A woman is suspected of fatally assaulting her boyfriend and decapitating him after claiming she caught him attempting to abuse her young son. The serious incident occurred inside their apartment in Brazil.
The Daily Star reports that police have arrested 24-year-old Paula Ellen Neves da Silva following the killing of her 32-year-old partner, Daniel dos Santos.
According to local police, the woman admitted to carrying out the attack, which happened inside the apartment where she lived with her two children, aged three and six.
Investigators believe the couple had spent the night drinking alcohol and using drugs with a female friend, who left the property about 90 minutes before the killing.
Police discovered that the suspect told officers she had been lying on the living room floor pretending to sleep while the victim was sitting on a nearby sofa. She claimed she then saw him trying to open her son's diaper.
She said she immediately grabbed a knife and stabbed him. During the struggle, the man reportedly tried to defend himself and used a knife, injuring her hand.
After the attack, police found that the woman had decapitated the victim and placed his head inside a backpack. Investigators allege she then dragged the body to the bathroom before washing the knife and partially cleaning blood from the sofa and floor.
Authorities said the woman contacted her ex-husband, the children's father, as well as her mother and brother to tell them what had happened.
Family members told police they initially had difficulty believing her claims until she sent photos and videos of the mutilated body.
When officers arrived at the apartment, the crime scene had been partially cleaned. The victim's body was discovered in the bathroom with "multiple stab wounds," while his head was found inside a backpack. Police say the suspect and victim had been in a relationship for only about two months.
Security cameras in the apartment also showed a third man, identified as Samuel Christian Silva Santos, at the property before the crime. He later gave a statement to police and said he had noticed nothing unusual between the couple.
The woman was taken into custody and questioned by the Civil and Military Police. When asked by the news program Alô, Você if she regretted what had happened, she replied: "I would do it all again."
Investigators say the case is registered as aggravated homicide, procedural fraud, and destruction or concealment of a corpse.
Police continue to examine the circumstances of the killing and say there is currently insufficient evidence to support a self-defense claim. A judge has been requested to convert her arrest into preventive custody. The investigation is ongoing.