A 19-year-old Brazilian man has been arrested for tying up his pregnant mistress and her friend and burning them alive in a car with the help of four other people – including his wife.
Ellen Priscila Ferreira, 24, was just four months pregnant and expecting the baby of one of the suspects when she and her friend Ely Carlos dos Santos, 39, were killed in the town of Coroados on October 17.
According to Brazilian news outlet G1, the 19-year-old suspect and his pregnant 36-year-old wife confessed to the Civil Police following their arrest last Thursday.
The couple said they had orchestrated the gruesome crime after Ferreira refused to have an abortion.
Paulo de Tarso, who is leading the investigation, said he had never been assigned to a crime of that magnitude in his 30 years on the police force.
‘Ellen was pregnant with the man who killed her. He is married, but had a relationship with Ellen,’ de Tarso said. ‘The suspect’s wife was also pregnant. They both wanted Ellen to take the child away, but she did not accept it.’
Authorities also apprehended two other men, aged 35 and 38, both of whom denied their involvement in the crime.
“To date, we are not sure how the victims were approached. We know what happened after they were tied to the car,’ de Tarso said.
‘We are trying to prove that the man and the woman, who are married, got together with the other two suspects to commit the crime.’
Hoje Mais reported that the 38-year-old suspect attempted to distance himself from the crime by presenting himself before authorities on October 21 to file a police report in which he claimed he was attacked by three men while he was smoking crack in Parque das Nações.
The man told the police that the attackers unlaced his sneakers and used to laces to tie up his hands and feet. However, the assailants failed to set him on fire because he pretended he was unconscious.
