The Civil Police of Minas Gerais have concluded the investigation into the death of two 8-month-old twin girls who died last year in the metropolitan region of Belo Horizonte. The girls’ parents – a 31-year-old man and a 28-year-old woman – were indicted for the crimes of qualified homicide with futile motives, cruel means and means that hindered the victim’s defense, concealment of a corpse and torture.
Investigations revealed that one of the twins was killed on July 29, 2023, in the Jardim Teresópolis neighborhood, in Betim. Her body was hidden the following day, on the border of Contagem and Betim, near a train line.
The second baby was killed a few weeks later, on August 11. The crime was also committed in Betim, and the body was abandoned on the side of the BR-381 highway, on the same day of the death.
“What is most frightening about this story is that the deaths did not even happen on the same day, to say that it was a thoughtless, desperate situation, which does not justify it. The deaths were approximately one month apart,” says the head of the State Department of Homicide Investigation and Personal Protection (DHPP), Chief of Police Alessandra Wilke.
Investigations
The investigations began after an anonymous tip on July 7th of this year. The Civil Police were informed about the murders and the concealment of the victims’ bodies.
After investigations, a team from the Specialized Homicide Unit in Sabará went to the suspect’s house on July 12. The woman was located and taken to the police station. According to the police, she confessed that she witnessed her daughters being killed, but attributed the execution of the crimes to her partner.
She was arrested for concealing a corpse and later had her arrest converted to preventive detention.
The children’s father, the main suspect in the murders, was on the run and was located on July 25. He was also arrested as a precaution. He confessed to the crimes, presenting a version of events that differed from the suspect’s, but was compatible with the evidence gathered.
How were the crimes
The version presented by the suspect during his testimony, according to police officer Humberto Cornélio, was that “on July 29, they were at home when one of the girls started crying insistently and the mother put a sock in the child’s mouth. After a while, she died of suffocation.”
The police officer also reported a fact that drew even more attention to the couple’s coldness. According to him, after the baby’s death, the suspects went to a June festival that was taking place in Betim carrying the two children in a stroller: one alive and the other dead. “What drew the most attention is that they even took a photo and posted on social media that they were at the event,” the police officer reported.
Almost a month after the death of the first baby, he said that the suspect had once again become irritated by the crying of the other daughter. She then shook the girl extremely violently, causing her daughter to faint. “They put the baby in the crib and did not provide assistance, leaving this girl in the crib for seven days suffering and agonizing,” added the detective.
After hiding the body of their second daughter, the couple had dinner and stayed at a hotel.
Turnaround
Cornélio explained that the twins’ deaths were not discovered immediately because the couple did not maintain close contact with family and friends, nor did they have any contact with neighbors. Therefore, no one noticed the children’s absence.
However, when the suspect decided to end the relationship in June 2024, the babies’ father began to threaten her about revealing the murders. Since he did not participate in the deaths, according to the police chief, he believed he would not be held accountable for the crimes.
The suspect even confessed to the police that he was responsible for the anonymous complaint, formalized through Dial 181, reporting the crime.
The bodies
Despite efforts, the children’s bodies have not been located. Police cite factors that make the search difficult, such as the time elapsed since the crime, the weather conditions in the areas where the girls were left and the fragile body composition of the victims.
This content was originally published in Parents of 8-month-old twins killed in Minas Gerais are indicted for torture, homicide and concealment of a corpse on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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