The woman accused of carrying a dead man into a Brazilian bank has been seen in handcuffs as police search for the driver who took them to the shopping centre.
New details have been released of the strange incident that occurred on Tuesday in the Rio neighborhood of Bangu, when Erika de Souza, 42, pushed the body of Roberto Braga, 68, towards an ATM table and tried to withdraw 17,000 reals (about 3,200 dollars).
Employees at the bank branch became concerned about De Souza’s actions as she tried to get the lifeless Braga to sign a document and called the police, who arrested her at the scene.
The head of Rio de Janeiro’s Civil Police, Fábio Souza, told Brazilian outlet G1 on Wednesday that while he could not provide the exact moment Braga died, the corpse stains that were visible on the back of his head indicate that he would have been dead for approximately two hours. .
This comes as new footage has been unearthed showing Erika pushing the dead body into the shopping center before entering the bank.
Érika de Souza (pictured) was arrested by authorities in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on Tuesday after trying to get her dead uncle, Paulo Braga, to sign a loan document at a bank while he sat in a wheelchair .
Erika de Souza was captured on surveillance video pushing the lifeless body of her uncle, Paulo Braga, in a wheelchair before attempting to withdraw $3,200 from his bank account.
The footage showed Érika de Souza telling the dead Paulo Braga to hold onto his pen tightly as she placed it between his fingers and encouraged him to sign a paper at the bank branch in Bangu, a neighborhood in western Rio de Janeiro. janeiro
If Roberto had died while sitting in the wheelchair, the body patches would have been located on his legs, authorities said.
“It is not possible to say the exact moment of death,” Souza said. ‘Samu (Mobile Emergency Assistance Service) discovered that there was (livor mortis). This only occurs from the moment of death, but is only noticeable about two hours after death.’
Souza said officers were deployed to search for the ride-sharing app driver who left De Souza with his dead uncle at the bank.
De Souza, who faces charges of attempted theft by fraud and defamation of a corpse, was interviewed Wednesday morning by authorities.
She told police that Braga had died while sitting in a wheelchair on the bench, a claim police are disputing.
“In my 22-year career I have never seen a story like this,” Souza said.
Customers and bank workers initially thought Braga was sick, the police chief said, before calling an ambulance. A viral video recorded by a bank employee showed De Souza holding Braga’s head and telling him: ‘Dude, are you listening? You have to sign it. I can’t sign for you.
The bank employees began filming the couple and ended up calling an ambulance and the police, while Érika de Souza used her hand to hold Paulo Braga’s head up and said: ‘Man, are you listening? You have to sign it. I can’t sign for you’
Erika de Souza took her dead uncle Paulo Braga through a Rio de Janeiro shopping center before visiting a bank, where she tried to get him to sign a loan document.
Authorities in Rio de Janeiro are investigating whether Érika de Souza is really related to Paulo Braga, the 68-year-old man whose lifeless body was placed in a wheelchair and taken to a bank in his attempt to obtain a loan.
One of the bank workers then told De Souza: ‘I don’t think this is legal. It doesn’t look good. He is very pale.
“He is like that,” she replied and told her dead uncle, “If you are not well, I can take you to the hospital.” Do you want to go back to the hospital again?
Then De Souza told Braga: ‘Sign so I don’t give myself any more headaches, I can’t take it anymore.’
Souza is also investigating whether De Souza is related to Braga.
‘She calls herself his niece. In fact, according to our investigation, she is somewhat related,” she stated. And she calls herself his caretaker. We want to identify other family members.