An investigator told the Washington Supreme Court that police bugged the home of alleged mother killer Andre Rebelo and his ex-partner Grace Piscopo.
Former WA Police Detective Warren Jacobs gave evidence in the murder trial of Rebelo, accused of killing his mother Colleen Rebelo on May 25, 2020, a charge he has denied.
Jacobs told the court police were ordered to use listening devices in the bedroom of Rebelo’s Beaconsfield home and an optical and audio recording device downstairs.
The devices were installed in the house from September 9, 2020 to December 7, 2020.
Jacobs confirmed to defense attorney Anthony Elliott that the devices were installed to see if there was any discussion between Rebelo, Piscopo and anyone else relevant to a fraud investigation.
Mr. Elliott told Mr. Jacobs that although the crime was described as fraud, the officers heard discussions about insurance, fraud, Ms. Rebelo, death, murder and anything that could reasonably be connected to those things.
“Yes,” Mr. Jacobs responded.
Detective Sergeant Clinton Bragg told the court Rebelo Googled “forensic aneurysm causes” and “investigation” after his mother’s death.
Recording devices were installed in the home of Andre Zachary Rebelo and his ex-partner, model Gracie Piscopo (pictured) for three months in 2020, a court was told.
The cause of Colleen Rebelo’s (pictured) death has never been determined despite extensive testing by authorities. The court was told police discovered Rebelo had taken out three life insurance policies against his mother in the week before her death.
The court was told police discovered Rebelo had taken out three life insurance policies against his mother in the week before her death, in which he stood to gain $1.15 million for her death.
Three days after her death, he started the claim process to earn money from the premiums.
One of the insurers suspected the claim was fraudulent and reported it to the police.
Rebelo had submitted falsified copies of a medical certificate from his mother’s psychologist, her last will and testament along with a false copy of the forensic report on her death.
He was charged with fraud in October 2020 and subsequently charged with murder in November 2022.
It filed for bankruptcy on March 31, 2022.
Rebelo pleaded guilty to forgery but denied killing his mother.
Police were initially investigating a fraud complaint, but began to suspect that Rebelo murdered his mother around October 1, 2020.
Sergeant Bragg said he was informed about the case on August 31, 2020 and began investigations, but as three months had passed since Ms Rebelo’s death, police were unable to obtain any evidence from the CCTV footage.
Police searched the home of Ms Piscopo and Mr Rebelo (pictured) on September 16, 2020. Ms Piscopo is not charged with any crime.
He told the court that 16 days later police searched Ms Rebelo’s home, where her children Monique and Fabián were at the time, and police confiscated laptops and mobile phones from the house.
He said his children were taken to Fremantle police station to give statements.
Sergeant Bragg told the court that a search was also carried out at Rebelo’s home that same day. The police confiscated computers and laptops and took him in for questioning.
“Andre was interviewed later that night about this incident, was detained and arrested that day,” Sergeant Bragg said.
‘I went back to the homicide squad office and took Andre to the watch house, I think he was out on bail.
“He was charged with attempted fraud and five other forgery offenses and was released on bail.”
Detective Sergeant Jason Hutchinson told the court he examined a computer used by Rebelo and found activity from December 2019 to July 2020 had been deleted, including internet search history.
He said there was no history of Chrome before June 2020 either.
Police discovered Google searches for “coroner aneurysm causes”, “word doctor help” and “investigation” on a computer used by Mr Rebelo (pictured with Ms Piscopo)
Sgt Hutchinson told the court he found Google searches that were relevant to the case and included “coroner aneurysm causes”, “word medical aid” and “research”.
A computer used mainly by Piscopo revealed photographs of the couple with their son Romeo taken at 8.07am on the day Rebelo’s mother died.
At 10:24 and 2:00 p.m., photographs of Mrs. Piscopo were found on the computer. After 8:07 there were no more photos of Rebelo.
During the trial, the court was told that Rebelo portrayed a glamorous lifestyle on social media with Piscopo that was funded by credit cards and personal loans.
The jury was told that Ms Piscopo was a successful model and social media influencer, but that Rebelo had lived beyond her means and was unable to pay her financial obligations.
Mrs. Piscopo is not accused of any crime.
WA Police Financial Crimes Squad investigator Darren Stammers investigated the couple’s financial records over a three-year period to June 2020.
The court was shown about a month after Rebelo’s death that the couple had a combined debt of $121,000 and little money in their savings accounts.
Rebelo was being pursued by debt collection agencies after he failed to pay his credit card.
State’s Attorney Brett Tooker (pictured) told the court that when premiums had to be paid and money started leaving Rebelo’s account, he had to act
The prosecution argued that Rebelo must have thought that his world was closing around him and led him to take out three life insurance policies against his mother.
State’s Attorney Brett Tooker told the court that when premiums had to be paid and money started coming out of Mr. Rebelo’s account, he had to act.
“That’s why five days later he killed his mother and three days later he started implementing policies,” he told the court.
While Ms. Rebelo’s death was sudden and unexpected, the first responders who responded to her home did not treat her as suspicious.
The cause of his death has never been determined despite ancillary tests performed at his autopsy.
The defense has argued that traces of focal subendocardial interstitial fibrosis found in Ms. Rebelo’s heart could have caused her sudden death from cardiac arrhythmia.
The trial continues.