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morning cup. There

2:01

were two more murders 15 miles away. We have

2:03

a weird hum. The

2:10

scene described by one investigator is reminiscent of

2:12

a weird... A

2:14

cop of murder. Rampages are

2:17

often sudden, senseless, and

2:19

incredibly deadly. On April

2:21

15th, 2002, a man

2:24

was sentenced for the rampage he

2:26

committed that cost five individuals their

2:28

lives. A motiveless

2:31

rampage that left so many

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questions in its wake. So if

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you like your coffee hot but your bones chilled, sit

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back and start your day with a morning cup

2:41

of murder. On December 30th, 1999,

2:43

a group of employees and

2:47

football fans packed the halls

2:49

of the Radisson Bay Harbor

2:51

Hotel in Tampa, Florida, working

2:53

and watching the big bowl

2:55

game when suddenly their cheers

2:57

and merriment were disrupted by

2:59

the sounds of gunshot. Without

3:02

saying a word, a 36 year

3:05

old housekeeper named Silvio

3:07

Esquierdo Leyva walked into

3:09

the building and opened

3:11

fire. According to the

3:13

sources at the time of his

3:15

rampage, two of his relatives were

3:17

inside the hotel and amongst the

3:19

crowd. There was his niece Diana, who

3:21

was in the hotel lobby just after

3:24

3 p.m. with her mother Angela, Silvio's

3:26

sister-in-law, who were both

3:29

housekeepers at the hotel as

3:31

well. Diana would later say

3:33

that she heard the first gunshot while standing

3:35

there getting her paycheck. She

3:37

and her mother hid in the office and

3:39

watched as, to their shock, Silvio

3:43

walked past the door armed with

3:45

a weapon. Killing four

3:47

co-workers as well as a fifth

3:49

victim while trying to escape, Silvio

3:52

with two guns taken from

3:54

his vehicle, stalked through the

3:56

hotel hallways, unleashing a barrage of

3:58

bullets People dove behind

4:01

doors and hid under furniture. Seeming

4:05

to target fellow employees rather

4:07

than guests, he left

4:09

behind the body of a man lying draped

4:11

over a blue lounge chair by the pool, two

4:14

more near the employee's entrance sprawled

4:17

in front of a minivan, and

4:19

another right near the registration desk

4:21

in the lobby. Three

4:24

others were shot as well, but

4:26

thankfully, Menesz to survive the horrific

4:29

attack that took mere moments to

4:31

complete. Those who perished inside

4:33

the hotel were Eric Pedoroso, 29, Barbara Carter, 55,

4:35

Jose R. Aguilar,

4:41

40, and George C.

4:43

Jones, 44. According

4:47

to Todd Hixton, a friend of Barbara

4:49

Carter's, who worked at the hotel for 15 years,

4:52

she had been sitting next to

4:54

a fellow employee when Silvio approached

4:56

and fired at her from point-blank

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range with just about two feet

5:00

separating her and the muzzle of

5:03

the gun. He then

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pointed the weapon at another employee, stared

5:07

for a moment, and then walked

5:10

away without a word. Todd

5:12

also claimed that most of the workers,

5:15

who got their paychecks early due to the

5:17

upcoming New Year's holiday, were in

5:19

a jovial mood, and that Silvio

5:21

gave no warnings or indication of

5:23

what was to come. Then

5:26

while trying to escape the scene,

5:28

Silvio managed to get into a

5:30

stolen vehicle, drove it to West

5:32

Tampa, abandoned it next to the

5:35

famed La Terracita restaurant, and

5:37

then shot and killed a motorist who

5:39

refused to get out of her car.

5:42

She was 56-year-old Dolores

5:44

Perdomo, who had just received

5:46

her first Florida driver's license just

5:49

two months prior. Seeing

5:52

another vehicle this time without

5:55

incident, and even thanking the driver

5:57

for getting out in a prompt manner, Silvio was

5:59

still in the car. Silvio sped off only to

6:01

find himself cornered by police just

6:03

minutes later. Quietly

6:05

giving himself over, Silvio

6:08

Esquierdo Leyva was arrested and

6:10

charged with five counts of

6:12

first-degree murder. Hours

6:15

later during a press conference, the Tampa Police

6:17

chief stated that their killer, a

6:19

Cuban refugee who had only been working at the

6:22

hotel for a few months, was

6:24

refusing to talk with police, and

6:27

that his motive for the shooting was

6:29

still a mystery. However,

6:31

when speaking with the family who knew him, they

6:34

claimed that, following a visit back

6:36

to Cuba, Silvio returned to

6:38

Florida a changed man. Claiming

6:41

he began the years-long journey into becoming

6:43

a centero, a priest in

6:45

the Santa Ria religion, though

6:48

the religion itself has some

6:50

dark practitioners, they say

6:52

that Silvio never showed any signs

6:54

of violence nor any indications of

6:56

what he would be capable of.

7:00

Described as a hard worker who

7:02

didn't even drink, the only

7:04

run-ins with law enforcement that Silvio

7:06

had were a few traffic citations

7:08

from when he first entered the

7:10

country in Mobile, Alabama. Moving

7:13

to Tampa and living with his deceased

7:15

brother's family, who later had him

7:18

move around, many wondered if

7:20

those family members who worked at

7:22

the hotel were the real targets

7:24

of his rampage. The

7:27

only real indication of what was

7:29

to come came from one coworker,

7:31

Dolly Guzman, who claimed that,

7:33

on the day of the murder, he seemed,

7:36

quote, weird and didn't respond kindly

7:38

when she tried to speak with

7:40

him. Also

7:42

charged with three counts of armed carjacking,

7:45

Silvio Isquierdo Leyva pleaded guilty and,

7:48

in doing so, kept his motive for

7:51

the crimes a mystery. According

7:54

to some of the sources, though, the

7:56

former hotel worker allegedly told doctors that

7:58

he could hear evil voices. and

8:00

that he thought his coworkers were laughing at

8:02

him behind his back because they thought he

8:04

was gay. Because

8:07

six doctors agreed that he suffered from severe

8:09

mental illness at the time of the rampage,

8:11

the death penalty was taken off the table and

8:14

Silvio was sentenced to life in prison

8:17

without the chance for parole on April

8:19

15th, 2002. Thank

8:23

you for joining me in my morning cup of murder.

8:25

Please join me again tomorrow to a terrible thing

8:27

happened on April 16th. Don't

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forget to rate and subscribe and let me know how you

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like it. If you want to

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help support the podcast there's always patreon or

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just sharing it with your true crime obsessed

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friends. And remember stay

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