The body of 20-year-old Sarah Picolotto dos Santos Grego was discovered on Friday, the 15th of August, in a wooded area in Ubatuba, a municipality along the southeastern coast of São Paulo, after going missing the week before, when she supposedly was to spend the night at a friend’s house, according to police.
Preliminary reports allege that the victim participated in the use of drugs and alcohol before engaging in sexual intercourse with a group of five men in a secluded location. Whether the intercourse was voluntary is still under investigation. However, authorities say that the sexual activities were recorded on cell phone video.
One individual, Alessandro Neves dos Santos, 24, turned himself in to police after being convinced by a friend. Neves do Santos was then placed under interrogation when he stated to investigators that he had met the victim on the same day of the 9th of August. Neves cooperated with authorities by helping them locate the victim’s body.
According to Neves dos Santos, after the victim engaged in sexual intercourse with Neves, along with four other men, both he and the victim, Sarah Picolotto dos Santos Grego, were left alone in the woods when Neves invited the victim to his house to have more sex. Neves claims that the victim consented to the invitation.
Authorities are, however, due to the unique circumstances of the case and the alleged use of drugs and alcohol by the victim, investigating the incident as a possible gang rape.
Neves then claims that the victim and he got into a heated argument after the victim allegedly made an untoward comment to Neves, which he disliked, causing him to strangle the victim by hanging. When investigators pressed Neves to recount what the victim had said, Neves expressed that he could not recall.
After the killing, Neves admitted to police that he decided to drag the woman’s body into a nearby wooded area close to his home, where he attempted to conceal the body of dos Santos Grego by covering it with some of the local foliage. The suspect also stated that he had tossed the victim’s small possessions into a nearby river before leaving the body to the elements.
Controversy was stirred when the suspect was released following a custody hearing, and the 2nd Court of Ubatuba rejected a request for the temporary arrest of the suspect from the General Investigations Sector (SIG) and the Public Prosecutor’s Office.
g1, a Brazilian news outlet, reported that according to the Court of Justice, “the decision recognizes that the case is serious, but temporary imprisonment is an exceptional measure and can only be decreed “when strictly indispensable to the progress of the investigation””.
The court further stated:
“According to the grounds of the decision, the investigated party’s collaborative stance does not pose an immediate risk to the proceedings and there are a series of precautionary measures to enable the investigation of criminal circumstances, such as searches and seizures, lifting of data and financial confidentiality, telephone interception, etc. In the same decision, the search and seizure at the indicated addresses was granted, for the purpose of collecting evidence and objects related to the investigation.”
The victim was buried on Sunday, the 17th of August, but a wake was not held due to the body’s advanced stage of decomposition.
