A cleaner allegedly drugged an elderly couple before stabbing them to death so she could repay suspected gambling debts.
Paola Stefany Neto Cirino, 30, was arrested at a hotel in Itabira, Brazil, where she had fled together with her six-year-old son.
She allegedly confessed to putting 4 tablets into the juice of Maria Clotilde Moreira Maciel, 76, and her husband, Cláudio Atala Inácio, 75.
After drugging them, she allegedly stabbed Inácio greater than 40 times and Maciel 17 times. Despite being drugged, Inácio reportedly fought back.
Paola, 30, had reportedly been really helpful by the couple’s relative to perform cleansing work at their home in Belo Horizonte.
The day of the murders was her first day working on the flat, after previously working for a member of the family of the couple for years. Police don’t consider the relative was involved.
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CCTV footage showed Paola arriving on the block of flats at 7:30am and leaving eight hours later wearing different clothes, carrying two large bags and sporting Maria’s sunglasses.
She was also caught on camera throwing a bloodstained shirt right into a skip on a close-by street.
Before fleeing, Paola reportedly told members of the family she had ‘done something terribly mistaken’.
When she was arrested, police recovered belongings belonging to the couple, together with £2,587 in money.
Investigators say she obtained the cash by selling the victims’ possessions – including watches, jewellery and mobile phones – in central Belo Horizonte.
The couple’s bodies were found by their son on Tuesday after he learned his father had did not turn up for work.
When he entered the flat, he found his parents dead with stab wounds to varied parts of their bodies, including the back, throat, neck, abdomen, chin and chest, in addition to defensive injuries.
Police are investigating claims that Paola had accrued gambling debts of around £5,752, allegedly owing money to a loan shark after betting online, including on the favored game Fortune Tiger.
Maciel owned a store in Belo Horizonte and had been a successful athlete for a few years.
Inácio was a founding partner of a law firm in town and, despite his age, still worked there day-after-day.
The couple, described by relatives as ‘vigorous’, had travelled extensively and had recently returned from a visit to the US.
Paola is being investigated on suspicion of robbery-murder.
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