On that fateful day, Rodrigues found himself handcuffed in the back of a police vehicle, sitting next to a convicted rapist.
In an astonishing turn of events, Rodrigues managed to kill the rapist without the police officers noticing.
Originally sentenced to 126 years in prison, Rodrigues was released in 2003 due to Brazil’s legal limit, which caps imprisonment at 30 years, regardless of the crime.
His life story later served as inspiration for the book series Dexter, which follows a serial killer who targets other killers. This series eventually became a hit television show.
Rodrigues’s freedom was short-lived, as he was re-arrested in 2011 and served an additional seven years in prison.
Rodrigues would be re-arrested in 2011 and spent another seven years behind bars.
Though he spent most of his life behind bars, he managed to kill at least 71 drug dealers, rapists or murderers.
He claimed to have killed far more people than he was actually convicted of.
Most of the crimes were committed while he was a teenager.
Rodrigues spent 40 years behind bars until his release from a final prison term in 2019.
He then became a popular YouTube commentator on crime.
But his violent past caught up with him when he was killed in a drive-by shooting in March 2023.