The brother of Marilene de Fátima, aged 53, a woman found dead in an advanced state of decomposition inside her own apartment, in Patos de Minas, Alto Paranaíba, lamented his sister's death and said that the family was unable to understand the situation in time. The body was found on Thursday (5), after the property was purchased at auction.
The suspicion is that she had been dead for approximately a year.
"It's sad that this happened. Now, let's find out what happened. Unfortunately, we couldn't figure it out in time. Now it's time to move on," lamented the victim's brother, who did not want to be identified.
Kalina Poliana, who bought the property, said she received permission from the former owner's son to enter the apartment. With the help of a locksmith, she managed to open the door and found the body on a bed, wrapped in a blanket.
According to the brother, the family lost contact with Marilene in October 2025. At the time, she called saying that the apartment had been seized and asked to borrow R$1,800. He replied that he didn't have the money.
Marilene's son and sister went to the apartment to try to help her resolve the situation, but she refused their help.
The next day, Marilene contacted the family again and asked to borrow another R$400. The relatives then tried to understand the reason for the new request.
According to the brother, family members contacted Caixa to obtain information about property seizure procedures. At the time, they discovered that the charge received by Marilene could be a prank call. For him, his sister may have believed in the approach because she was emotionally shaken by the possibility of losing her apartment.
"The next day, she asked for money again, this time R$400. We later discovered that Marilene had been the victim of a prank call. She would have believed the approach because the apartment was already in the auction process", recalled her brother.
After that, Marilene got in touch with her family again and said she would move to Varjão de Minas. Then blocked them all.
The son also offered help to pay his mother's debts, but she refused. “He is desperate about his mother’s death,” said Marilene’s brother.
The apartment was completely closed and the neighbors did not smell the body. The buyer of the property at auction said that she also did not smell any unusual odors when entering the property.
Once in the room, which was closed, she saw a volume on the bed under covers and with pillows next to it and found the situation strange.
"She had a blanket wrapped around her. When I saw it, it looked like someone was lying asleep in the bed," said Kalina Poliana.
The woman said she was scared and called the locksmith to look inside the room. "He came back and told me 'there's a dead woman inside', I didn't believe him," he said.
After verifying that there really was a body in the bed, the woman was shaken and was unable to call the police. The locksmith called the authorities.
The report also found that the apartment was left clean and in good condition by the previous owner.
In a statement, the Civil Police reported that they had opened an investigation to determine the circumstances of the death. Technical expertise was in the apartment and found no injuries to the body, which was sent to the Legal Medical Institute (IML).
Samples of biological material were collected and sent for laboratory tests in Belo Horizonte. The tests should help confirm or rule out the hypothesis of death due to poisoning by medications or poisonous substances.
Initial investigation indicates that the body remained in the apartment for approximately a year. The police also reported that there were no records of police reports or previous information about Marilene's disappearance.
The burial took place at 10am on Friday (6), at the Major Porto cemetery, in Patos de Minas.
To g1, Vanilda Sousa, responsible for advising bidders at the auction in question, explained that the sale of a property at auction takes place without any prior inspection.
According to Vanilda, the apartment was auctioned after the owner stopped paying the loan for the property.
"In this case, the debtor could pay the debt in 15 days, according to the law. Then, Caixa notified her and she could pay this debt to end the process of this property being put up for auction", he informed. The property was purchased by Kalina Poliana on October 9th.
The lawyer responsible for the case, Lahra Lopes, informed g1 that the legal team will take action to try to cancel the auction, as the new owner expressed her desire to cancel the acquisition of the property.
The team awaits the results of the forensic examination from the Legal Medical Institute (IML), which may indicate the approximate date of the former owner's death.
"We need to check whether the former owner was still alive when she was notified by the bank. If it is proven that she had already passed away, we could legally question the validity of these notifications and, consequently, the procedure that resulted in the auction. On the other hand, if she validly received the notifications before her death, this specific hypothesis of annulment would not be sustainable", explained the lawyer.
g1 contacted Caixa to request a position on what happened and to find out what procedure the bank carries out in cases of properties that go up for auction. The report awaits feedback.
