The death of university student Isabelle Caracristi, aged 22, which occurred in a condominium in the Aldeota neighborhood, in Fortaleza, completed two weeks this Sunday (27). Her boyfriend, law graduate João Munhoz Neto, is in prison and is being investigated for psychological violence and inducing suicide. The Civil Police have already interviewed more than 10 witnesses about the case and are continuing the investigation.
g1 separated 6 steps of the police investigation into the death of Isabelle Caracristi in these two weeks. Check it out:
1. First expert work
Isabelle Caracristi was found dead in the common area of a building in the Aldeota neighborhood, in Fortaleza, at around 8:40 pm on the night of September 13th. The Integrated Security Operations Coordination (Ciops) was called and a member of the Military Police was the first to arrive at the scene.
With the death confirmed, a team from Ceará Forensic Expertise (Pefoce) was called to respond to the incident and carry out the first forensic investigations. A team from the 2nd Police District, a Civil Police unit in the area, was also deployed to begin the investigation.
"The criminal expert attended, carried out the survey, obviously with the hypothesis of precipitation from a slab or an apartment, and the first step that is taken in a case like this is to check the immediate location. The immediate location is where someone supposedly either jumped or was thrown. So, the forensics immediately attended the immediate location, which is that location on the ground close to the forensic examination, close to the swimming pool", explained the general expert of Forensic Expertise of Ceará (Pefoce), Júlio Torres, in a press conference held last Wednesday (23).
Afterwards, the expert visited the possible immediate places of death, the apartment where Isabelle could be, where she lived with João Munhoz, and the rooftop of the building. Expert examinations were also carried out at both locations.
"The expert begins a series of steps, such as papiloscopy collection, DNA collection, photography of these locations. And, in this first location [apartment], it is worth highlighting the first important piece of information, no evidence of violence or fight was found. Even later, after the forensic collections, it was found that, in the inspection of the glass curtain, only João's fingerprint was detected. Isabelle's fingerprint was not detected on that glass curtain", detailed Júlio Torres.
"Next, the expert goes up to the rooftop of this apartment and surveys this location as the likely immediate location of the incident. This immediate location then contains a hypothesis of suicide, raised for the first time at that time by the criminal expert, and this is the line that was followed with the investigations and all the surveys", he added.
According to the general expert, Isabelle Caracristi's body was admitted to Ceará Forensic Expertise and has already been identified. However, the young woman's family only learned of her death the following day and recognized the body at the Pefoce headquarters in Fortaleza.
2. Report made by the mother
The case gained repercussion just five days later, when Isabelle's mother, university professor Isorlanda Caracristi, reported on social media that she was not informed of her own daughter's death and that she had no answers from the authorities about the dynamics and cause of death.
According to Isorlanda, the last time she saw her daughter was on Sunday afternoon (13), before she went to her boyfriend's house. That same night, Isabelle stopped responding to her mother's messages. The teacher only found out about her daughter's death when she went to João Munhoz's condominium the following morning.
"You don't want to know what this is, the pain I felt. It's as if my whole body was tearing apart. (...) I said to the manager: 'don't tell me, this is a dream, this is a dream, it's not true'... Then I ask, my God, what happened to my daughter, until today", said Isorlanda in a video published on social media.
The university professor stated that she was not informed about her own daughter's death on the night of September 13th. In a statement to the police, João Munhoz claimed that his brother tried to call and his girlfriend tried to send a message to Isabelle's mother.
The video recorded by Isorlanda had national repercussions and pressured the Civil Police to intensify the investigation into the death in the following days.
3. Lack of collaboration in the investigation
In the following days, the Civil Police tried to locate Isabelle's boyfriend, João Munhoz Neto, to ask for clarification about the relationship and the young woman's death, but it took a while to locate him. General delegate Márcio Gutiérrez stated, at the press conference last Wednesday (23), that João did not cooperate with the investigation.
According to Gutiérrez, the day after Isabelle's death, João Munhoz went to the condominium where he lived with the university student in search of her cell phone. According to the investigation, the apartment was cleaned and put up for sale.
"The Civil Police began investigations and already realized that João's stance was a non-collaborative stance. At no point did he make himself available to clarify the facts", commented Márcio Gutiérrez.
João would also have prohibited Isabelle's family from entering the condominium and left the place carrying suitcases. In the days following his death, he did not hire a lawyer and changed his address. Just 8 days after his death, the law graduate went to the police station, accompanied by a lawyer.
g1 received information that João Munhoz was in a property in Praia do Cumbuco, in Caucaia, metropolitan region of Fortaleza, and in an apartment belonging to a family member in the Benfica neighborhood, in Fortaleza.
