Bio

Nelson Iván Serrano Sáenz was born on September 15, 1938, in Ecuador. He grew up in a family that valued hard work and entrepreneurship. As a child, he showed an interest in engineering and pursued this passion in his education. Serrano eventually became a businessman, which led him to the United States.

In the late 1980s, Serrano moved to the United States to expand his business ventures. He became a partner at Erie Manufacturing and Garment Conveyor Systems, companies involved in the installation of dry-cleaning equipment. Serrano worked alongside George Gonsalves and Frank Dosso. The three men built these businesses into successful operations, generating substantial wealth.

Over time, tensions grew between Serrano and his business partners. The conflicts mainly revolved around finances and allegations of mismanagement. This discord culminated in June 1997 when Gonsalves and Dosso voted to remove Serrano from his position as president of the companies. Following his ousting, Serrano left the company and attempted to start his own installation business.

Despite his efforts to remain connected to his work, Serrano's business relationships suffered, leading to a breakdown in trust between him and his former partners. In 1971, he became a naturalized citizen of the United States while maintaining his Ecuadorian citizenship. He faced additional challenges when the companies he helped build encountered financial disputes.

In September 2002, while living in Ecuador, Serrano was arrested. This arrest came after several years of investigation regarding the murders of his former partners and their relatives in December 1997 in Florida. Evidence related to the case eventually led to his extradition to the United States to face charges. His early life shaped the complex relationships he had in his business dealings and foreshadowed his later conflicts with former associates.

Murder Story

On December 3, 1997, four people were found shot dead at the Erie Manufacturing plant in Bartow, Florida. The victims were identified as 69-year-old George Gonsalves, 35-year-old Frank Dosso, 28-year-old Diane Patisso, and 26-year-old George Patisso Jr. They were discovered in an office and a hallway of the building. All four had been shot execution-style.

The murders were believed to stem from a business dispute involving Nelson Ivan Serrano, who had been a partner in the same companies as some of the victims. After being removed as the company president in June 1997 due to financial disagreements, Serrano was suspected of committing the murders to settle scores and eliminate any witnesses.

At the time of the killings, Serrano claimed he was in Atlanta, Georgia, on a business trip. However, prosecutors presented evidence suggesting he had returned to Florida under false identities to carry out the shootings. The evidence included a flight ticket, parking receipts, and fingerprint evidence linking him to the Orlando area on the day of the murders.

Serrano was arrested in Ecuador in September 2002. He was deported to the U.S. to face charges for the murders. During his trial, his defense argued that there was no physical evidence directly tying him to the scene. Despite this, the jury found him guilty on four counts of first-degree murder in October 2006.

On June 26, 2007, Nelson Serrano was sentenced to death by lethal injection.