The following week, according to the former fiancée, she discovered that money had been withdrawn from their account.
She later learned he had gone to Palm Springs.
The marriage never happened.
Years later came an even darker family history.
Pardo had a son from another relationship.
In 2001, when the child was around 13 months old, the boy fell into a backyard swimming pool while Pardo was inside the house.
The child survived but suffered catastrophic brain damage and became severely disabled.
According to reporting based on the mother's attorney and people close to the later investigation, Pardo's relationship with the child's mother ended and he stopped seeing the boy.
Yet Pardo continued claiming the child as a tax deduction.
Years later, Sylvia learned about that history.
People close to the investigation said the revelation deeply disturbed her.
The discovery contributed to the breakdown of the marriage.
For Sylvia, this was not a minor secret.
She had married a man without knowing about an extraordinarily important part of his life.
A severely disabled child existed.
And Pardo had apparently removed himself from that child's life.
Her trust in him collapsed.
The couple's money problems were already creating tension.
Now there was something deeper.
Questions about character.
Responsibility.
What else had he hidden?
By early 2008, the marriage was ending.
March 2008
Bruce and Sylvia separated on March 7, 2008.
Sylvia wanted to remain temporarily in the Montrose house while her young daughter finished kindergarten.
Instead, according to the later Los Angeles Times reconstruction, Pardo moved Sylvia's belongings onto the driveway while she was away at a family birthday party.
She left.
She filed for divorce.
There was no reconciliation.
The divorce became increasingly focused on money.
Pardo earned much more than Sylvia.
In June, a judge ordered him to pay $1,785 per month in spousal support.
According to court reporting, one payment bounced and another was stopped.
Pardo complained about his finances.
He complained that Sylvia was living with relatives.
He complained about spending.
The legal proceedings exposed personal finances and family problems that he apparently found humiliating.
Then another major problem arrived.
Pardo lost his job.
A later detailed Los Angeles Times reconstruction reported that he was fired from ITT Radar Systems on July 31, 2008, after being accused of billing fraudulent hours.
He sought unemployment benefits but was denied.
The pieces were accumulating.
Marriage gone.
Financial pressure.
Job gone.
Conflict with his mother.
Court proceedings.
But none of those things caused murder automatically.
People lose jobs every day.
People endure bitter divorces.
People lose pets in settlements.
People suffer humiliation.
They do not respond by attacking an entire family.
The crucial difference was what Pardo chose to do with those grievances.
And evidence later showed that his response was not spontaneous.
He planned.
For months.
The First Gun Purchase
On June 13, 2008, before his job was gone and long before the divorce was formally finalized, Pardo went to a gun store in Burbank.
He purchased a 9mm semiautomatic handgun.
Then he returned.
August.
Another handgun.
September.
Another.
October.
Another.
November.
Another.
California law limited how frequently he could buy certain concealable firearms, so the purchases were spread across months.
By the time Christmas approached, Pardo had accumulated multiple handguns.
That timeline matters because it undermines the idea that the massacre was simply an explosion of anger caused by the final divorce hearing.
The hearing may have intensified resentment.
Police believed it could have been an important trigger.
But the preparation had started far earlier.
By June, he was already acquiring weapons.
By September, another strange piece appeared.
A Santa Claus suit.
The Santa Suit
On September 8, Pardo contacted a neighbor who owned a costume business.
He ordered a custom Santa outfit.
He said it was for a children's party.
Pardo was a large man, around 6 feet 4 inches tall and roughly 275 pounds.
He specifically wanted the costume made with extra room.
At the time, the request did not necessarily sound ominous.
Santa costumes are supposed to be oversized.
Months later, investigators would have a very different interpretation.
The oversized suit gave Pardo room to conceal weapons and dark street clothes underneath.
That is one of the most disturbing details of the case.
The disguise was not something purchased on Christmas Eve during a sudden rage.
It had been ordered months earlier.
He selected Santa Claus because he knew the setting.
A Christmas gathering.
Children would be there.
A person in a Santa costume approaching the Ortega house on December 24 would not immediately trigger fear.
A stranger in black clothing carrying weapons might cause someone to close the door.
Santa gets invited in.
Pardo weaponized trust.
He used one of the most recognizable symbols of childhood safety as camouflage.
That detail is why the Covina massacre became so culturally haunting.
The image feels fundamentally wrong.
Santa is supposed to arrive carrying presents.
Pardo arrived carrying guns and fuel.
The costume made the first few seconds possible.
Then the disguise became meaningless.
Planning in Plain Sight
What is extraordinary about the months before the massacre is how ordinary Pardo could still appear.
He visited restaurants.
He spoke with neighbors.
He applied for jobs.
He traveled.
He decorated his house for Christmas.
People around him did not describe a man openly threatening to murder his former wife's family.
He could discuss everyday things.
He could seem depressed at times.
He could also appear normal.
Meanwhile, the plan continued developing.
During an October trip to Iowa to visit an old friend, Pardo stopped at a gun store and purchased additional magazines.
Back in California, he had acquired fuel equipment.
He had a compressor.
He had high-octane fuel.
He had the Santa suit.
He had multiple firearms.
The outward life continued.
Inside, preparation continued.
This duality is part of what makes premeditated mass violence difficult for friends and family to comprehend after the fact.
They search backward for obvious warnings.
A threat.
A confession.
A dramatic personality change.
Something that should have told them.
But Pardo was capable of compartmentalizing.
A neighbor could see Christmas lights.
A costume maker could see a customer.
A cafe worker could see a familiar regular ordering a sandwich and pastry.
A gun-store clerk could see a lawful purchaser.
A travel agent could see someone buying a ticket.
Each person saw one fragment.
Only after the massacre did those fragments form a picture.
December 18
Six days before Christmas, the divorce was finalized.
Bruce and Sylvia appeared in court.
The marriage was officially over.
The settlement required Pardo to pay Sylvia $10,000.
Sylvia kept the diamond engagement ring.
And she got Saki, the dog Pardo reportedly adored.
Pardo kept the house.
Early news reports emphasized those details.
Money.
Ring.
Dog.
It is tempting to reduce the massacre to a man enraged because his former wife got the dog.
That is too simple.
Police viewed the contentious divorce as a central motive, but the planning was already months old.
The financial disputes were part of a broader pattern of grievance.
His marriage had collapsed.
His mother had become close to Sylvia.
His finances were strained.