The police tried to locate him at the addresses, but were unable to do so. During a search and seizure warrant in Praia do Cumbuco, João Munhoz's mother's cell phone and tablet were seized.
4. Testimony from João Munhoz Neto
João Munhoz Neto attended the headquarters of the Department of Homicide and Personal Protection (DHPP), in the Fátima neighborhood, in Fortaleza, to give a statement about the case, accompanied by his lawyer, on the night of last Monday (21).
g1 had access to the statement. He reported that he went to mass alone at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Fátima, on Sunday, September 13th - generally, on the 13th of each month, the sanctuary has a special program with several masses per day.
In his testimony, João Munhoz presented a version that differed from that presented by his mother-in-law. The law graduate said he asked his brother to call Isorlanda, as he was too shaken to talk to his mother-in-law. João said that his brother spoke for approximately 22 seconds with Isorlanda until she ended the call herself.
The Law graduate also said that, after the call between his brother and mother-in-law, his sister-in-law sent more detailed messages informing that Isabelle had died by suicide.
João said that he was waiting for the new mass to begin when he received Isabelle's last messages, in which she reported being in pain. He said he put his cell phone on silent for the mass and, only after the time she died, did he look at the device again.
It was João's brother who saw messages from residents in the condominium's WhatsApp group saying that someone had committed suicide. Then, he informed João about what had happened. After learning the victim's description, João stated that he began to suspect that it could be Isabelle and became desperate.
João's brother picked him up in the car after mass and took him to the building. Upon arriving at the condominium, Munhoz said that forensics were already on site. He also said that police officers searched his apartment to collect Isabelle's belongings.
5. Boyfriend's arrest
João Munhoz Neto was detained by the Civil Police, pursuant to a preventive arrest warrant issued by the State Court, on Tuesday (22), in an apartment on Avenida Santos Dumont, in Aldeota. He was taken to the Capture and Polinter Police Station (Decap), in the Center.
Isabelle's boyfriend is suspected of committing the crimes of inducing suicide and psychological violence. General Delegate Márcio Gutiérrez stated that the lack of collaboration with the investigation also motivated the arrest request.
The investigators found evidence of psychological violence and controlling behavior on the part of João Munhoz, who allegedly caused embarrassment to Isabelle and sought to keep her away from socializing with other people. The police did not say whether these signs corroborate the suspicion of suicide induction.
"The statements indicate an abusive relationship, psychological violence. In fact, this was taken into consideration at the time of the arrest. The information provided by witnesses and also obtained through the Civil Police investigation indicate that João maintained a relationship of control there, limiting coming and going. We have statements that state that Isabelle could not even go to the pharmacy alone, come down from the office", detailed Márcio Gutiérrez.
The following day, João Munhoz underwent a custody hearing at the State Court, which maintained preventive detention. He was then taken to a state prison.
6. Witness testimony
The investigation into Isabelle Caracristi's death is being deepened by the Civil Police by collecting statements, analyzing videos and extracting data from cell phones. More than 10 witnesses have already been interviewed and around 700 videos analyzed by investigators.
One of the last witnesses who attended the 2nd Police District, last Saturday (26), was a day laborer who provided services at João Munhoz Neto's residence.
Lawyer Lídia Aguiar, who represents the day laborer, told TV Verdes Mares that her client went to the property twice, had contact with Isabelle, but never witnessed an argument between the couple. According to the lawyer, the residence had security cameras.
The Civil Police revealed that witnesses said that João Munhoz put the apartment up for sale and cleaned the property after his girlfriend's death. Lídia Aguiar stated that her client had no knowledge of the case and did not clean the house, despite having gone to the place to work on September 15th - two days after the death.
"She was already used to it and had set days [to go]. She had no knowledge of what happened, no one informed her, and she went to do her job. When she got there, when she became aware of what had happened, she just left the property, but she didn't clean it or had the intention of cleaning the scene, no, nothing, everything was normal in the apartment", stated the lawyer.
Last Thursday (24), João Munhoz Neto's mother, brother and sister-in-law were interviewed; a couple of João's brother's friends, who were with them in the building after Isabelle's death, on September 13th; and a couple who were in the condominium pool when the young woman fell.
On Friday (25), it was Isabelle's ex-boyfriend's turn to be interviewed by the Police. The young woman's mother and brother also gave statements in the previous days.
The Civil Police highlighted that other lines of investigation have not yet been completely ruled out and that the case remains open.
