Authorities in Brazil are currently on the hunt for an individual suspected of practicing witchcraft, who is believed to have desecrated the grave of a murdered woman and stolen her head. The victim, 31-year-old Sabrina Tavares de Almeida, was killed in August 2022, and her grave was discovered to have been violated in March of the following year.
The cemetery, located in the state of Rio de Janeiro, reported the incident to the police, who have since launched an investigation. According to Fábio Barbosa Teixeira, a criminal expert involved in the case, the concrete cover of the grave was found to have been shattered by a blunt force. The wooden lid of the coffin inside the tomb was also broken, and the head of the corpse was missing.
Teixeira is of the opinion that the gruesome act of grave robbery is not connected to Almeida’s murder. He suggests that the perpetrator may be involved in black magic, based on additional evidence found at the scene. In place of the missing head, an earthenware bowl filled with burned materials was discovered.
While the search for the grave robber continues, police have already identified a primary suspect in Almeida’s murder. In August, Almeida and her mother, Fátima de Azevedo Tavares, were attacked by a masked intruder while they were asleep in their home. Almeida was killed on the spot, but her mother survived the assault.
The police have named Mateus da Silva Osório Ferreira, Almeida’s former brother-in-law, as the suspected murderer. Almeida was previously married to Ferreira’s brother, a police officer who was killed in 2016. Following his death, Almeida inherited his house, which led to a legal dispute with Ferreira. Despite losing the court battle, Ferreira allegedly continued to threaten Almeida.
Ferreira was arrested four months after Almeida’s murder on charges of femicide and attempted femicide. However, due to insufficient evidence, he was released from custody on July 20 by Judge Adriano Celestino Santos.
The desecration of Almeida’s grave has added to the grief of her father, Jorge Luiz Gomes de Almeida. Still struggling to cope with his daughter’s murder, he expressed his anguish to the local press, lamenting the lack of peace for his daughter, even in death.