A series of frantic text messages and phone calls between the children of Colleen Rebelo and influencer Gracie Piscopo have been revealed in court where her son Andre is on trial for her murder.
The phone records were from the day Ms Rebelo was allegedly murdered by her son Andre Zachary Rebelo in their Bicton home. He has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his mother.
Records revealed that his then-partner, Ms. Piscopo, sent him a series of angry text messages and attempted to call him several times over a 20-minute period on the morning Ms. Rebelo was allegedly killed.
‘ANDWRR YOUR F****** PHOME’, ‘WHERE ARE YOU’, ‘OMG I Swear to God Andre’, ‘Don’t you have a phone??? What’s wrong with you?’, some of the messages said.
‘Answer me, for God’s sake’ and ‘I’m furious with you, I’m so mad.’
After a 90-second phone call between Rebelo and Piscopo, the alleged killer texted his mother at 12:38 p.m. asking if she could watch her son that day or the next.
About 90 minutes later, Rebelo texted his brother Fabian at 2:08 p.m. saying, “There’s a bag with my old clothes in the hallway because you left them this morning in case mom didn’t see them.”
Fabián responded to his brother Andre by saying: “Peaceful health.”
Andre Zachary Rebelo (left), who has a son with model Gracie Piscopo (right), has been accused of murdering his mother in 2020.
Colleen Rebelo was found dead in her home in the Perth suburb of Bicton on May 25, 2020.
Fabian tried to call his mother 13 times that afternoon when she couldn’t pick him up after her shift at a local supermarket, then he tried to call his sister Monique.
He tried to call his mother a minute later but she didn’t answer the phone.
Monique texted her mother asking, ‘Are you all okay? Kayla is trying to contact you to get her bags.
From 2:21 p.m. there were a series of text messages between Monique and Fabián about whether they had been able to contact their mother.
About 20 minutes later, Fabian tried to call Monique and then texted her: “It’s bad it’s ablunciant here” and “Can you come home?”
Fabián tried to call Andre and then texted him: ‘C. I’m not answering, please, mom is dead’ and ‘Please, c. I won’t come home.
Starting at 3.05pm, Monique texted Andre: “Have you responded to Fabian’s calls? DO IT NOW, COME TO MOMS NOW”, “NOW” and “NOW”.
The court was also told that a signal between Rebelo’s mobile phone and an Optus mobile tower pointed in the direction of her mother’s home on the day she was found dead in the shower.
Optus senior technical specialist Raymond Chang gave evidence at Rebelo’s murder trial showing court maps between the defendant’s mobile phone signal and Optus base stations on the day of his mother’s death.
A map drawn up by WA Police showed a sign from an Optus base station in Mosman Park pointing in the direction of Ms Rebelo’s home across the Swan River in Bicton.
State prosecutor Brett Tooker asked Mr Chang if it would be possible for a signal from a base station across the Swan River to reach Bicton’s home. He said yes.
He told the court it was also possible for a mobile phone to use different base stations while within the same property for more than an hour if a person moved from one room to another.
A police investigation revealed that Rebelo created three life insurance policies against her mother the week before her death and then began the claims process days after her mother’s death.
Andre Rebelo (right), former partner of famous model Gracie Piscopo (left), was charged in November over the death of his mother Colleen, 58, in Perth in 2020.
One of the insurers suspected the claim was fraudulent and reported it to the police.
The court was told that Rebelo submitted falsified documents to one of the insurers to speed up the claims process, including a falsified copy of his mother’s last will and testament, a false copy of a medical report from his mother’s psychologist and a copy false forensic report. in his death.
Rebelo pleaded guilty to four counts of forgery, but maintained that he did not kill his mother.
During the trial, the court was told that Rebelo displayed a glamorous lifestyle with his partner on social media funded by credit cards and personal loans.
The court was told that Ms Piscopo was a successful model and social media influencer, but that Rebelo had lived beyond her means and was struggling to pay her financial obligations.
Mrs. Piscopo is not accused of any crime.
A police investigation led to Rebelo being charged with forgery offenses on October 20, 2020.
He filed for bankruptcy on March 31, 2022, and was arrested for the murder of his mother on November 22, 2022.
Mrs. Piscopo has remained silent about her boyfriend’s charges and was not at his court appearance on Thursday.
The prosecution has argued that Rebelo’s debts led him to take out three life insurance policies against his mother.
State’s Attorney Brett Tooker told the court that when money started coming out of Rebelo’s account to pay premiums he had to act, which is why he killed his mother five days later.
While Ms. Rebelo’s death was sudden and unexpected, first responders who responded to her home did not treat her as suspicious, the court was told.
The cause of his death has never been determined despite ancillary tests being performed at his autopsy.
Medical experts, including Ms Rebelo’s GP Niall Barrett and endocrinologist Timothy Welborn, gave evidence at the trial and told the court Ms Rebelo was healthy when she died.
Both witnesses said it was unlikely that Rebelo died suddenly due to the medical conditions he was suffering from at the time of his death.
Forensic pathologist Reimar Junkerstorff performed an autopsy on Mrs Rebelo and told the court he could not rule out that Mrs Rebelo died from asphyxiation or suffocation.
Her son’s defense team argued that traces of focal subendocardial interstitial fibrosis found in Ms Rebelo’s heart meant she could have died of cardiac arrhythmia, causing her to collapse and die suddenly.
The trial continues.
