Ex-husband identified as murderer of domestic worker Patrícia Almeida is sentenced to 40 years in prison

Defendant Daniel da Costa Silva was sentenced to 40 years in prison for the femicide of his ex-partner, Patrícia Almeida Silva, in Imperatriz, in the Tocantina region of Maranhão. The sentence was handed down this Thursday (5), during a Jury Court session held at the city's Forum.

According to the Public Ministry of Maranhão (MPMA), the crime took place in November 2023, when Daniel approached his ex-partner and forced her to get into a truck. He then killed Patrícia with a shot to the head and abandoned the victim's body in a rural area.

According to the MP-MA, after committing the crime, Daniel took the victim's cell phone and fled to the state of Pará.

During the trial, prosecutor Tiago Quintanilha Nogueira, head of the 8th Criminal Justice Prosecutor's Office of Imperatriz, supported the accusations of qualified homicide for a base motive, feminicide and use of a resource that made the victim's defense difficult. The defendant was also accused of failure to comply with a protective order and theft.

Daniel's stepfather, identified as Udson da Conceição Silva, was also put on trial, accused of procedural fraud. However, during the session, it was proven that the crime had been committed by Daniel, and not by Udson. Therefore, the Public Prosecutor's Office requested the acquittal of the second accused.

Daniel was already in prison before the trial and was kept in prison after the conviction.

Remember the case

Patrícia Almeida was murdered with a shot to the head and her body was found by a man who was picking fruit, on November 12, 2023, on a farm, in the Rural Zone of Imperatriz. The clothes, accessories and a payment statement helped to identify that it was the domestic worker.

Before being found, Patrícia was missing for about a week. According to the IML report, the shot was fired behind the ear and went through the victim's skull.

According to the police, images from security cameras show the moment when Patrícia and Daniel are talking on the day of her disappearance. Blood stains were found in Daniel's vehicle and reinforce the line of feminicide.

The disappearance

Patrícia disappeared after leaving to work in Imperatriz. According to Patrícia's family, she disappeared after leaving for work. The suspicion was that her ex-husband was involved in the disappearance, as the woman had a protective measure against him, due to threats and aggression.

In July of that year, Patrícia Almeida filed a police report against her ex-husband and obtained a protective measure.

The complaint was made after Patrícia's ex-husband approached her on the street, forced her into his car and then physically attacked her. The case was recorded by a security camera.

After discovering Patrícia's disappearance, her family filed a police report. The case began to be monitored by the Women's Police Station and the Imperatriz Regional Police Station.

The police began investigating whether Patrícia's ex-husband, who was on the run because of the attacks against the victim, was involved in her disappearance.