COVINA, Calif. — Stinging from an acrimonious divorce, a man plotting revenge against his former wife dressed up like Santa Claus, went to his former in-laws' Christmas Eve party and slaughtered at least eight people before killing himself hours later.

In addition to the eight people whose bodies were found in the ashes of the house, none of whom was identified, at least one other person was thought to be missing, and perhaps as many as three.

Among the total of dead or missing were the couple who owned the home, James and Alicia Ortega, and their daughter Sylvia, the estranged wife of the gunman, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, police said.

Pardo, 45, had no criminal record and no history of violence, according to police, but he was angry after last week's settlement of his divorce after a marriage that lasted barely a year. It was unclear if they had children.

"It was not an amicable divorce," police Lt. Pat Buchanan said.

Pardo chose to exact his revenge at the annual Christmas party his former in-laws held at the two-story home on a cul-de-sac in a quiet Covina neighborhood 25 miles east of Los Angeles.

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