2]

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